Columbia Filmmakers Start the Year Right with 2025 Golden Globe Awards
Update:
Winners of the 2025 Golden Globe awards were announced over the weekend, and Columbia filmmakers started off the year right by bringing home awards in various categories.
FX’s Shōgun, which has already broken records by winning the most Emmy awards for a single season in television history, took home the award for Best Television Series, Drama. The hit show which depicts a feudal Japan on the brink of civil war. Justin Marks (CC ’02) is a co-creator, showrunner, executive producer, and writer on the series, and Film alum Jonathan van Tulleken ’10 served as director and executive producer on the first two episodes. Actors Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, and Anna Sewai each won awards for their work on the series as well.
HBO Max’s Hacks, created by Lucia Aniello (CC ’04), claimed the award for Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy, and star Jean Smart was awarded Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series in the same category. The popular show features an unlikely friendship between a young comedy writer who struggles to get her career off the ground, and a legendary but aging stand-up comedian who's hoping to stay relevant.
Finally, Kieran Culkin was awarded Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture for his work on A Real Pain, a feature film executive produced by Jennifer Westin ’06. The film, which was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg, stars Eisenberg and Culkin as cousins on a comic drama pilgrimage to Poland in the wake of their Grandmother’s passing.
See a full list of 2025 Golden Globe winners here.
—
Original: December 20, 2024
The 2025 Golden Globes nominations have been announced, and Columbia alums count heavily among the ranks. Now in its 82nd edition, the awards-season mainstay celebrates the year’s best work in film and television. Columbia-affiliated projects accounted for a sprawling 41 nominations across several categories.
Dede Gardner (CC ’90) was particularly prolific in this year’s pool of nominations, her contributions spanning two feature films and an anthology series. In a diverse pairing, Gardner served as a producer for both Amazon MGM’s Nickel Boys, nominated for Best Motion Picture (Drama), and Warner Bros.’ Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, nominated for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, an award that debuted at the 2024 ceremony. Nickel Boys tells the tale of two Black teens coming of age in the heart of a brutal reform school in 1960s Florida, while Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 original, featuring the ghastly return of the “ghost with the most.” Gardner was also an executive producer for FX’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, the anthology series nominated for Best Performance by a Female Actor for Naomi Watts. The new season explores the true story of writer Truman Capote and the socialite circle of “swans” he would ultimately betray.
FX’s The Bear led all television series with five nominations, including Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy), and four acting categories including Best Performance by a Female Actor for Ayo Edebiri, Male Actor for Jeremy Allen White, Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Liza Colón-Zayas, and Male Actor in a Supporting role for Columbia’s own Ebon Moss-Bachrach (CC '99). This is the second consecutive Globe nomination for Moss-Bachrach in the role, and follows back-to-back Emmy wins for his work on the series. The breakout hit follows a young chef turning the family sandwich shop into a fine dining restaurant in the heart of Chicago.
Not far behind in the television tally with four nominations each were FX’s Shōgun and Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. Shōgun received nods for Best Television Series (Drama), and Best Performance by a Female Actor for Anna Sawai, Male Actor for Hiroyuki Sanada, and Male Actor in a Supporting Role for Tadanobu Asano. The drama depicts a feudal Japan on the brink of civil war, as a powerful daimyo fends off his rivals. Jonathan van Tulleken '10 served as director and executive producer on the first two episodes of the acclaimed series, which already earned the most Emmy wins for a single season in television history. Justin Marks (CC ’02) is a co-creator, showrunner, executive producer, and writer on the series.
Only Murders was nominated for Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy), Best Performance by a Female Actor for Selena Gomez, and Best Performance by a Male Actor for both Martin Short and Steve Martin. The series details the comic exploits of three true-crime podcasters investigating murders in their Upper West Side apartment building. Jamie Babbit (BC ’93) closed the case, directing the final two episodes of the celebrated new season.
