Golden Globes 2023 Snubs and Surprises: Will Smith, Tom Cruise, LOTR

This is a make-or-break year for the Golden Globes, and for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization behind the awards. And therefore an intense spotlight was on the nominations this morning.
In 2021, after a series of damning investigative stories in the Los Angeles Times — about the HFPA’s lack of inclusivity, and its shady ethical practices — Netflix, WarnerMedia and a number of personal publicists announced they would boycott the Globes, causing NBC to scrap the ceremony’s annual broadcast. Since then, the HFPA has embarked on a number of reforms, meant to curb the organization’s formerly open-secret graft and to diversify its ranks — it now has six Black members up from, well, zero (and it added 21 new members overall). In January, then in disgrace, the HFPA held a members-only private ceremony at the Globes’ home at the Beverly Hilton to bestow their awards to the films and TV shows of 2021 — but without any nominees in attendance.
But here’s the thing: as far as awards ceremonies go, the Golden Globes are pretty fun! And its early January date has also served the purpose of formally kicking off the awards season calendar. So in September, when the HFPA, NBC and producer Dick Clark Productions announced that the 80th annual ceremony would return from exile and once again be broadcast nationally — albeit on a lowly Tuesday (Jan. 10), and not in its old, more prestigious Sunday slot — many in Hollywood greeted the news with relief.
And also some skepticism. Campaigning for the Globes has certainly changed, and become much more muted. It’s still unclear which nominees will attend, and what they’ll say about it if they do. The HFPA certainly took a step in the right direction by hiring Jerrod Carmichael to be the show’s host, and he will 100% roast them, which will be delightful to watch.
But let’s get to the nominations themselves. In movies, the Globes once again neglected to nominate any women in the best director category. Otherwise, the biggest surprises of the (extremely early — why, why, why) morning were the impressive showing for “Babylon,” the less-than-impressive showing for “Women Talking,” and the utter lack of nominations for Will Smith’s “Emancipation.” Also, Brendan Fraser — who in 2018 accused former HFPA president Philip Berk of groping him, and has already said he wouldn’t attend the ceremony if nominated — was indeed nominated for his performance in “The Whale.” (Berk has been expelled from the HFPA, not because of Fraser’s allegation, but for sending an internal email calling Black Lives Matter a “racist hate movement” in 2021.)
In the TV categories, where the HFPA has always prided itself in favoring new shows, the Globes surprisingly ignored several acclaimed freshman shows, like Showtime’s “Yellowjackets” and Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”
One thing about the Globes is the nominations have always been a crapshoot — ask Jordan Peele, whose 2018 horror movie “Get Out” was nominated in the comedy category. Or remind people that the “The Tourist” received multiple nominations! So to the extent that any of this is predictable — though lord knows Variety’s Clayton Davis put in the hours trying — here are the surprise nominations and omissions from the 80th annual Golden Globes nominations. (For the full list of nominees, click here.)
Will Smith Not Nominated for “Emancipation”
Let’s be honest, if any awards show was going to be embroiled in a scandal involving a world famous acting nominee slapping a world famous presenter, everyone on the planet would’ve bet it would be the Golden Globes. For that matter, if any awards show was going to overlook said scandal and nominate said world famous actor the following year, everyone would’ve bet it would be the Globes.
Instead, Will Smith was banned from the Academy Awards for a decade for striking Chris Rock at the Oscars last year, and the Globes decided not to invite him to their ceremony this year for his performance as a real-life runaway slave who fights in the Civil War in Apple TV+’s “Emancipation” — which earned zero nominations overall.
No Best Actor in a Drama Nomination for Tom Cruise for “Top Gun: Maverick”
If you want to point to the definitive moment that sent the Globes’ to the brink of oblivion in 2021, it was when Tom Cruise decided to return the three Globe trophies he won — for “Born on the Fourth of July” (best actor, drama), “Jerry Maguire” (best actor, comedy or musical), and “Magnolia” (best supporting actor) — in protest of the lack of diversity within the HFPA.
It’s impossible to know for certain if that is why the HFPA declined to nominate Cruise for his performance in “Top Gun: Maverick,” a.k.a. the film that single-handedly saved movie theaters. The movie did earn nominations for best picture, drama and best song (for Lady Gaga’s “Hold My Hand”). But given the near-universal enthusiasm for the film, deep admiration for Cruise’s he’s-still-got-it charisma, and the Globes’ insatiable love of nominating gigantic movie stars, it’s rather surprising that he’s not among this year’s nominees.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Is Totally Snubbed
When thinking about how the HFPA arrived at the decision to completely ignore Amazon’s lavishly appointed and stirringly performed adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, one is inexplicably reminded of a certain Shania Twain hit: “So you spent almost $1 billion to mount the most expensive TV series ever made, based on the globally beloved works of the pioneer in fantasy storytelling? That don’t impress me much!”
