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

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