Golden Globes 2021 Nominations: Three Women Get Best Director Nods

At a time when the world is still being shaken by a global pandemic, a celebration of the Hollywood elite is probably not at the top of everyone's list of priorities. That said, this year's Golden Globes nominations – exemplified by a Best Director category in which the women outweigh the men – point towards what hopefully signals a more diverse future for the industry. This is still the Globes, though, so we also get a good number of snubs, of course, alongside the usual eyebrow-raising nods to questionable films.

Despite receiving mostly lukewarm reactions, David Fincher's Mank – a biopic about the life of Citizen Kane writer Herman J. Mankiewicz – leads the film categories this year with six nominations: Best Film Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Score, plus Best Actor for Gary Oldman and Best Supporting Actress for Amanda Seyfried. Hot on Mank's heels, also unexpectedly, is Aaron Sorkin's divisive The Trial of the Chicago 7, which was nominated for five awards: Best Film Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Original Song, and Best Actor in a Supporting Role for star Sacha Baron Cohen.

In the past, the Globes has been accused of failing to represent the true cinematic landscape – namely in its omission of female filmmakers and people of colour. Thankfully, following last year's ridiculous snubbing of female talent, three female filmmakers have been nominated for Best Director alongside David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin: Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), and Regina King (One Night in Miami). This, bizarrely, marks the first time in Globes history that more than one female director has been nominated in this category at the same time. Both Promising Young Woman and Nomadland also scored a further three nominations each, bringing their respective totals to four.

There are still a few odd omissions this year, however. There's nothing – nothing! – for Spike Lee's Vietnam epic Da 5 Bloods, which seemed like a shoe-in following the slew of rave reviews. We're also wondering where all the nominations are for the beautiful and poignant Minari, one of the year's standout films (it has just one, in the Best Foreign Film category, despite the fact that it is a distinctly American film).

Some of the biggest stars and big-name filmmakers were also absent from the list of this year's nominees: nothing (outside of a single Best Score nom) for News of the World, Paul Greengrass' affable western adventure starring the usual awards favourite and all-round nice man Tom Hanks. Same goes for Christopher Nolan's “cinema-saving” blockbuster Tenet, presumably on the basis that people are still trying to get their heads round it.

This year's questionable acting nominations include James Corden for his insufferable turn in Ryan Murphy's The Prom, and Kate Hudson for Sia's controversial drama Music. And the filmed stage version of Hamilton is being treated as a film, you say? The show's a masterpiece, of course, yet you can't help but wonder whether that space should have gone to a film that hasn't already won every award in existence – or is, you know, actually a film.

This year's Golden Globes ceremony will be broadcast on 28 February, 2021, and will be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. You can read the full list of film nominations below:

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 Performance by an Actress in a 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 Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Tahar Rahim, The Mauritanian

Best Performance by an Actor in a 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 Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland

Best Motion Picture, Drama
The Father
Mank
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
The Trial of the Chicago 7

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 Original Score, Motion Picture
Alexandre Desplat, Midnight Sky
Ludwig Göransson, Tenet
James Newton, News of the World
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Mank
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Jon Batiste, Soul

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Hamilton
Palm Springs
The Prom

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 Picture, Foreign Language
Another Round (Denmark)
La Llorona (Guatemala/France)
The Life Ahead (Italy)
Minari (USA)
Two of Us (France/USA)

Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Jack Fincher, Mank
Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of Chicago 7
Florian Zeller, Christopher Hampton, The Father
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland

Best Original 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 Holiday

Best Motion Picture, Animated
The Croods: A New Age
Onward
Soul
Over the Moon
Wolfwalkers