No Nominations for “Yellowjackets” At All
Showtime’s chilling and thrilling ensemble drama about a high school women’s soccer team that is stranded in the Canadian wilderness when their plane crashes in 1996 — and the lives of the adult survivors 25 years later — aired most of its episodes in 2021, but it was still eligible for the Globes since its last three episodes aired in 2022. It’s Showtime’s first bona fide sensation since “Homeland” and it’s exactly the kind of show that the Globes has historically loved to champion in its first season. Instead, it got nothing. Better hope Misty doesn’t hear about it!
Harry Styles Not Nominated for “My Policeman”
If this were literally any other awards show, it would not be a surprise at all that Harry Styles was overlooked for his lovely, if lightweight, performance as a closeted gay man in 1950s England. But this is the Globes, an awards show that has existed to nominate the biggest stars possible. Styles had the added benefit of being the gravitational center of one of the most delicious celebrity conflagrations in years and years. And yet! The Globes said no thank you! The reforms are working! BUT AT WHAT COST?!
Julia Roberts Nominated! But for “Gaslit,” Not “Ticket to Paradise”
The starry Julia Roberts and Sean Penn limited series “Gaslit,” set during the Watergate scandal, was roundly ignored by the TV Academy during the Emmy nominations — notably so! Roberts also starred this fall — opposite George Clooney — in the delightful romantic comedy “Ticket to Paradise,” which was a global box office hit, and was seen as somewhat of a comeback for the beleaguered genre. A great excuse of a nomination if we ever saw one.
And yet! The HFPA chose to nominate Roberts for “Gaslit,” in which she played Martha Mitchell, the “mouth of the South.” Now the organization’s mission will need to be getting Roberts to attend the ceremony.
Some Big Surprises in the Movie Actress Categories: No Danielle Deadwyler or Jennifer Lawrence
In a fairly weak year for movies on the whole, there’s actually no shortage of excellent, notable performances by female actors. Yet the Globes did manage to surprise here. The organization passed over the work of Danielle Deadwyler in “Till,” in which she plays the mother of the infamously murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till, as well as Jennifer Lawrence’s turn in “Causeway” as a soldier who’s returned home to New Orleans after a traumatic brain injury — both are considered to be strong contenders as Oscar nominees. You never know how it works, of course, but perhaps in their places were the nods for Ana de Armas for “Blonde” and awards perennial Olivia Colman for “Empire of Light.” (Good for them, of course! No shade.)
And over in the actress in a comedy or musical category, “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris” star Lesley Manville was nominated, perhaps in the slot that might have otherwise occupied the previously mentioned Julia Roberts for “Ticket to Paradise.”
“RRR” Not Nominated for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy
“RRR” turns the speculative partnership of two of India’s most important revolutionaries into a three-hour, action-musical spectacular — and in doing so became one of the biggest global hits of the year. Given the international credentials of the people doing all the nominating for the Globes, many pundits pegged “RRR” to be one of the view films not in English as a near-lock to break through into the top categories. Alas, it did not, instead earning nods in the international film category and for best song.
Zendaya Nominated for “Euphoria”
Zendaya’s exclusion from the Golden Globes after her work in the first season of “Euphoria” was widely criticized at the time. But she has now won two actress Emmys for the HBO show, in which she plays the struggling high-school student Rue. If they hadn’t nominated her, there would have been a critics’ (and TikTok!) uprising, which now that we’re thinking about it, might have been fun to watch. But better to nominate her, especially since she deserves it. (She is, notably, the only nominee from “Euphoria.”)
“Women Talking” Only Nominated for Screenplay and Score
Coming into awards season, “Women Talking” has been one of those movies that have utterly captivated the people who’ve seen it at film festivals and awards screenings — it will be released on Dec. 23. Set largely in a single location, writer-director Sarah Polley follows a group of Mennonite women who must decide whether to leave their cloistered community, or stay, knowing that men within it have drugged and raped many of them. The ensemble — led by Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley and Ben Whishaw — are uniformly excellent, which could’ve been part of the problem: It’s impossible to single out just one or two for a nomination. But that doesn’t mean the film itself couldn’t have earned nods for best picture, drama or best director. Instead, the HFPA nominated only Polley’s screenplay and Hildur Guðnadóttir’s original score.
More to come.