10 Golden Globe-winning performances that were robbed at the Oscars
The Golden Globes are an institution filled with controversies and corruption, but they occasionally get things right in a way that the Academy Awards do not.
The award season is a long stretch of the cinematic calendar year that begins with the buzz established by fall festivals, and seemingly doesn’t end until the winners of the Academy Awards have been subjected to some sort of backlash and controversy. The Golden Globes may not exactly be prestigious, but they do serve as a fun centrepoint of the season where the industry is given the chance to celebrate itself at a more casual pace.
Although the Globes briefly went away after a series of scandals, the ceremony is now back on air and even bigger than ever, while also being deemed a bit of a running joke. The winners of the Golden Globes are usually pretty decent, especially in recent years, since the stakeholders have taken a greater interest in awarding international and arthouse cinema, standing in sharp contrast to bodies like the Critics’ Choice Awards, which seemingly exist only to serve as predictions for what will be nominated at the Oscars.
Due to the expanded list of categories, which are divided into drama and comedy/musical, it is possible for some very worthy performances to end up winning the Golden Globe prize, and then being shut out entirely by the time that the Oscar nominations roll in. As easy as it is to make fun of the Golden Globes, especially given their strange selections of hosts, it’s also hard to deny that they sometimes get it right.
10 times the Golden Globes got it right versus the Oscars:
Jim Carrey in ‘The Truman Show'<br>
Jim Carrey may have been the biggest comedy star of the 1990s, but he quickly proved that he could also be a compelling dramatic actor, with his turn as Truman in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show being not only empathetic and heartbreaking, but also helping raise awareness for a film that had important things to say about obsession with television media and reality programming.
Carrey won the Golden Globe award for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama’, but was left out of the Oscar race altogether, even though Weir was recognised for ‘Best Director’ and his co-star Ed Harris was nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
Worse, this happened twice, wherein Carrey won the following year in the ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical’ category for his performance as Andy Kaufman in the biopic Man on the Moon, while also being snubbed at the Oscars. Nonetheless, he still showed up at the Golden Globes to roast Shia LaBeouf.
Gene Hackman in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’<br>
The late great Gene Hackman didn’t officially retire until Welcome to Mooseport became his last film, but he delivered his final truly great performance in Wes Anderson’s dramedy The Royal Tenenbaums as the patriarch of a dysfunctional family.
While he is obviously one of the greatest actors to ever live, it was surprising to see someone who is often closely associated with darker material to be such a perfect fit for the idiosyncratic style of Anderson, and it led to him picking up the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical’, but was robbed of even a nomination at the Oscars.
Perhaps, the Oscars didn’t feel the need to give him another prize, as he had previously won ‘Best Actor’ for The French Connection and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for Unforgiven, but his snub set an unfortunate precedent for performers in Wes Anderson films never snagging a nomination to date.
Nicole Kidman in ‘To Die For’ <br>
Nicole Kidman is a strange case in which she won an Oscar for a film that felt like a ‘career prize’, as The Hours wouldn’t even crack the top five roles of her career.
The Academy Awards may have been compelled to finally give her a trophy because she was overlooked many years earlier for her amazing performance in To Die For, even though she won the ‘Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy’ Golden Globe for it. The film became an instant cult classic and showed a comedic side to Kidman that she hadn’t previously been able to tap into for the big screen.
Although the Oscars do have a history of snubbing comedic performances, the omission of Kidman’s work in To Die For feels particularly glaring when considering just how prescient it was in exploring the way that the media could warp young minds, especially if there was a charismatic reporter involved.
Sacha Baron Cohen in ‘Borat’<br>
No character is more iconic than Sacha Baron Cohen’s brainchild, Borat, a role that has become one of the most influential and unsurprisingly controversial in contemporary cinematic history.
It has also managed to bring the actor an Oscar nomination as one of the writers in the ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ category for Borat, but he did not manage to break into the ‘Best Actor’ race, despite winning the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy’.
History managed to repeat itself for the franchise, with the release of the long-anticipated sequel Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, which led to Cohen receiving yet another nomination for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ at the Oscars, winning the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical’, and ultimately being left out of the ‘Best Actor’ lineup by the Academy Awards. Regardless, he did land a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ shoutout from the Academy for his role in Trial of the Chicago 7.
Richard Harris in ‘Camelot’<br>
The Golden Globes have their comedy/musical categories for films like Camelot, which served as a terrific adaptation of one of the most beloved Broadway shows of the 20th century, and saw Richard Harris turn in a phenomenal performance as King Arthur that won him the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical’.