HBO Max’s Hacks followed with three nominations, including Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy), and a pair for Best Performance by a Female Actor and Female Actor in a Supporting Role for its star duo of Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. The show follows the antics of a famed comedian losing her edge, and the young writer she reluctantly turns to for help. The series was created by Lucia Aniello (CC '04), who also serves as a writer, director, and executive producer on the show.
Netflix’s The Diplomat counted three nominations, including Best Television Series (Drama) and nods for Best Performance by a Female Actor and Female Actor in a Supporting Role for stars Keri Russell and Allison Janney. Now in its second season, the series follows a career diplomat navigating personal and political pressures in the midst of an international crisis. The show was created by Debora Cahn (BC ’93), who also serves as a writer and executive producer.
Also with three nods in the category was Amazon Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which received nominations for Best Television Series (Drama), and Best Performance by a Female Actor and Male Actor for its lead duo of Maya Erskine and Donald Glover. The espionage drama follows a pair of spies living undercover as a married couple, and is inspired by the 2005 film of the same name written by Simon Kinberg ’03, a filmmaker adept at both starting franchises and continuing them. Kinberg can also celebrate a nomination for Walt Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which he executive produced. The latest chapter of Marvel’s superhero saga was nominated for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement, appropriate for the highest grossing R-rated film in history.
Netflix’s Nobody Wants This also earned three nominations, competing for Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy) and Best Performance by a Female Actor and Male Actor in the category for Kristen Bell and Adam Brody. The series details the unlikely romance between a sex podcaster and a single rabbi as their different worldviews and different families collide. Greg Mottola ’91 got things off on the right foot, directing and executive producing the first two episodes.
Rounding out Columbia’s nominations in television is Shrinking, the AppleTV+ series about a grieving therapist who begins telling patients what he really thinks. The comedy landed two nominations, for Best Performance by a Male Actor and Male Actor in a Supporting Role for stars Jason Segel and Harrison Ford. James Ponsoldt ’05 served as a director and executive producer for the show, which will air its Season 2 finale on Christmas Day.
On the film front, Searchlight Pictures’ A Real Pain had a strong showing with four nominations, including Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), performance nods for Male Actor and Male Actor in a Supporting Role for Jessen Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin, and Best Screenplay (Motion Picture) for Eisenberg. Executive Produced by Jennifer Westin ’06, the film follows two cousins on a trip to Poland to honor their recently deceased grandmother, bringing to the fore old family tensions.
Searchlight Pictures' also celebrated three nominations for its upcoming Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, including Best Motion Picture (Drama), Best Performance by a Male Actor for Timothée Chalamet, and Male Actor in a Supporting Role for Edward Norton. The drama, which hits theaters on Christmas Day, was written, directed, and produced by two-time Academy Award nominee James Mangold ’99. Star Chalamet also spent a year studying cultural anthropology at Columbia, though he never graduated.
A pair of Columbia producers also found success partnering with actor Sebastian Stan, best known for his role as antihero the Winter Soldier in several Marvel movies. The actor is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) for A24’s A Different Man. The black comedy was produced by Gabriel Mayers (CC ’17), and follows an aspiring actor who undergoes a risky medical procedure to transform his appearance, but is soon horrified by the results.
Stan is also nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) for Briarcliff Entertainment’s The Apprentice, where he plays a young Donald Trump. Christina Wood ’19 served as Executive Producer on the biographical drama, which sees Trump making his start in real estate with the help of controversial lawyer Roy Cohn. The film received additional attention when the now President-elect tried to stop it from being released after its May premiere at Cannes.
Wrapping up Columbia’s diverse slate of nominees, Walt Disney’s Moana 2 was nominated for Best Motion Picture (Animated). Executive produced by Jennifer Lee ’05, the sequel follows the seafaring Moana on a mission from her ancestors that will take her across the ocean to parts unknown. Released at the end of November, the film has already become the year’s fourth-highest grosser with $722 million worldwide.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony on January 5, 2025, airing on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.