Mini-Countdown: Marvellous Murder Mysteries

I love a good murder mystery. As a teenager, I obsessively read Agatha Christie novels and- even now- my go-to leisure reading is crime fiction. It shouldn't be a surprise to tell you Cluedo is my favourite boardgame. There's something incredibly fun in giving the "little grey cells" some exercise, sifting through the clues, and working out who the killer is. Since the dawn of cinema, whodunits and murder mysteries have been a staple of the artform. So here are six of my favourite murder mysteries - with an added bonus at the end.

Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
Written by Paul Dehn and directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring: Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Vanessa Redgrave, Sean Connery, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller

The first of the all-star Agatha Christie adaptations in the 1970s and early 1980s (Death On The Nile [1978] and The Mirror Crack'd [1980] are also worth a watch), it takes Christie's iconic 1934 novel- which has one of the best-known endings in all of fiction- and brings it to life (and death) with style and panache. Ingrid Bergman won her third Oscar for playing the mousy missionary Greta Ohlsson, whilst Albert Finney got his second Oscar nod for playing detective Hercule Poirot. It's a sumptuous-looking film; the production design and costume work is superb. The 2017 version doesn't quite capture the story in the same way, but it's definitely worth a look on its own merits. I'd also recommend the 2010 television adaptation- starring David Suchet- for a very different take on the story.

Murder By Death (1976)

Written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore 

Starring: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness, Maggie Smith, Peter Falk, Elsa Lanchester, Truman Capote

Who says that murder has to be a serious business? Not Neil Simon, that's for sure. This affectionate pastiche of popular crime fiction- gathering five of the world's greatest detectives (all of which are the thinnest parodies of well-known sleuths, from Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and Earl Derr Biggers) to solve a murder- has some wonderful moments, sending up the implausibility and outlandishness of certain plots, but always done with charm. An all-star cast of some of the best actors working at the time let loose to play a whodunit through the filter of a screwball comedy is well worth your time. 

Clue (1985)

Written by and directed by Jonathan Lynn

Starring: Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Lesley Ann Warren, Christopher Lloyd, Martin Mull, Michael McKean

Had to be on here. No way it couldn't be. The first film based on a board game, Jonathan Lynn's Clue is a cult classic. Eminently quotable, utterly madcap, and played to the hilt by its immensely capable cast, this is a film I have seen numerous times and will never get bored of. Famed for its three different endings, you'll enjoy seeing the explanations of who did what to whom with which item over and over again. Just superb. 

Gosford Park (2001)

Written by Julian Fellowes and directed by Robert Altman

Starring: Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Kristin Scott Thomas, Helen Mirren, Kelly Macdonald, Clive Owen, Emily Watson

A wonderful mix of country-house murder mystery and upstairs-downstairs drama, Julian Fellowes' witty and well-observed script rightly won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar in 2002. Sterling performances throughout the entire cast- including two Oscar nominated turns for Maggie Smith (as a proto-Countess of Grantham [from Downton Abbey]) and Helen Mirren (as the stony-faced housekeeper who is the "perfect servant")- and another visually stunning film. Again, the production design and the costume design are spot-on. 

Identity (2003)

Written by Michael Cooney and directed by James Mangold 

Starring: John Cusack, Rebecca DeMornay, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, Pruitt Taylor Vince

On a rainy night at a remote motel out in the Nevada desert, ten strangers end up coming together under less-than-perfect circumstances. But there's a killer stalking the motel, picking them off one by one... Taking its inspiration from another Agatha Christie classic (discussed below), Identity is a nice and nasty little murder mystery done up like a slasher flick. Some of the kills are shocking and the denouement isn't something you see in every murder mystery. Definitely worth checking out for a twist on the usual formula.  

Knives Out (2019)

Written and directed by Rian Johnson

Starring: Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer

Ah, family gatherings. Usually a very ripe situation for there to end up being blood on the carpet. In Rian Johnson's wry and densely-plotted puzzle box of a movie, any one of the Thrombey family could have done the old man in. Motive piles on motive, direction leads to misdirection, and all the clues are there - but sometimes what you see (or more accurately, what you think you see) isn't actually what's going on. A sequel is in the works, with Southern gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) taking on a new case. I will definitely be there for that. 