However, while Camelot ended up winning a slew of Oscars for ‘Best Art Direction’, ‘Best Costume Design’, and ‘Best Original Song Score or Adaptation Score’, Harris was snubbed entirely by the Academy.
Harris, despite being a somewhat controversial figure, would end up earning two ‘Best Actor’ nominations at the Oscars for his performances in The Sporting Life and The Field, but his Camelot snub might indicate the Oscars’ bias against films about Arthurian legend, as other classics like Excalibur, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Sword in the Stone, and The Green Knight also were snubbed in major categories.
Tim Robbins in ‘The Player’<br>
Tim Robbins may have been a little too good at doing his job in The Player, a black comedy from director Robert Altman in which he played the studio executive Griffin Mill. Robbins characterised Mill as a shallow, vindictive cynic who steals ideas from his writers and treats the cast and crew of actors horribly, and the film was praised for being a realistic depiction of what Hollywood productions were actually like.
Robbins won the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical’, but was snubbed at the Oscars altogether, suggesting that his performance hit a little too close to home and unnerved those who had worked with executives like Mill.
Thankfully, the actor didn’t have to wait too much longer to receive a high honour from the Academy Awards, as he ended up winning the Oscar for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his heartbreaking performance in Clint Eastwood’s crime masterpiece Mystic River.
John Travolta in ‘Get Shorty'<br>
After being considered to be box office poison for many years, John Travolta launched a massive comeback with his amazing performance in Pulp Fiction and earned an Oscar nomination for ‘Best Actor’, his first since Saturday Night Fever. Although he ended up losing to Tom Hanks for Forrest Gump, it seemed like he had gotten back in the industry’s good will, and was set to win a prize within the next few years.
It was shortly thereafter that he fulfilled his promise by appearing in one of the smartest, funniest, and best movies of his entire career, Get Shorty, a satirical black comedy that involved both the film business and the mafia. Travolta won the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical’, but, in a glaring omission, was inexplicably not even nominated by the Academy, making him one of the most famous movie stars in the world without an Oscar.
Jamie Lee Curtis in ‘True Lies’
There are few Oscar wins in recent memory that have been as controversial than Jamie Lee Curtis’ victory in the ‘Best Supporting Actress’ category for Everything Everywhere All At Once, as it felt more like an honor win for Curtis’ career and not her performance, which was handily overshadowed by her co-star, Stephanie Hsu’s performance, who was nominated in the same category.
This controversy could have been easily avoided if the Oscars had nominated Curtis for her actual great performance in the action-comedy True Lies, which earned her the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actress in a Motion Picture- Comedy/Musical’.
Although the Oscars are notoriously biased against both comedy and action films, True Lies was a massive hit that received rave reviews, and Curtis’ performance earned a nomination at even the SAG Awards, making the role one of her best, for being able to bring heart and humour to a film that could’ve otherwise been a shoot ‘em up action spectacle.
Rachel Zegler in ‘West Side Story’<br>
Rachel Zegler had a seemingly impossible task on her hands when she was cast as Maria in the 2021 remake of West Side Story, as not only was the original 1961 film an all-time classic that had won ten Academy Awards, but she had to face the pressure of being in her first film ever, which just so happened to be directed by the great Steven Spielberg.
Although there was never a reason to doubt Spielberg, West Side Story somehow managed to be better than its predecessor, and Zegler was a major reason behind it, with casting a Latina actress in the role of Maria working out much better than the original, wherein the character was played by Natalie Wood. Although Zegler clearly has a lot of fans within the industry, and her performance in West Side Story managed to win her the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy/Musical’, she was snubbed by the Oscars altogether.
George Clooney in ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’<br>
George Clooney was at an awkward place in his career in 2000, having just left his popular role in ER and being universally criticised for his disastrous performance as Bruce Wayne in Batman & Robin.
However, he was able to recognise that he had untapped potential as a comedic performer, and gave one of the funniest performances of the century in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a loose reinterpretation of The Odyssey that was written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, earning himself a Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy’; in fact, the film’s soundtrack became a massive success as well, and even won a Grammy.
In terms of the acting, it’s confusing that Clooney didn’t end up making it into the ‘Best Actor’ race at the Oscars when considering what an idol he became, and although he would eventually win the ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Oscar for Syrianna, it is both a film and a performance that no one seems to remember.
