STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning. A group called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association hands out the awards, and the nominees for both film and TV include a lot of productions that you may well have seen in this past year of watching lots of stuff on screens during the pandemic. The top contenders in the motion picture drama category, for example, include "The Father," "Mank," "Nomadland," "Promising Young Woman" and "The Trial Of The Chicago 7"; in TV, "Emily In Paris," "The Flight Attendant," "The Great," "Schitt's Creek" and "Ted Lasso." And, of course, those are just some of the nominees. There are many categories. And John Horn is following it all. He hosts the podcast "Hollywood, The Sequel," covers entertainment for KPCC. Good morning there, John.
JOHN HORN, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: What are you hearing from the people getting nominated?
HORN: Well, I think this says a lot about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. I had a exchange early this morning with somebody who had multiple nominations. And his PR contact called and asked if he would give a quote to celebrate his nominations, and his quote was the Golden Globes are a expletive expletive.
INSKEEP: (Laughter) OK.
HORN: The publicist said, OK, I'll take that as a no. Never mind.
INSKEEP: OK. So there's a bit of cynicism about the Golden Globes, which we picked up on in an earlier conversation with you about them. But there are some interesting films here. You told us about something called "Nomadland," and there it is, one of the nominees for best motion picture drama. What's it about?
HORN: Yeah. This is one of my favorite movies of the year. This is an adaptation of a nonfiction book by Jessica Bruder about a group of people who have been displaced by a variety of economic downfalls. And it largely stars the actual nomads. They call themselves houseless, not homeless. They caravan around the country looking for temporary work. It was produced by and stars Frances McDormand, and it was directed by Chloe Zhao. And one thing that was notable about the Golden Globes this morning is there were three women nominated for directing, including Chloe Zhao. That's a first for the Golden Globes. And I think it really does set up Chloe Zhao as the favorite for best director for the Academy Awards. Only one woman has ever won that award. That's Kathryn Bigelow. And no Asian woman, obviously, has ever won the best directing Oscar.
INSKEEP: Yeah. Women have a majority of the nominees for director this time around. I do want to call attention to one other film that's just particularly interesting here on this nominee list - "Mank," which is about a screenwriter writing one of the greatest films of all time. So it's Hollywood commenting on itself. Doesn't Hollywood kind of love movies about Hollywood?
HORN: Hollywood loves anything about itself. I mean, so, yes, any movie that's celebrating, you know, the art of filmmaking - you can think back to a movie like "The Artist" - definitely Hollywood likes to celebrate itself. And it likes films that are, you know, both critical and insightful about the business. And "Mank" is a movie that was written by David Fincher - very popular, very well received. I got to say, though, there were a lot of movies that got top nominations. One that I've never really heard of called "The Mauritanian" was selected for best actor in a drama. And then there was a very poorly reviewed musical called "Music" that was nominated for best musical or comedy.
INSKEEP: Maybe needing to fill out the form. Who knows. Who knows. But some good stuff in there. And, John, thanks very much for the update, really appreciate it.
HORN: My pleasure. Have a good day.
INSKEEP: John Horn hosts the podcast "Hollywood, The Sequel" and covers entertainment for KPCC.
(SOUNDBITE OF AMBIENT JAZZ ENSEMBLE'S "ELEVEN DAYS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
