Dick Cheney biopic 'Vice' tops Golden Globes nominations

NEW YORK - AP

Vice

Adam McKay's Dick Cheney biopic "Vice" swooped in to lead nominations for the 76th annual Golden Globe Awards, narrowly edging Bradley Cooper's tear-jerking revival "A Star Is Born," the interracial road-trip drama "Green Book" and the period romp "The Favourite."

"Vice" topped all contenders Dec. 6 with a surprising six nominations, including best picture, comedy. "A Star Is Born," “Green Book" and "The Favourite" trailed close behind with five nominations each.

While the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a collection of 88 mostly lesser-known freelance film journalists, is known for its quirkier selections and categorizations ("Get Out" last year slotted in as a comedy), few saw the resounding success of "Vice" coming.

The Annapurna Pictures release, starring Christian Bale as the former vice president, is a highly critical portrait of the former vice president (played by a barely recognizable Christian Bale, who was also nominated) that portrays Cheney as a power-hungry, behind-the-scenes tyrant. It arrives in theaters Dec. 25.

Joining "A Star Is Born" in the best picture, drama, category was: 'Black Panther," ''BlacKkKlansman," ''Bohemian Rhapsody" and "If Beale Street Could Talk." Up for best picture, comedy, alongside "Vice" are "The Favourite," ''Green Book," ''Mary Poppins Returns" and "Crazy Rich Asians."

The nominations, announced at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, were presented by Terry Crews, Danai Gurira, Leslie Mann and Christian Slater.

The nominees for best animated film were: "Incredibles 2," ''Isle of Dogs," ''Mirai," ''Ralph Breaks the Internet" and "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse."

Curiously, the Hollywood Foreign Press doesn't consider foreign-language films for best film, so Alfonso Cuaron's Netflix drama "Roma" was left out of the Globes' top category. It was still nominated for best screenplay, best director and best foreign language film.

The other nominees for best foreign language film were "Capernaum," ''Girl," ''Never Look Away" and "Shoplifters" - a field that notably left off one of the year's most acclaimed films: Pawel Pawlikowski's "Cold War."

The ratings for last January's broadcast, hosted by Seth Meyers and graced with an impassioned speech by Oprah Winfrey, dipped 5 percent with approximately 19 million viewers. As the first major award show following the Harvey Weinstein revelations and subsequent launch of the #MeToo movement, the usually more frivolous ceremony had an atypical edge of seriousness. In a demonstration organized by the then-just-founded Time's Up, many women wore black on the red carpet.

Whether this year will return the Globes to their more lighthearted celebrations will rest partly with its unexpected pairing of Andy Samberg and "Killing Eve" star Sandra Oh, who was nominated for best actress in a TV series drama. They were announced on Dec. 5 as hosts to the Jan. 6 ceremony, to be broadcast live on NBC.