Fennell, King and Zhao are the first female directors nominated for a Golden Globe since Ava DuVernay in 2014. And in the almost century-long history of the Academy Awards, only five female directors have ever been nominated for the Oscar. Fennell and Zhao are also nominated in the best motion picture screenplay category.

Fennell is familiar to television viewers as one of the stars of the fourth season of The Crown; the writer/director/actress plays Prince Charles’ mistress Camilla Parker-Bowles in the hit Netflix series.

Another notable nominee for the 78th Annual Golden Globe awards was late actor Chadwick Boseman, who was nominated posthumously for his work on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, about the life of 1920s blues singer Ma Rainey.

Boseman, who died in August, 2020, plays trumpet player Levee Green in the film.

In the television categories, the Star Wars series The Mandalorian was a notable inclusion in the television drama category. It is nominated against Lovecraft Country and more conventional awards night regulars The Crown, Ozark and Ratched.

The relatively lightweight series Emily in Paris was also a surprise inclusion in the television musical or comedy category. It is nominated against The Flight Attendant, The Great, Schitt’s Creek and Ted Lasso.

Among the Australian nominees are Cate Blanchett, for her work on Mrs America, and Nicole Kidman, for the critically acclaimed HBO series The Undoing. Both are nominated in the best actress in a miniseries or television motion picture category.

The Great, written and produced by Australian producer/screenwriter Tony McNamara, is also nominated, in the best musical or comedy television series category.

This year’s Golden Globes telecast will be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler; the two comedians previously hosted the awards for three years between 2013 and 2015.

And this year, for the first time, the Globes will be hosted from America’s two coasts, with Fey hosting from the Rainbow Room in the Rockefeller Centre in New York City, and Poehler hosting from the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.

It is a sign of the times, to be sure, but not the first time that a Hollywood awards night has been shared between New York and Los Angeles; between 1954 and 1975 the Oscars were jointly hosted from the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles and the NBC Century Theatre in New York.

Hollywood’s annual awards season traditionally runs from November to February, and begins with the Gotham Awards in New York. It is followed by industry, critic and audience voted events, including the National Board of Review awards, the New York and Los Angeles film critics awards, the National Society of Film Critics awards and the People’s Choice awards.

The second half of the season is focused on Los Angeles, and kicks off with the Golden Globes, and then the peer-voted Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild, Producers Guild and Directors Guild awards, and concludes with the Independent Spirit Awards and, finally, the Academy Awards.

That season normally spans three months but due to COVID-19 delays, it has stretched to five. The Globes, usually held at the beginning of January, are being staged this year at the end of February, and the Oscars, usually held in February, are now in April.

This year’s Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient is actress Jane Fonda. The honorary award is bestowed for outstanding contribution to the world of entertainment. Last year’s recipient was actor Tom Hanks.

The Carol Burnett Award will be presented to legendary television producer Norman Lear, whose credits include the iconic sitcoms All in the Family, Good Times, Maude and The Jeffersons. The honorary award is given for outstanding contribution to television. Last year’s recipient was comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

The two honorary Golden Globe awards are the only two awards whose recipients are named prior to the television broadcast. The two awards are named after the first individuals to recieve them.

Mank, David Fincher’s biographical drama about the life of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, is the most nominated film at this year’s Golden Globes, with six nominations. It is followed by The Trial of the Chicago 7 with five nominations. The films Nomadland, Promising Young Woman and The Father secured four nominations each.

In the television categories, Netflix’s critically acclaimed Royal Family drama The Crown led with six nominations. The comedy Schitt’s Creek, which became the breakout hit of the 2020 “lockdown” streaming TV season, took out five nominations. Ozark and The Undoing secured four nominations each. The Great and Ratched took three nomination apiece.

Among the other surprise exclusions were Meryl Streep, who starred in The Prom. That the film, which drew generally mixed to poor reviews, was nominated at all was a surprise in itself, but that James Corden was the one actor from the film’s ensemble who secured an additional nomination was more surprising still.

The other major exclusion was Netflix’s current hit Bridgerton. The series premiered in December, so it fell into the window of eligibility for a nomination at this year’s Golden Globes, and the awards voting body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, have a history of jumping on board emerging TV hits ahead of the curve. Despite both factors Bridgerton was a non-starter.

Perhaps understandably given the COVID-19 pandemic, streaming television was a prominent player at the Globes, in both the film and television categories. Netflix dominated the nominations with 42 in total, 22 of those coming from film categories and 20 coming from television categories. Amazon took out 10 nominations, seven in film and three in television.

Traditional cable players such as HBO and Pop TV took out seven and five nominations respectively. Other prominent television nominees were Showtime (five nominations), and Apple TV+ and HBO Max (two nominations each). Among traditional film studios Focus Features, Searchlight, Sony Pictures and Walt Disney Studios secured five nominations each.

The children of filmmaker Spike Lee, Satchel and Jackson Lee, have been named this year’s Golden Globe “ambassadors”, continuing the quirky Globes custom of having the children of celebrities hand the statues to the presenters.

