JANUARY 4 • 2024 | 43
J
N
GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS,
MAYBE THE LAST ONE?
The Golden Globe awards
will be broadcast on CBS
and stream on Paramount+
on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m.
This is a “make-or-break”
year for the Globes. Before
2021, studios liked the
Globes award ceremony
because it was free publicity
for many films and TV series.
The Golden Globes cere-
mony audience (actors, etc.)
liked the Globes’ relaxed
atmosphere (they sit at round
tables).
However, for decades,
corruption haunted the
Hollywood Foreign Press
Association (HFPA), which
ran the Globes. The HFPA’s
small membership were the
voters who selected winners.
Before 2021, there were
instances in which bad films
and “panned” actors were
Globe nominated — or even
won — and, later, it came out
that some HPFA voters got
a nice vacation, etc., paid for
by a studio.
Globe/HFPA scandals
went “steroid” in 2021-22.
A former HFPA head was
accused of sexually touching
actor Brendan Fraser, and it
was revealed that the HPFA
had no black members. The
HPFA moved to expand and
diversify its membership, but
that didn’t satisfy media out-
lets. None would broadcast
or stream the January 2023
ceremony.
In the last year, a respect-
ed, outside entertainment
company bought the Globes
from the HPFA. They run the
awards ceremony and hold
the “purse strings.” The now
“monitored” HPFA members
remain as the Globe voters.
CBS and Paramount signed
a one-year deal to show the
Globes.
Globes are given for both
films and TV series. There
are separate awards for dra-
matic films and TV series and
comedy/musical films and TV
series. There are six nomi-
nees in each category.
Here are the Jewish or
“Jewish-related” nominees.
ACTORS/ACTRESSES
Lead Actor, Comedy/Musical
film: Timothee Chalamet,
Wonka, and Joaquin
Phoenix, Beau is Afraid; Lead
actress, Comedy/Musical
film: Natalie Portman, May
December; Supporting actor,
Drama film, Robert Downey
Jr., Oppenheimer (he played
Lewis Strauss, who was
Jewish). Lead actor, Drama
series, Jeremy Strong,
Succession; Lead actress,
Comedy/Musical series,
Natasha Lyonne, Poker
Face; Lead actor, Comedy/
Musical series, Jason Segel,
Shrinking; Supporting actor,
Drama series, Ebon Moss-
Bachrach, The Bear; Best
Stand-up Performance (TV):
Amy Schumer and Sarah
Silverman compete for this
Globe.
Note: Strong and Segel
have a Jewish father.
Chalamet and Phoenix’s
mothers are Jewish.
Downey is “3/8s” Jewish
and identifies as Jewish.
Best screenplay (all films);
Noah Baumbach, whose
father was Jewish, is the
co-writer of Barbie; Eric Roth,
co-writer, Killers of the Flower
Moon (which is based on a
nonfiction book by David
Grann); and Anatomy of a
Fall, a French film, co-written
by Arthur Harari. I know that
Harari’s grandfather, Clement
Harari, was a well-known
French Jewish actor who
was born in Egypt. I don’t
know if Clement was Arthur’s
only Jewish grandparent.
Best Score, Movie (all films):
the late Robbie Robertson
(Jewish father), Killers of the
Flower Moon, and Mica Levi,
Zone of Interest; Best Song,
Movie (all films): “Dance the
Night,” Barbie, co-written
by Mark Ronson; “I’m Just
Ken,” co-written by Ronson;
“Peaches,” Super Mario
Bros., co-written by Jack
Black.
Best TV Limited Series:
Daisy Jones & the Six: cre-
ated, produced and written
by Scott Neustadter and
Michael H. Weber; Lessons
in Chemistry: Based on a
novel, it was written for the
screen and produced by
Lee Eisenberg.
Best TV series, Drama:
The Crown, series creat-
ed, produced and written
by Peter Morgan (Jewish
father); The Diplomat, cre-
ated, written and produced
by Debora Cahn; The Last
of Us, created, written and
produced by Craig Mazin
and Neil Druckmann.
Best TV series, Comedy/
musical; Only Murders
in the Building; co-cre-
ated/co-written by John
Hoffman; and Jury Duty,
created, produced and
co-written by Lee Eisenberg
and Gene Stupnitsky.
Best foreign language
film: Zone of Interest, a film
about the Holocaust set in
and around Auschwitz (dia-
logue mostly in Polish and
German). The film was direct-
ed and written by Jonathan
Glazer, a British Jew.
The two Best film awards
go to the respective films’
producers and there are
many producers on any film. I
think it is more meaningful to
ignore the producers and just
note if a best film nominee
had a Jewish director or writ-
er or a “Jewish connection.”
Best Film, Comedy/
Musical: May December,
directed, produced and
written by Todd Haynes
(his mother is Jewish); and
Barbie, co-written by Noah
Baumbach;
Best film, Drama: Zone
of Interest: (produced,
directed and written by
Jonathan Glazer); Maestro
(about Leonard Bernstein,
co-written by Josh Singer);
Killers of the Flower Moon,
(co-written by Eric Roth),
Anatomy of a Fall (co-writ-
ten by Arthur Harari) and
Oppenheimer (about J.
Robert Oppenheimer, a
Jewish physicist).
Next week, interesting
stuff on “things” that recent-
ly opened, or soon will, and
a brief, but I think interest-
ing item about a few well-
known Jews who died in
2023.
CELEBRITY NEWS
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
ARTS&LIFE
Golden Globes
JOE SHLABOTNIK/FLICKR