'The Shape of Water' leads Golden Globes nominations

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Amid the growing sexual misconduct scandal that is engulfing the movie industry, Hollywood's long awards season began to take shape on Monday as the Golden Globe nominations were announced.

Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's "The Shape of Water" collected a leading seven nods, including best drama, and director and acting nominations for Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins.

The 1960s-set fantasy revolves around a relationship between a strange river creature and a mute cleaner.

"The Post" and "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri" followed with six nods and coming-of-age film "Lady Bird" got four nominations.

The announcements will give the nominees a welcome boost going into the race for March's Oscars, and the influential Screen Actors Guild nominations are still to come later this week.

The other best motion picture drama nominees are "Call Me by Your Name," another coming-of-age tale, World War II thriller "Dunkirk," media drama "The Post" and "Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri."

A still from "Dunkirk" /Warner Bros Pictures via AP

The Globes are seen as a chance for Hollywood to demonstrate its intolerance of sexual misconduct following a wave of allegations that emerged after movie mogul Harvey Weinstein was accused of decades of misbehavior that would make him the most egregious sexual predator in the history of filmmaking.

The Weinstein Company, which sacked its co-founder, was never expected to land nominations at the ceremony – and it did not.

The wider fallout, however, is likely to have a seismic effect on the awards season, as numerous other powerful figures have been accused of sexual misconduct, including Kevin Spacey, Jeffrey Tambor, Louis C.K., Brett Ratner, Bryan Singer and numerous other scandal-hit big players.

Plummer surprises

Kevin Spacey, who won best actor in 2015 for "House of Cards," never had a chance of a repeat following a litany of allegations of impropriety with young men.

But his alleged misdeeds also appeared to have harmed the chances of his colleagues, including Robin Wright, as the show was blanked this year.

However, his replacement Christopher Plummer – added via last-minute reshoots in a groundbreaking move – earned a surprise nomination for best supporting actor in a film.

Female directors snubbed

Women were shut out of the directors race at the nominations, while Ridley Scott’s scramble to reshoot "All the Money in the World" led to a surprise nod for actor Christopher Plummer, who replaced Kevin Spacey.

Greta Gerwig, who made her solo directorial debut with the warmly reviewed coming-of-age tale "Lady Bird," was snubbed in a category in which Scott, Guillermo del Toro, Martin McDonagh, Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg were nominated.

File photos of the nominees for the 75th Golden Globe Awards, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama category (L-R) : Timothee Chalamet, Daniel Day Lewis, Tom Hanks, Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington. /Reuters Photo

Patty Jenkins, who delivered box office superhero smash "Wonder Woman," was also left out, along with directors Dee Rees, of Netflix's racial period drama "Mudbound," and Kathryn Bigelow, of the racially charged drama "Detroit".

"It's a terrible shame, to be honest," said McDonagh, who wrote and directed small-town drama "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri". "I know there have been great screenplays by women recognized this year but not directing, and maybe that will change in the Oscars."

On the television front, HBO drama "Big Little Lies" – already rewarded with several Emmys – led with six nominations.

FX anthology series "Feud: Bette and Joan" was close behind with four nominations, while "Fargo," "The Handmaid's Tale" and "This Is Us" grabbed three each.

HBO comfortably led the television nominations with 12.

The 75th Golden Globe Awards will take place in Beverly Hills on January 7, with talk show host Seth Meyers presenting.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters