Marriage Story beats Irishman as Globes throws spotlight on men

Los Angeles

NETFLIX divorce drama Marriage Story leads a Golden Globes nominations list dominated by movie stories about white men, and marked by snubs for actor Robert De Niro, television show Game of Thrones and social justice drama When They See Us.

Marriage Story scored six nods, including Best Drama and for actors Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Laura Dern.

It was followed by Martin Scorsese's epic mob movie The Irishman, and Quentin Tarantino's love letter to Hollywood Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, with five apiece.

Johansson said in a statement that making Marriage Story was "one of the highlights of my career".

De Niro, the star of The Irishman, was left out of the Best Actor race, although his co-stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci won nods for their supporting roles and Scorsese will compete for Best Director.

"It means so much to all of us - to me, Bob, Joe, Al, and the whole team - to be recognised with these nominations," Scorsese said in a statement.

The Best Movie Drama category was rounded out with director Sam Mendes's immersive World War I drama 1917 from Universal Pictures, terrifying comic book villain Joker from Warner Bros and papal story The Two Popes.

The films nominated for Best Comedy or musical were Eddie Murphy's comeback Dolemite is My Name, Nazi-era satire Jojo Rabbit, murder tales Knives Out, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and the Elton John biopic Rocketman.

Apple's streaming service landed its first major award nominations for The Morning Show, about a television news programme roiled by sexual misconduct allegations against a popular anchor, along with its stars Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.

Yet in the movie race, stories about and by women including Harriet, Little Women, Bombshell and Hustlers were omitted from the major categories although some of their stars, including Saoirse Ronan, Jennifer Lopez, Charlize Theron and Cynthia Erivo, won acting nods.

Lopez said she was proud of Hustlers, calling it "a labour of love, sweat and perseverance that was written, directed, produced, edited and starred a group of bada** women".

The Best Director field was an all-male affair dominated by veterans Tarantino, Scorsese, Mendes, Todd Phillips for Joker and South Korea's Bong Joon Ho for social satire Parasite.

Ronan praised the guidance of Little Women director Greta Gerwig, who was shut out of the nominations list.

"My performance in this film belongs to Greta as much as it does myself and I share this recognition completely with her," the actress said in a statement.

Animated movie Frozen 2 was the only film nominated to have a female director: co-director and screenwriter Jennifer Lee.

"I look forward to more times when I'm not" the only one, Lee said. "What I do love is there are incredible films by incredible women this year."

Netflix dominated the nominations across both television and movies, scoring a leading 17 nods in movie fields and 17 in television for shows that included royal drama The Crown, thriller Dead to Me, time loop series Russian Doll and cold crime series Unbelievable.

HBO's mediaeval fantasy Game of Thrones failed to make it into the coveted TV drama series race, and upcoming movie musical Cats scored just one nod, for Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber's original song Beautiful Ghosts.

"It's so cool that one of the most fun, fulfilling creative experiences I've ever had is being honoured in this way," Swift wrote on Twitter.

Among the biggest snubs was When They See Us, Ava DuVernay's searing television dramatisation of the wrongful imprisonment of five black teens for a 1989 rape in New York's Central Park, which won two Emmy awards earlier this year.

The Golden Globes, chosen by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, will be handed out in Beverly Hills on Jan 5 in a show hosted by Ricky Gervais.

The ceremony should see a red carpet packed with major Hollywood stars whose work was also nominated, including Beyonce (for her original song for The Lion King), Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Craig, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Renee Zellweger, Cate Blanchett, Elton John and Catch 22 producer George Clooney. REUTERS