Golden Globes 2020: 'Marriage Story', 'Irishman' Lead In Film Nominations

Divorce drama "Marriage Story", Martin Scorsese's gangster epic "The Irishman" and Quentin Tarantino's revisionist period story "Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood" emerged as frontrunners at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards nominations on Monday.

The Globe, which marks the beginning of Hollywood award season that culminates with the Oscars, threw up surprises by recognising Bong Joon-Ho's acclaimed Korean drama "Parasite" in the best foreign film, best director and best screenplay categories.

But it was Noah Baumbach's "Marriage Story", starring Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver in their career-defining performances, that took the lead with six nominations in the drama category, including best picture, best actor, best actress and best supporting actress for Laura Dern.

The Netflix film was joined by two other major movies from the streamer, "The Irishman" and "Two Popes". "The Irishman" and Tarantino's "Once Upon..." tied at the second place with five nods each, including nominations for best picture drama.

Both Scorsese and Tarantino will compete in the best director category alongside Joon-Ho, Sam Mendes ("1917") and Todd Phillips for "Joker". Best motion picture - drama category, one of the most competitive segments this year, also features "Joker" and "1917".

Johansson has a tough fight ahead in the best actress drama category where she is pitted against Renee Zellweger ("Judy"), Charlize Theron ("Bombshell"), Saoirse Ronan ("Little Women") and Cynthia Erivo ("Harriet").

Driver is a strong contender in the best actor drama category, provided he edges out this year's most talked about performance of Joaquin Phoenix as and in "Joker". They are joined by Christian Bale ("Ford v. Ferrari"), Antonio Banderas ("Pain and Glory") and Jonathan Pryce ("The Two Popes").

Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" earned nominations for best picture in the comedy or musical segment where it will fight it out with Rian Johnson's "Knives Out", Eddie Murphy-starrer "Dolemite Is My Name", Taika Waititi-directed "Jojo Rabbit" and Elton John biopic "Rocketman".

Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, the lead stars of "Once Upon", have earned Golden Globe nominations with DiCaprio in the leading actor musical or comedy category and Pitt in the best supporting list.

Besides DiCaprio, the best actor musical and drama category features names like Murphy, Daniel Craig ("Knives Out"), Taron Egerton ("Rocketman") and Roman Griffin Davis ("Jojo Rabbit").

Awkwafina leads the musical or comedy actress' list with her critically-lauded turn in "The Farewell". Other nominees are: Beanie Feldstein ("Booksmart"), Ana de Armas, ("Knives Out"), Emma Thompson ("Late Night") Cate Blanchett in ("Where'd You Go, Bernadette?").

"Parasite", a dark satire on South Korea's class divide, is a front-runner in the best foreign language film category where it faces competition from Pedro Almodovar's "Pain and Glory", "The Farewell", "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" and "Les Misérables".

Baumbach may have been snubbed in the best director category but the Globes made it up to him by nominating him in the best screenplay category.

The competition, however, is strong with names such as Tarantino, Anthony McCarten ("The Two Popes"), Joon-ho and Han Jin-won ("Parasite") and Steven Zaillian ("The Irishman") also in the fray.