Bonus: Ten Little Indians (1965)

Written by Peter Yeldham & Peter Welbeck and directed by George Pollock

Starring: Shirley Eaton, Hugh O'Brien, Leo Genn, Stanley Holloway, Dennis Price, Wilfred Hyde-White

Originally published in 1939 (under a very different and, by today's standards, unacceptable title), And Then There Were None is the world's best-selling mystery and is one of the best-selling books of all time. The plot is simple: a group of strangers are sent to a large house on a deserted  island and are picked off one by one by an unseen menace. 

The novel has been adapted to film several times, with the setting changed from an island (1945, dir. René Clair), to a hotel in an Iranian desert (1974, dir. Peter Collinson), and an African safari (1989, dir. Alan Birkinshaw), but the 1965 version sets it in a luxurious mountaintop mansion. 

Clair's 1945 version is also definitely well worth a watch, but the reason I highlight the 1965 version of the story is the gimmick of the "Murder Minute". Before the climax of the film, where the killer is unmasked, the action stops and a recap of the deaths is given, to allow the audience a chance to work out the identity of the murderer. In some versions of the film, the "Murder Minute" is taken out, but is retained in others.

So there are several murder mysteries that are worth a watch if you've not seen them before. What would you add to the list? Let us know below!

Awards Season 2021: Writers' Guild Awards (WGA) Nominations

This is just a brief update to tell you about the nominees for this year's Writers' Guild Awards (WGA), which were announced earlier today. 

Long-time readers of the awards season nonsense on here will know that the screenplay categories are not ones that I try and guess nominees (or winners) for, but as a writer, I'm interested to see what's got the nod.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Judas And The Black Messiah

Palm Springs

Promising Young Woman

Sound Of Metal

The Trial Of The Chicago 7

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

News Of The World

One Night In Miami

The White Tiger

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

All In: The Fight For Democracy

The Dissident

Herb Alpert Is...

Red Penguins

Totally Under Control

Due to how the Writers Guild of America works (where non-members are not permitted to be nominated for a WGA Award), there are several major films that were ineligible (but will be eligible for the Oscars): these include Soul, Minari, Mank, Nomadland, The Father, Pieces Of A Woman, and The Personal History Of David Copperfield. 

Quentin Tarantino is famously not a WGA member, but that hasn't stopped him getting four Oscar nods for his screenplays, and two wins. So, unlike other certain guild awards, these don't have such a major impact on the Oscars.

The Writers' Guild Awards will be handed out on Sunday 21st March 2021. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

There's a brief break in awards stuff now; our next awards outing will be Sunday 28th February 2021, when the Golden Globes will be handed out. Enjoy the respite!

Awards Season 2021: Critics' Choice Movie Awards Nominations

Awards nonsense ahoy! Today (Monday 8th February) saw the announcement of the movie nominations for the 26th Annual Critics' Choice Awards.

Here are a selection of their nominees:

BEST PICTURE

Da 5 Bloods

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Mank

Minari

News Of The World

Nomadland

One Night In Miami...

Promising Young Woman

Sound Of Metal

The Trial Of The Chicago 7

BEST DIRECTOR

Lee Isaac Chung (Minari)

Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman)

David Fincher (Mank)

Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods)

Regina King (One Night In Miami...)

Aaron Sorkin (The Trial Of The Chicago 7)

Chloé Zhao (Nomadland)

BEST ACTOR

Ben Affleck (The Way Back)

Riz Ahmed (Sound Of Metal)

Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Tom Hanks (News Of The World)

Anthony Hopkins (The Father)

Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods)

Gary Oldman (Mank)

Steven Yeun (Minari)

BEST ACTRESS

Viola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Andra Day (The United States Vs. Billie Holiday)

Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)

Vanessa Kirby (Pieces Of A Woman)

Frances McDormand (Nomadland)

Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)

Zendaya (Malcolm & Marie)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial Of The Chicago 7)

Chadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods)

Daniel Kaluuya (Judas And The Black Messiah)

Bill Murray (On The Rocks)

Leslie Odom Jr. (One Night In Miami...)