Past “ambassadors” have included Pierce Brosnan’s children Dylan and Paris Brosnan, Idris Elba’s daughter Isan Elba, Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard’s daughter Lorraine Nicholson, and Clint Eastwood and Frances Fisher’s daughter Francesca Eastwood.

The 78th annual Golden Globe Awards will be held in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 28. They will air in Australia on Monday, March 1, on Fox Arena (Foxtel).

FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS

Best motion picture, drama: The Father, Mank, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman, The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best motion picture, musical or comedy: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Hamilton, Music, Palm Springs, The Prom

Best actor, motion picture, drama: Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal; Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Anthony Hopkins, The Father; Gary Oldman, Mank; Tahar Rahim, The Mauritanian

Best actress, motion picture, drama: Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday; Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman; Frances McDormand, Nomadland; Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Best actor, motion picture, musical or comedy: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; James Corden, The Prom; Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton; Dev Patel, The Personal History of David Copperfield; Andy Samberg, Palm Springs

Best actor, motion picture, musical or comedy: Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; Kate Hudson, Music; Michelle Pfeiffer, French Exit; Rosamund Pike, I Care A Lot; Anya Taylor-Joy, Emma.

Best supporting actor, motion picture: Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah; Jared Leto, The Little Things; Bill Murray, On The Rocks; Leslie Odom Jr, One Night in Miami

Best supporting actress, motion picture: Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy; Olivia Colman, The Father; Jodie Foster, The Mauritanian; Amanda Seyfried, Mank; Helena Zengel, News of the World

Best director, motion picture: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman; David Fincher, Mank; Regina King, One Night in Miami; Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best screenplay, motion picture: Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman; Jack Fincher, Mank; Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7; Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton, The Father; Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best score, motion picture: The Midnight Sky, Alexandre Desplat; Tenet, Ludwig Göransson; News of the World, James Newton Howard; Mank, Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor; Soul, Jon Batiste, Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor

Best song, motion picture: “Fight for You”, Judas and the Black Messiah; “Hear My Voice”, The Trial of the Chicago 7; “Io Sì” (“Seen”), The Life Ahead; “Speak Now”, One Night in Miami; “Tigress & Tweed”, The United States vs. Billie Holliday

Best picture, animated: The Croods: A New Age, Onward, Over the Moon, Soul, Wolfwalkers

Best picture, foreign language: Another Round, Denmark; La Llorona, France and Guatemala; The Life Ahead, Italy; Minari, USA; Two of Us, USA and France

Best television series, drama: The Crown, Lovecraft Country, The Mandalorian, Ozark, Ratched

Best television series, musical or comedy: Emily in Paris, The Flight Attendant, The Great, Schitt’s Creek, Ted Lasso

Best actor, television series, drama: Jason Bateman, Ozark; Josh O’Connor, The Crown; Bob Odenkirk, Better Call Saul; Al Pacino, Hunters; Matthew Rhys, Perry Mason

Best actress, television series, drama: Olivia Colman, The Crown; Jodie Comer, Killing Eve; Emma Corrin, The Crown; Laura Linney, Ozark; Sarah Paulson, Ratched

Best actor, television series, musical or comedy: Don Cheadle, Black Monday; Nicholas Hoult, The Great; Eugene Levy, Schitt’s Creek; Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso; Ramy Youssef, Ramy

Best actress, television series, musical or comedy: Lily Collins, Emily in Paris; Kaley Cuoco, The Flight Attendant; Elle Fanning, The Great; Jane Levy, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist; Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek

Best miniseries or television motion picture: Normal People, The Queen’s Gambit, Small Axe, The Undoing, Unorthodox

Best actor, miniseries or television motion picture: Bryan Cranston, Your Honor; Jeff Daniels, The Comey Rule; Hugh Grant, The Undoing; Ethan Hawke, The Good Lord Bird; Mark Ruffalo, I Know This Much Is True

Best actress, miniseries or television motion picture: Cate Blanchett, Mrs America; Daisy Edgar-Jones, Normal People; Shira Haas, Unorthodox; Nicole Kidman, The Undoing; Anya Taylor-Joy, The Queen’s Gambit

Best supporting actor, television: John Boyega, Small Axe; Brendan Gleeson, The Comey Rule; Daniel Levy, Schitt’s Creek; Jim Parsons, Hollywood; Donald Sutherland, The Undoing

Best supporting actress, television: Gillian Anderson, The Crown; Helena Bonham Carter, The Crown; Julia Garner, Ozark; Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek; Cynthia Nixon, Ratched

Cecil B. DeMille Award: Jane Fonda

Carol Burnett Award: Norman Lear

2021 AWARDS SEASON CALENDAR

78th Golden Globe awards: usually early January, re-scheduled to February 28
27th Screen Actors Guild awards: usually mid-January, re-scheduled to March 14
63rd annual Grammy awards: usually late January, re-scheduled to March 14
73rd Writers Guild awards: usually mid-January, re-scheduled to March 21
32nd Producers Guild awards: usually late January, re-scheduled to March 24
73rd Directors Guild Awards: usually late January, re-scheduled to April 10
74th BAFTA Film awards: usually early February, re-scheduled to April 11
36th Independent Spirit awards: usually mid-February, re-scheduled to April 24
93rd Academy Awards: usually mid-February, re-scheduled to April 25