The nominations for the Producers Guild Awards have arrived, as good a bellwether as any for the films and TV shows that will make it all the way to the Oscars and the Emmys, respectively. The producers of Get Out,Jordan Peele’s masterfully resonant social thriller, are in the race, nominated for outstanding film producer in a group that also includes several other films that have dominated the awards-season circuit, including Call Me by Your Name,Lady Bird, and The Shape of Water.
Christopher Nolan’sDunkirk, which he produced alongside Emma Thomas, continues to stick it out, as does Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the drama that has inspired a flurry of criticism over the last few weeks. Wonder Woman, the massively successful superhero film, also got a nod from the Producers Guild, a keen sign that it might get some true recognition from Academy voters in categories beyond technical achievement.
Amy Pascal is a two-time P.G.A. nominee this year, acknowledged for producing The Post,Steven Spielberg’s timely journalism drama, and Molly’s Game, the Jessica Chastain drama written and directed by Aaron Sorkin. Pascal, one of the most well-known power producers in Hollywood, is also a co-chair of this year’s awards ceremony, and was previously given the Milestone award in 2010. This year’s special awards recipients are Ryan Murphy (the Norman Lear Achievement Award), Ava DuVernay (the Visionary Award), and Charles Roven (the David O. Selznick Award). Get Out will also receive the Stanley Kramer Award, given each year to the production or producer “whose achievement or contribution illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues.”
In the TV category, usual suspects like Veep,The Crown, and Game of Thrones received nods. Big Little Lies also joined the mix—no longer in the limited-series category, as eagle-eyed pundits will note—as did joyous newcomer The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The Amazon comedy has enjoyed a rather rapid ascent on the awards circuit, with star Rachel Brosnahan already considered a favorite to win a Golden Globe this Sunday for best actress.
The Producers Guild Awards will take place on January 20. Here are the main nominees for this year:
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:
The Big Sick
Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel
Call Me by Your Name
Producers: Peter Spears, Luca Guadagnino, Emilie Georges, Marco Morabito
Dunkirk Producers: Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan
Get Out
Producers: Sean McKittrick & Edward H. Hamm, Jr., Jason Blum, Jordan Peele
I, Tonya
Producers: Bryan Unkeless, Steven Rogers, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley
Lady Bird
Producers: Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill
Molly’s Game
Producers: Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal, Matt Jackson
The Post
Producers: Amy Pascal, Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger
The Shape Of Water
Producers: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Producers: Graham Broadbent & Pete Czernin, Martin McDonagh
Wonder Woman
Producers: Charles Roven & Richard Suckle, Zack Snyder & Deborah Snyder
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:The Boss Baby Producer: Ramsey Naito
Coco
Producer: Darla K. Anderson
Despicable Me 3
Producers: Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy
Ferdinand
Producers: Lori Forte, Bruce Anderson
The Lego Batman Movie
Producers: Dan Lin, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:
Big Little Lies
The Crown
Game of Thrones
The Handmaid’s Tale
Stranger Things
The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:
Curb Your Enthusiasm
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Master of None
Silicon Valley
Veep
The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:
Black Mirror
Fargo
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The Wizard of Lies
Get Vanity Fair’s HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:17 Times the Golden Globes Committed Category Fraud
Get Out
Here’s a sticky issue that caused an uproar this year: Is Get Out a comedy or a drama? According to the H.F.P.A. (and Get Out’s production company, Blumhouse), the social thriller belongs in the comedy/musical category, a decision that irked fans who felt the categorization belittled the film’s razor-sharp analysis of modern racism. Director Jordan Peele has mostly avoided the fracas, instead saying (facetiously?) that the film is actually a documentary.Photo: From Justin Lubin/Everett Collection.
The Martian
Sure, Matt Damon lets some jokes fly in this 2015 Ridley Scott film, but do a few punch lines really make this particular movie a comedy? The Martian ended up winning the Globe anyway that year, to the irritation of comedians everywhere . . . which is why the H.F.P.A. literally changed the rules for the next ceremony, declaring that “dramas with comedic overtones should be entered as dramas.” (Then, two years later, it nominated Get Out.)Photo: From 20thCentFox/Everett Collection.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Here’s another movie that could have been whipped into shape by The Martian rule. Martin Scorsese’s raucous film about a sleazy stockbroker is a romp, complete with a bravura performance by Jonah Hill, but it’s not quite a comedy. Then again, that year’s category was filled with plenty of other films that toe the line, including the Spike Jonze romance Her and David O. Russell’sAmerican Hustle, which ended up winning the award.Photo: From Paramount/Everett Collection.
My Week with Marilyn
Thanks to some strategic musical numbers, My Week with Marilyn was able to sneak into this category in 2011 to avoid the harsh glare of the drama category. Though it didn’t win the main prize, lead actress Michelle Williams was able to pick up the award for best actress in a comedy or musical, an award she wouldn’t have won in the drama category. Why? Because Meryl Streep was the front-runner in that race, thanks to her performance in The Iron Lady (a true leading-actress role).Photo: From Weinstein Company/Everett Collection.
Downton Abbey
The popular British drama is a multi-season TV show—not a capsule season of television, not a TV movie. Yet it still landed in the miniseries/TV-movie category in 2012! (To be fair, the Emmys did the same thing in the series’s first year, for similarly head-scratching reasons.) The H.F.P.A. eventually shunted Downton itself to the drama categories, while co-stars Joanne Froggatt and Dame Maggie Smith competed against performers from dramas, comedies, and miniseries alike in the show’s overstuffed supporting-actress category—and ultimately both won statuettes.Photo: From PBS/Everett Collection.
