‘Trial of Chicago 7,’ ‘Mank,’ ‘Hamilton’ among Golden Globe nominees

David Fincher’s vision of a bygone Hollywood “Mank” topped nominations to the 78th Golden Globe Awards on Wednesday with six nods, leading Netflix’s overall domination in a pandemic-marred movie year.

The film about “Citizen Kane” co-writer Herman Mankiewicz, landed nominations for best film, drama; best actor for Gary Oldman; best director for Fincher, best supporting actress for Amanda Seyfried; best score; and best screenplay for Jack Fincher, the director’s father who penned the script before dying in 2003.

Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7” — which, like “Mank,” is a Netflix release — came closest with five nominations, including nods for best film, drama; best director and best screenplay for Sorkin; supporting actor for Sacha Baron Cohen; and best song.

A year after fielding no female nominees for best director — or best feature film nomination for any movie directed by a woman — the Hollywood Foreign Press nominated more female filmmakers than it had before.

Regina King (“One Night in Miami”), Zhao and Fennell were nominated for best director, alongside Sorkin and Fincher.

Netflix, which topped all studios at the Globes last year, too, led with a commanding 42 nominations, with 22 coming in film categories and 20 in television.

Gauging the awards prospects of most films has been difficult this winter, with none of the usual screenings and events happening in-person, and a number of the films once expected to lead contenders postponed. But there were still plenty of choices by the press association — an always unpredictable group of 89 voting members — that surprised observers Wednesday.

Spike Lee, whose daughter Satchel and son Jackson are Globes ambassadors this year, saw his Vietnam veteran drama “Da 5 Bloods” unexpectedly shut out entirely. Meryl Streep, who has won eight Globes from a record 32 nominations, was actually snubbed this time, for both “The Prom” and “Let Them All Talk.” Nominations for Jared Leto’s performance as a serial killer in the just-released “The Little Things” and for the Sia-directed musical “Music” were so far out of left field that they seemed likely to rank among previous wayward Globes nominees like “The Tourist.”

The press association also drew much criticism for an earlier decision to consider Lee Isaac Chung’s lauded immigrant drama “Minari,” about a Korean-American family in Arkansas in which the characters largely speak Korean, ineligible for its top award. The group instead nominated “Minari” for best foreign-language film, along with “Another Road,” “La Llorona,” “The Life Ahead” and “Two of Us.”

Hollywood’s strange and largely virtual awards season lacks the usual kind of buzz and red-carpet glamour that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association annually feasts on. More than perhaps any other award show, the Globes depend on a cavalcade of stars — something that won’t materialize when the awards are handed out Feb. 28 in a ceremony hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

On Tuesday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association said the Globes — typically a bubbly dinner gathering with flowing drinks — will be held bi-coastally for the first time. Fey will host live from New York’s Rainbow Room and Poehler will host from the awards’ normal home, the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. It’s expected that nominees will appear from locations around the world.

The nominees, as announced Wednesday by Sarah Jessica Parker and Taraji P. Henson, are:

Best motion picture drama: “The Father”; “Mank”; “Nomadland”; “The Trial of the Chicago 7”; “Promising Young Woman.”

Best motion picture, musical or comedy: “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; “Hamilton,”; “Music”; “Palm Springs”; “The Prom.”

Best director: Chloé Zhao, “Nomadland”; Regina King, “One Night in Miami”; David Fincher, “Mank”; Aaron Sorkin, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”; Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman.”

Best screenplay – motion picture: “Promising Young Woman” (Focus Features); “Mank” (Netflix); “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (Netflix); “The Father” (Sony Pictures Classics); “Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)

Best television series, drama: “The Crown”; “Lovecraft Country”; “The Mandalorian”; “Ozark”; “Ratched.”

Best television series, musical or comedy: “Schitt’s Creek”; “Ted Lasso”; “The Great”; “The Flight Attendant”; “Emily in Paris.”

Best animated film: “Onward”; “The Croods: A New Age”; “Over the Moon”; “Soul”; “Wolfwalkers”

Lead actor in a drama film: Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal”; Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”; Gary Oldman, “Mank”; Tahar Rahim, “The Mauritanian”

Lead actress in a drama film: Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”; Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”; Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman”; Andra Day, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”

Lead actor in a comedy or musical film: Sacha Baron Cohen, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; James Corden, “The Prom”; Andy Samberg, “Palm Springs”; ”Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Hamilton”; Dev Patel, “The Personal History of David Copperfield”

Netflix

Lead actress in a comedy or musical film: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; Michelle Pfeiffer, “French Exit”; Anya Taylor-Joy, “Emma”; Kate Hudson, “Music”; Rosamund Pike, “I Care A Lot.”

Best actress in a television series – musical or comedy: Lily Collins, “Emily in Paris”; Kaley Cuoco, “The Flight Attendant”; Elle Fanning, “The Great”; Jane Levy, “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”; Catherine O’Hara, “Schitt’s Creek”

Best actor in a limited series or motion picture made for television: Bryan Cranston, “Your Honor”; Jeff Daniels, “The Comey Rule”; Hugh Grant, “The Undoing”; Ethan Hawke, “The Good Lord Bird”; Mark Ruffalo, “I Know This Much Is True”

Best actress in a limited series or motion picture made for television: Cate Blanchett, “Mrs. America”; Daisy Edgar-Jones, Normal People”; Shira Haas, “Unorthodox”; Nicole Kidman, “The Undoing”; Anya Taylor-Joy, “The Queen’s Gambit”

Best actor in a supporting role in any 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 actress in a supporting role in any motion picture : Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”; Olivia Colman, “The Father”; Jodie Foste, “The Mauritanian”; Amanda Seyfried, “Mank”; Helena Zengel, “News of the World”

Best actor in a supporting role in a series, limited series or motion picture made for television: John Boyega, “Small Axe”; Brendan Gleeson,“The Comey Rule”; Dan Levy,“Schitt’s Creek”; Jim Parsons, “Hollywood”; Donald Sutherland,“The Undoing”

Best motion picture, foreign language: “Another Round”; “La Llorona”; “The Life Ahead”; “Minari”; “Two of Us.”

Best limited series or TV movie: “Normal People”; “The Queen’s Gambit”; “Small Acts”; “The Undoing”; “Unorthodox.”

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 original score, motion picture: “The Midnight Sky,” “Tenet,” “News of the World,” “Mank,” “Soul”