Paul Raci (Sound Of Metal)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)

Ellen Burstyn (Pieces Of A Woman)

Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)

Olivia Colman (The Father)

Amanda Seyfried (Mank)

Youn Yuh-jung (Minari)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

Mank leads the field with 12 nominations, closely followed by Minari with 10. 

A couple of nice surprises in the list - including the first major recognition for Delroy Lindo, Zendaya, and Ellen Burstyn. For me, this confirms that- for each of the acting awards at least- there's a core of 3-4 actors who are a virtual lock for an Oscar nod. Similarly, there are 3 (maybe 4?) directors who are looking very strong too, although the Directors Guild Award nominations (due on 9th March) will pretty much crystallize that.

The 26th Critics' Choice Awards will be handed out on Sunday 7th March 2021, in a ceremony hosted by Taye Diggs (The Best Man Holiday, Equilibrium, How Stella Got Her Groove Back), who is taking MC duties for the third consecutive year. 

The ceremony will be a mix of in-person and virtual, with Diggs and some presenters in the Los Angeles studio with nominees appearing remotely. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

Next stop on the awards season hype train will be the Writers Guild Awards nominations which are announced next Tuesday (16th February).

Christopher Plummer (1929-2021)

Like many, we at the Watchers were saddened to hear of the passing of Christopher Plummer. The respected character actor, who is (to date) the oldest winner of a competitive acting Oscar, passed away on Friday 5th February, at the age of 91.

In a career spanning seven decades, Plummer's body of work took in everything from musicals to thrillers, highbrow literary adaptations and popcorn blockbusters, voicing animated characters and bringing some of Shakespeare's biggest characters to life on stage. He was equally at home playing a Klingon general as he was playing Sherlock Holmes. 

Born in Toronto in 1929, Plummer's maternal great-grandfather was none other than Sir John Abbott (third Prime Minister of Canada). When his parents divorced, Plummer moved to Senneville in Quebec and grew up speaking both French and English. In 1950, he joined the Canadian Rep and his theatre career began, appearing on Broadway and at the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival (somewhere he would perform until well into his 80s). He played the leading role in Henry V in 1956 in a production which travelled to the Edinburgh festival. Three years later, he would receive his first Tony nomination for his performance in JB by Archibald MacLeish, a re-telling of the Old Testament book of Job, in which he played Nickles (Satan).

Plummer made his film debut in 1958 in Stage Struck, a romantic drama directed by Sidney Lumet. Plummer plays Joe Sheridan, a writer in love with actress Eva Lovelace (Susan Strasberg). He went on to appear in TV versions of several classic plays, including A Doll's House, The Philadelphia Story, Captain Brassbound's Conversion, and Cyrano de Bergerac. In 1961, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in London, appearing in Anouilh's Becket, as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing (opposite Geraldine McEwan as Beatrice) and took the title role in Richard III. 

One of Plummer's career-defining roles (whether he liked it or not, and he didn't) was as the strict Captain Georg Von Trapp in The Sound Of Music (1965). Opting out of playing Harry Palmer in The Ipcress File to take the role of the stern widowed naval officer who falls in love with the free-spirited governess (Julie Andrews) who comes to look after his children, Plummer intensely disliked working on the film. He referred to the film as "The Sound Of Mucus" and describing working with Julie Andrews as "like being hit over the head with a Valentine's card" (although they remained close friends afterwards). When asked if he had made his peace with the film, he responded "Oh, God no." although, in 2011, his opinion had softened somewhat, saying: "it's timeless and I'm grateful for it". 

