'Moonlight,' 'La La Land,' Look To Make Splash At Golden Globes

BEVERLY HILLS (CBSLA.com) — The nostalgic musical "La La Land" will hope to dance away as an Oscar front-runner Sunday night when it takes a leading seven nominations into the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards, but the spotlight could be stolen by the dramas "Moonlight," which has six nominations, and "Manchester by the Sea," with five.

Director Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester by the Sea" and Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" are both nominated for best motion picture drama, along with Mel Gibson's "Hacksaw Ridge," David Mackenzie's "Hell or High Water" and Garth Davis' "Lion."

"La La Land," directed by Damien Chazelle, leads the nominees for best musical/comedy film, but will be challenged by Mike Mills' "20th Century Women," Tim Miller's "Deadpool," Stephen Frears' "Florence Foster Jenkins" and John Carney's "Sing Street."

The film's other nominations were for Ryan Gosling for best actor, Emma Stone for best actress, best director for Chazelle, best score, best original song and best screenplay. The jazz-infused musical has been the darling of many critics and widely expected to do well at the Oscars. It picked up a best picture win at the Critics' Choice Awards in December, along with seven other awards.

"Moonlight" is another critical favorite, with nods for Jenkins for best director and screenplay, best original score and nominations in the supporting acting categories for Mahershala Ali for his portrayal of a drug dealer-father figure and for Naomie Harris, who plays the lead character Chiron's drug-addicted mother.

Though Denzel Washington's adaptation of August Wilson's "Fences" didn't get a best picture nod, Washington is nominated for best actor for his role as a former baseball star turned garbage collector, as is Viola Davis for her supporting role as his wife.

Other best acting nominees in the drama category are Casey Affleck for his portrayal of an uncle forced to adopt his teen nephew in "Manchester by the Sea," Joel Edgerton for his half of a 1960s interracial couple fighting for their love in "Loving," Andrew Garfield as a conscientious objector in "Hacksaw Ridge" and Viggo Mortensen as a free-spirited father in "Captain Fantastic."

The nominees for best actress in a drama are Amy Adams as a translator for alien beings in "Arrival," Jessica Chastain as a ruthless lobbyist in "Miss Sloane," Isabelle Huppert for her portrayal of a rape victim in "Elle," Ruth Negga as the quietly defiant wife in "Loving" and Natalie Portman for her role as first lady in "Jackie."

Joining Stone with nominations for best actress in a musical/comedy are Annette Bening for "20th Century Women," Lily Collins in Warren Beatty's "Rules Don't Apply," Hailee Steinfeld for "The Edge of Seventeen" and Meryl Streep for her opera-singing heiress in "Florence Foster Jenkins."

Streep, who will also receive the 2017 Cecil B. DeMille Award during the ceremony, has been nominated a record 30 times and won eight Golden Globes.

The best acting nominees in a musical or comedy are Colin Farrell for "The Lobster," Ryan Gosling for "La La Land," Hugh Grant for "Florence Foster Jenkins," Jonah Hill for "War Dogs" and Ryan Reynolds for
"Deadpool."

Directors of three of the five best dramas -- Gibson, Jenkins and Lonergan -- also garnered nominations for helming the pictures, joining Chazelle as well as Tom Ford, who scored a directing nomination for his work on "Nocturnal Animals."

The Golden Globes are often viewed as predictive of Oscar nominations, but the record is mixed. Since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association divided the film category into two formats for the Golden Globes in 1963, 64 percent of the films that ended up with best picture Academy Awards had first received a Golden Globe.

The Golden Globe drama winner has gone on to win a best picture Oscar 27 of 53 times. The musical/comedy winner has won seven times at the Oscars.

Other supporting actress nominees are Nicole Kidman for "Lion," Octavia Spencer for "Hidden Figures" and Michelle Williams for "Manchester by the Sea."

Other actors nominated for their supporting roles are Jeff Bridges for "Hell or High Water," Simon Helberg for "Florence Foster Jenkins," Dev Patel for "Lion" and Aaron Taylor-Johnson for "Nocturnal Animals."

The contenders for best animated motion picture are "Kubo and the Two Strings," "Moana," "My Life as a Zucchini," "Sing" and "Zootopia."

Best foreign film picks are the French films "Divines" and "Elle" and a joint Iran/France submission, "The Salesman," "Neruda" from Chile and "Toni Erdmann" from Germany.

Writers chosen for best screenplay alongside Chazelle and Jenkins are Ford and Lonergan as well as Taylor Sheridan for "Hell or High Water."

On the television side of the awards, "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" leads with five nominations, while "The Night Manager" has four.

Best comedy series nominees are "Atlanta," "Black-ish," "Mozart in the Jungle," "Transparent" and "Veep." Up for the drama series prize are "The Crown," "Game of Thrones, "Stranger Things," "This Is Us" and "Westworld."

Nominees in the best television limited series or motion picture made for television category are "American Crime," "The Dresser," "The Night Manager," "The Night Of" and "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story."

The Golden Globes will be presented at the Beverly Hilton, in a ceremony hosted by comedian and "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon.

Santa Monica Boulevard will be closed in both directions Sunday at Wilshire Boulevard. Drivers should avoid the area.

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