With Awards season in full swing, many of Hollywood's top studios have begun the process of positioning their films to earn the maximum amount of buzz. However, it looks like the Golden Globes isn't buying some of their ploys.
The most high profile news concerns the candidacies of Rooney Mara and Alicia Vikander. The two actresses have won considerable critical acclaim for their work this year; Mara for her role as a love-struck young woman opposite Cate Blanchett in the period romance Carol, and Vikander for her performance as the wife of Eddie Redmayne's transgender pioneer in the The Danish Girl.
The studios behind each film were pushing the two for contention in the best supporting actress category, even though their screen time and overall importance to the narrative would label them as leads.
Awards Daily's Sasha Stone writes, "There is no question that Vikander is lead. She's practically the star of The Danish Girl, where Redmayne could arguably be supporting." She then compares Mara's case to that of Jennifer Lawrence in 2012's Silver Linings Playbook, calling it a 'co-lead' level performance that could be seen as a supporting one under the right circumstances.
Regardless, the decision has been made and it looks like Vikander and Mara will have to duke it out in the best actress category if they want to bring home a trophy.
In other Globes news, it looks like Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic The Martian is positioning itself as a comedy/musical in order to avoid the heavy-hitters that await in the drama categories. While the film does have its fair share of laughs and amusing moments, labeling it a comedy seems a bit disingenuous.
Bridesmaids and Spy director Paul Feig tweeted his disapproval at the move saying:
"A comedy's a film whose #1 goal is to make people laugh. If that wasn't the filmmakers' top goal, it's not a comedy."