For the second half of the 1960s, Plummer's filmography steers shy of any more saccharine musicals and exemplifies the versatile nature of the actor: he went from playing manipulative studio exec Raymond Swan in Inside Daisy Clover (1965) to playing Incan emperor Atahuallpa in the big screen adaptation of Peter Shaffer's The Royal Hunt Of The Sun (1969), via Field Marshal Rommel (The Night Of The Generals, 1967), Oedipus (Oedipus The King, 1968), and Squadron Leader Colin Harvey (Battle Of Britain, 1969)

In 1973, he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the title role in the musical Cyrano. He also appeared in The Return Of The Pink Panther (1975), playing gentleman-thief Sir Charles Litton a.k.a. "The Phantom" (replacing David Niven, who declined to return for a second film) and proving to be an admirable straight man for the madcap energy of Peter Sellers. He played Rudyard Kipling in The Man Who Would Be King (1975) opposite Michael Caine and Sean Connery, and appeared as Herod in the acclaimed 1977 mini-series Jesus Of Nazareth. In 1978's The Silent Partner, Plummer plays a sadistic bank robber engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the bank teller who swindled him. He ended the 1970s by playing Sherlock Holmes in Murder By Decree (1979). Directed by Bob Clark and co-starring James Mason as Watson, Plummer puts in a superb performance as the sleuth who is investigating the murders committed by Jack The Ripper. 

During the 1980s, Plummer played Iago opposite James Earl Jones in Othello, receiving his third Tony nomination. On screen, he was seen as Archbishop Contini-Verchese in the TV adaptation of The Thorn Birds (1983), as Leo Argyle in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie's Ordeal By Innocence (1984) and provided the voice of Henri the pigeon in Don Bluth's An American Tail (1986). He also played the villainous Reverend Jonathan Whirley in the big-screen version of 1950s cop show Dragnet (opposite Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd), and returned to Broadway to play Macbeth with Glenda Jackson as Lady Macbeth. He also appeared in the 1988 horror Vampire In Venice, playing the Van Helsing character to Klaus Kinski's Nosferatu. 

In 1991, Plummer appeared in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), playing the bellicose Klingon General Chang. Injecting the script with life with each Shakespearean flourish, Plummer is better than the material but makes it work. His other roles throughout the 1990s include a racist prison chaplain in Malcolm X (1992), a ruthless business tycoon in Wolf (1994), a dogged small-town police detective investigating the mysterious death of an old woman in Stephen King adaptation Dolores Claiborne (1995), the virologist father of a mad man (Brad Pitt) in Twelve Monkeys (1995) and as television legend Mike Wallace in Michael Mann's whistleblower drama The Insider (1999). During all this screen work, Plummer still found time for the stage, playing Spooner opposite Jason Robards' Hirst in a revival of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, and winning a second Tony Award for his performance as legendary stage actor John Barrymore in a play by William Luce, called Barrymore. 

The course of Plummer's career throughout the 2000s, whilst impressive and varied as always, could have been very different; he turned down the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which would later be played by Ian McKellen). When asked about making such an extraordinary decision, Plummer said "I don't know why I turned it down. I think it had to do with spending four years in New Zealand. There's other countries I want to visit before I croak."

Plummer worked steadily throughout the 2000s, appearing in such varied fare as Dracula 2001 (2000) as Van Helsing, A Beautiful Mind (2001), Nicholas Nickelby (2004), Cold Creek Manor (2003), National Treasure (2004), Alexander (2004) as Aristotle, Syriana (2005), The New World (2005), Inside Man (2006), The Lake House (2006), and as the title character in The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (2009), which would be Heath Ledger's final film. He also continued to do voice acting, playing the antagonist Charles Muntz in Up (2009) and elder #1 in 9 (2009).

Yet despite all the plaudits and critical praise, one thing had still eluded Plummer: an Oscar nomination. That changed in 2010 when he received his first Academy Award nod- as Best Supporting Actor- for playing Russian author Leo Tolstoy in biographical drama The Last Station (2009). His co-star Helen Mirren also received an Oscar nod (for Best Actress) for playing his fiery wife Sofya, although they would both lose out: to Christoph Waltz (for Inglourious Basterds) and Sandra Bullock (for The Blind Side) respectively. 

However, it would only be another two years before Plummer was back at the Dolby Theatre and in contention for an Oscar again. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Mike Mills' romantic comedy-drama Beginners (2010). In it, Plummer plays Hal Fields, father to main character Oliver (Ewan McGregor), who- after his wife passes away- comes out of the closet and embarks on a relationship with a much younger man, before being diagnosed with terminal cancer. It's no surprise that Plummer's Best Supporting Actor nod was the film's only Oscar nomination: the film is imbued with rare vitality whenever Hal is on screen. 

At the age of 82, Plummer became the oldest winner of a competitive Oscar in an acting category, surpassing Jessica Tandy (who was 80 when she won for Driving Miss Daisy). His acceptance speech is a masterclass on how to do it: from his opening quip to the statuette-"You're only two years older than me, darling. Where have you been all my life?"- to his gracious roll-call of thanks, it's a perfect example of a classy, dignified speech. In addition to the Oscar, Plummer also won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, Screen Actors Guild, and Independent Spirit Award for this nuanced and quite brilliant turn. 

Plummer returned to Stratford, Ontario, to play Prospero in The Tempest, and also appeared in a film version of Barrymore, recreating his Tony-winning performance. He appeared as Henrik Vanger in David Fincher's version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (2011). He also provided the voice of Arngeir, an elder spokesman for the Greybeards, in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. He also appeared in Hector And The Search For Happiness (2014), Danny Collins (2015), The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017) [as Ebenezer Scrooge], and once again played Herod, this time in animated Christmas film The Star (2017).

In November 2017, it was announced that Plummer would be taking the role of billionaire oil magnate J. Paul Getty in Ridley Scott's All The Money In The World, a crime thriller dramatising the kidnapping of Getty's grandson John Paul in Rome in 1973. He would be replacing Kevin Spacey who was being removed from the film due to multiple allegations of sexual harrassment against him. The decision to replace him was made with just over a month to go before the film's release. Plummer had  two weeks to memorise his lines before jetting to Rome. It took eight days to reshoot all of Getty's scenes (twenty-two in total) and cost approximately $10m. 

Plummer's performance is superb: he infuses Getty with an odd kind of familial warmth yet is absolutely steadfast in his refusal to pay the ransom money for his grandson's return. It's an interesting dichotomy to see a man who has seemed to have a genuine concern for the boy blithely dismiss the request as if it's a mere trifle. Plummer received his third Oscar nomination- again for Best Supporting Actor- for his performance (like Beginners, his was the only Oscar nod the film got); at 88, he became the oldest Academy Award nominee for acting (although lost out to Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).

In 2019, Plummer reunited with Daniel Craig, his co-star from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, for Knives Out, a mystery drama written and directed by Rian Johnson. In it, Plummer plays renowned crime writer Harlan Thrombey, patriarch to a dysfunctional family, who gather to celebrate his 85th birthday. Thrombey's death is the catalyst for the investigation, but Plummer appears throughout in flashbacks, showing that more than one person at the house might have had reason for wanting to off the old man. Knives Out is a particularly good puzzle-box mystery and the casting is part of that. Plummer's last screen role was in The Last Full Measure (2019), but his voice will be heard in Heroes Of The Golden Masks (2021).

Whether playing sci-fi or Shakespeare, Christopher Plummer always brought a dignity and a gravitas to the role. He was a superb character actor and will be missed. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this time. 

Awards Season 2021: Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Awards Nominations

Today (Thursday 4th February), the nominations for the 27th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards were announced. 

Lily Collins (Mirror Mirror, Mank) and Daveed Diggs (Hamilton, Soul) announced the nominations via Instagram Live. How modern! Despite a few (ahem) early technical issues, the nominees were announced pretty smoothly. 

This is generally considered to be a bit of a bellwether award, as the voting body for SAG overlaps quite substantially with the actors' branch of the Academy. 

