An improvement on the Golden Globes...
Natalie Portman won't be needed to introduce the 'all-male Best Director category' at this year's Oscars: Greta Gerwig just became the fifth woman in 90 years to be nominated for her critically-acclaimed film Lady Bird.
Gerwig has also scored a nomination for Best Original Screenplay, while her leading ladies Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf received Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress nominations respectively.
There was a row earlier this year when, despite the critical and commercial success of 2017 films like Gerwig's Lady Bird, Dee Rees' Mudbound and Patti Jenkins' Wonder Woman, no women made it into the Best Director category at the Golden Globes.
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Natalie Portman didn't waste time in pointing out this out when she was called on stage to present the award:
https://gph.is/2F9MSlD
But this year's Oscar nominations feel more diverse than the Globes, with Jordan Peele's Get Out and Mudbound also securing nods, including a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress nomination for Mary J. Blige.
You can find the full list of 2018 Oscar nominations here.
On 12th December we wrote...
Golden Globes snubs are inevitable, but the nominee choices for one category this year feel so tone deaf you can't help but wonder if every member of the HFPA has spent the last six months hiding under a rock.
Three movies arguably dominated the conversation in 2017: Jordan Peele's extraordinary Get Out, with its uncomfortable examination of liberal racism, Patty Jenkins' box-office smashing Wonder Woman, the highest grossing live action film directed by a woman, and Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird, a film that's yet to come out here but is already the best-reviewed movie of 2017.
But would you know any of this looking at the Best Director nominations for the 2018 Golden Globes? You would not. After a year that's seen one of the most exciting and diverse pool of directors - possibly ever - the Best Director shortlist is a line up of white men:
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Ridley Scott, All The Money in the World
Steven Spielberg, The Post
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
True, Get Out and Lady Bird have received nods in other categories - including Best Screenplay for Greta Gerwig. But after a year of #MeToo, a mix of genders and races in the Best Director category - one that's always been so heavily dominated by white men - would have felt like a step in the right direction. The common excuse that there are so few black and female directors to pick from simply doesn't wash in a year of Jordan Peele, Patty Jenkins, Dee Rees and Greta Gerwig.
The Best Director category has always been one of the worst offenders in terms of race and gender parity. Only seven women in 75 years have been nominated in the Best Director category at the Golden Globes (one has won) and only four people of colour have ever been nominated (none have won).
Steven Spielberg has been nominated for Best Director at the Golden Globes more times than any woman or person of colour put together. Spielberg is an exceptional director, but is he more exceptional than all the black and female directors in Hollywood?
The Golden Globes are often a reflection of how the rest of awards season will pan out, but the first major ceremony in the calendar is also known for its curveball nominations that go against the general mood. Let's hope these Golden Globes snubs are just that, and not a sign of things to come.
