By Nate Bloom
Contributing Columnist
The Golden Globe awards will be broadcast on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on Sunday, Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. This is a make-or-break year for the Globes. Before 2021, studios liked the Globe award ceremony because it was free publicity for many films and TV series. The Golden Globes ceremony 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 (also) the voters who selected nominees and 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 HFPA voters got, among other things, a nice vacation paid for by a studio.
Globe/HFPA scandals went on steroids in 2021-22. A former HFPA head was accused of sexually touching actor Brendan Fraser and it was revealed that the HFPA had no black members. The HFPA moved to expand and diversify its membership, but that didn’t satisfy media outlets. None would broadcast or stream the January 2023 ceremony.
In the last year, a respected, outside entertainment company bought the Globes from the HPFA. They run the awards ceremony and hold the purse strings. The now monitored HFPA 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 dramatic films and TV series and comedy/musical films and TV series. There are six nominees in each category.
Here are the Jewish, or Jewish-related nominees.
Actors/Actresses
Lead Actor, Comedy/Musical film: TIMOTHÉE 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”). Lead actor, Drama series: JEREMY STRONG (“Succession”). Lead actress, Comedy/Musical series: NATASHA LYONNE (“Poker Face”). Lead actor, Comedy/Musical series: JASON SEGAL (“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 Segal have a Jewish father. Chalamet and Phoenix’s mothers are Jewish. Downey is 3/8’s 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 non-fiction 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” from “Barbie,” co-written by MARK RONSON. Also from “Barbie,” “I’m Just Ken,” co-written by Ronson, and “Peaches,” from “Super Mario Bros.,” co-written by JACK BLACK.
Best TV Limited Series: “Daisy Jones & the Six,” created, produced, and written by SCOTT NEUSTADTER and MARK WEBER. “Lessons in Chemistry,” based on a novel, was written for the screen, and produced by LEE EISENBERG.
Best TV series, Drama: “The Crown,” created, produced, and written by PETER MORGAN (Jewish father). “The Diplomat,” created, 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-created/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 (dialogue in Polish, German, and other languages). The film was directed and written by JONATHAN GLAZER, a British Jew. It was loosely based on a novel.
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 writer. This year, it must be noted that two nominees are bio-pics about a famous Jew.
Best Film, Comedy/Musical: “May December.” It was directed, produced, and written by TODD HAYNES (his mother is Jewish and he identifies as Jewish), and “Barbie,” co-written by Noah Baumbach.
Best Film, Drama: “Zone of Interest,” produced, directed, and written by Jonathan Glazer. “Maestro,” a movie about LEONARD BERNSTEIN, and co-written by JOSH SINGER. “Killers of the Flower Moon” (co-written by Eric Roth), “Anatomy of a Fall” (co-written by Arthur Harari), and “Oppenheimer” (about J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, a Jewish physicist).