Below is the list of film nominations:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Da 5 Bloods

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Minari

One Night In Miami

The Trial Of The Chicago 7

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Riz Ahmed (Sound Of Metal)

Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Anthony Hopkins (The Father)

Gary Oldman (Mank)

Steven Yeun (Minari)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Amy Adams (Hillbilly Elegy)

Viola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Vanessa Kirby (Pieces Of A Woman)

Frances McDormand (Nomadland)

Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial Of The Chicago 7)

Chadwick Boseman (Da 5 Bloods)

Daniel Kaluuya (Judas And The Black Messiah)

Jared Leto (The Little Things)

Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night In Miami…)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Maria Bakalova (Borat Subsequent Moviefilm)

Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)

Olivia Colman (The Father)

Youn Yuh-Jung (Minari)

Helena Zengel (News Of The World)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Da 5 Bloods

Mulan

News Of The World

The Trial Of The Chicago 7

Wonder Woman 1984

Quite a few of the same names coming out already, with several actors and actresses looking ever more likely for the Oscar nod (Riz Ahmed, Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Viola Davis, Frances McDormand, Carey Mulligan, Daniel Kaluuya, Leslie Odom Jr., and Olivia Colman especially; I think Chadwick Boseman is in a strong position for at least one posthumous nod, and maybe two). 

Nice to see a couple of the cast of Minari being recognised here, building on the love of the Independent Spirit Awards. Despite high critical praise, still no awards love as yet for Delroy Lindo (Da 5 Bloods) or Ellen Burstyn (Pieces Of A Woman) but there's still time. And the Academy have been known in the past to chuck a couple of curveballs in their nominations (Laura Dern for Wild, for instance). 

The winners of this year's SAG Awards will be announced on Sunday 4th April (moved from its previously announced date of Sunday 14th March to avoid clashing with the similarly-moved Grammys). 

Congratulations to all nominees!

There's a couple of days of a breather from awards stuff, but this coming Sunday (7th February) will see this year's Critics' Choice Awards nominations announced. 

Enjoy this brief respite!

Awards Season 2021: Golden Globe Nominations

Today (Tuesday 3rd February) sees the announcement of the nominees for the 78th Golden Globe Awards, awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Sarah Jessica Parker and Taraji P. Henson announced the nominees at an early(ish) morning ceremony (8:35 EST/13:35 GMT)

As longtime readers of the blog will be aware, the HFPA split their awards, giving certain categories for both Drama and Musical or Comedy, rather than just going for the out-and-out drama as most awards tend to do.

Below is the full list of film nominees:

Best Picture - Drama

The Father

Mank

Nomadland

Promising Young Woman

The Trial Of The Chicago 7

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Hamilton

Music

Palm Springs

The Prom

Best Director

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 Actor - Drama

Riz Ahmed (Sound Of Metal)

Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Anthony Hopkins (The Father)

Gary Oldman (Mank)

Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian)

Best Actor - 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 Actress - Drama

Viola Davis (Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)

Andra Day (The United States Vs. Billie Holiday)

Vanessa Kirby (Pieces Of A Woman)

Frances McDormand (Nomadland)

Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman)

Best Actress - 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 Supporting Actor

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 Supporting Actress

Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy)

Olivia Colman (The Father)

Jodie Foster (The Mauritanian)

Amanda Seyfried (Mank)

Helena Zengel (News Of The World)

Best Original Score

The Midnight Sky

Tenet

News Of The World

Mank

Soul

Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language

Another Round

La Llorona

The Life Ahead

Minari

Two Of Us

Best Screenplay

Promising Young Woman

Mank

The Trial Of The Chicago 7

The Father

Nomadland

Best Original Song

"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

Over The Moon

Soul

Wolfwalkers

With six nominations, Mank leads the field, closely followed by The Trial Of The Chicago 7 with five. The Father, Nomadland, and Promising Young Woman all get four. 

Minari has been tipped as a major awards player, but there was some controversy that the HFPA placed it in the Best Foreign Language category (as the primary language of the film is Korean, despite being filmed in the USA). Other awards bodies may be slightly more lenient. And after several years of not nominating a female director for the Best Director category, HFPA have nominated three this year: Emerald Fennell, Regina King, and Chloé Zhao. See, wasn't so hard, was it? 

It's also been announced that Jane Fonda will be recipient of this year's Cecil B. DeMille Award.

The winners will be announced on Sunday 28th February 2021, with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler returning to host duties, but with a little twist: Poehler will host from Los Angeles, whilst Fey will host in New York .

Congratulations to all nominees!

There's more awards shenanigans coming tomorrow (4th February) when the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announce the nominations for this year's awards.