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SYFY WIRE Golden Globes

Golden Globes 2020: Joker laughs its way to four major nominations, including Best Drama Film

By Josh Weiss
Joaquin Phoenix Joker

No one is laughing now, because Todd Phillips' Joker is a bona fide Golden Globe nominee.

This morning, the DC origin film officially entered the awards season race with nods for Best Drama Movie, Best Director (Todd Phillips), Best Actor in a Drama Role (Joaquin Phoenix), and Best Original Score (Hildur Guðnadóttir).

After Marriage Story, The Irishman, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Joker racked up the most nominations of any other film with a total of four. Co-written by Phillips, the movie explores the gensis of Gotham City's most famous villain, who, in this telling, is a failed comedian by the name of Arthur Fleck (Phoenix).

Thanks to the success of Black Panther during last year's awards season, it looks like the flood gates have been opened for comic book features to be taken seriously as real cinema. As such, Joker has a real chance of making it all the way to the Academy Awards.

Joker

Game of Thrones is getting one last hurrah after its eighth and final season thanks to a nomination for Kit Harington (Jon Snow) in the category of Best Actor in a Drama Series. Unfortunately, HBO's high fantasy series didn't nab any more nods beyond that.

Interestingly, however, Jon Favreau's remake of The Lion King landed in the category for Best Animated Movie, finally putting the "live-action vs. animation" debate to rest. The film will compete against Toy Story 4 (Disney), Frozen II (yet another Disney release), Missing Link (Laika), and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (DreamWorks) for the top animated prize.

Golden Globe 2020 Animation

While its CGI may have freaked you out, Tom Hooper's Cats has entered the race under the banner of Best Original Song. Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Taylor Swift, "Beautiful Ghosts" will be competing against other genre tracks like "Spirit" (The Lion King) and "Into the Unknown" (Frozen II).

Taika Waititi's anti-hate satire, Jojo Rabbit, was recognized in the categories for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Roman Griffin Davis). Written and directed by Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), the movie centers on a member of the Hitler Youth (Davis) who questions his Nazi ideology when he finds a young Jewish girl hiding in his home.

Rian Johnson's Knives Out scored three nods for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Ana de Armas), and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (Daniel Craig). The whodunit picture stars de Armas as Marta Cabrera, a home nurse dealing with scrutiny from famed private investigator, Benoit Blanc (Craig).

Jojo Rabbit Knives Out

Paul Rudd and Natasha Lyonne nabbed nods for their work on Living with Yourself and Russian Doll respectively.

The 77th Golden Globes will be held on the evening of Sunday, January 5 at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. NBC is live airing the ceremony hosted by comedian Ricky Gervais.

For the full list of the 2020 nominees, click here.