American Horror Story
This one is slightly debatable, but here are the facts: American Horror Story is an ongoing TV series. Yes, each season is a capsule story with a constantly evolving plot and new characters. However, does that really make it a miniseries? In 2012, the show was nominated as a drama. In 2014 and 2016, it was nominated as a miniseries. While the show itself has never won a globe, its stars have gotten lucky, with Lady Gaga and Jessica Lange picking up acting statuettes.Photo: From FX Networks/Everett Collection.
Orange Is the New Black
Dramedies have put awards shows in an awkward place. However, as Orange Is the New Black has shown, voting bodies tend to opt for the comedy category in most cases. The Netflix series has been nominated that way twice, though it’s never won. Curiously, however, its actors are nominated in different categories: Uzo Aduba, who plays Suzanne, has been nominated twice in the best-supporting actress in a miniseries category, while co-star Taylor Schilling has been nominated in the best actress in a drama and best actress in a comedy categories.Photo: Courtesy of JoJo Whilden/Netflix.PreviousNext
Get Out
Here’s a sticky issue that caused an uproar this year: Is Get Out a comedy or a drama? According to the H.F.P.A. (and Get Out’s production company, Blumhouse), the social thriller belongs in the comedy/musical category, a decision that irked fans who felt the categorization belittled the film’s razor-sharp analysis of modern racism. Director Jordan Peele has mostly avoided the fracas, instead saying (facetiously?) that the film is actually a documentary.From Justin Lubin/Everett Collection.
The Martian
Sure, Matt Damon lets some jokes fly in this 2015 Ridley Scott film, but do a few punch lines really make this particular movie a comedy? The Martian ended up winning the Globe anyway that year, to the irritation of comedians everywhere . . . which is why the H.F.P.A. literally changed the rules for the next ceremony, declaring that “dramas with comedic overtones should be entered as dramas.” (Then, two years later, it nominated Get Out.)From 20thCentFox/Everett Collection.
The Wolf of Wall Street
Here’s another movie that could have been whipped into shape by The Martian rule. Martin Scorsese’s raucous film about a sleazy stockbroker is a romp, complete with a bravura performance by Jonah Hill, but it’s not quite a comedy. Then again, that year’s category was filled with plenty of other films that toe the line, including the Spike Jonze romance Her and David O. Russell’sAmerican Hustle, which ended up winning the award.From Paramount/Everett Collection.
My Week with Marilyn
Thanks to some strategic musical numbers, My Week with Marilyn was able to sneak into this category in 2011 to avoid the harsh glare of the drama category. Though it didn’t win the main prize, lead actress Michelle Williams was able to pick up the award for best actress in a comedy or musical, an award she wouldn’t have won in the drama category. Why? Because Meryl Streep was the front-runner in that race, thanks to her performance in The Iron Lady (a true leading-actress role).From Weinstein Company/Everett Collection.
The Tourist
Here’s a case that exemplifies why some folks just don’t take the Globes seriously. In 2011, the H.F.P.A. nominated this critically panned film in the comedy/musical category, despite the fact that the film is neither a musical nor a comedy. The decision was roundly mocked by that year’s host, Ricky Gervais, who joked that members of the H.F.P.A. had accepted bribes and were also just looking for a way to lure the film’s stars, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, to the awards show.From Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection.
Shakespeare in Love
Yet another Weinstein Company film, like Marilyn, that got to sneak into another category to avoid the drama race. The 1998 romance about a youthful Shakespeare ultimately won the award in comedy/musical.From Miramax/Everett Collection.
Ghost
On that note, Ghost is yet another movie that doesn’t feel like a comedy, yet got placed in that category anyway—all the better to avoid nominated dramas like Dances with Wolves and Goodfellas.From Paramount/Everett Collection.
The “Supporting” Actresses
What’s an actress to do when the lead-actress competition is tight? She switches from the lead category to the supporting category, screen time be damned. Viola Davis did this in 2017 for Fences, since Emma Stone seemed like the front-runner in the lead category for La La Land (and ended up winning). Kate Winslet did the same thing in 2009 for more complicated reasons: she was starring in two contenders, Revolutionary Road and The Reader, so instead of submitting both performances in the lead-actress category, she spread them over two categories—and won both statuettes. The Oscars, however, was onto the game; that ceremony nominated (and eventually awarded) Winslet for her performance in The Reader, but in its rightful lead-actress category.Left, from Paramount; right, from Weinstein Company, both from Everett Collection.
The “Supporting” Actors
Despite being the lead of the 2005 drama Syriana,George Clooney nipped over to the supporting category and won, before doing the same thing at the Oscars. The previous year, Jamie Foxx was submitted in the supporting category for the drama Collateral—presumably because even though he was the ostensible lead, his co-star Tom Cruise was the bigger name and thus more likely to win awards. Cruise ultimately wasn’t even nominated, but Foxx was—for both a Globe and an Oscar. Timothy Hutton was also dealt a similar hand in 1981 for the Robert Redford drama Ordinary People. He was young and far from a marquee name, which propelled him right into the supporting category.From left: from DreamWorks, from Paramount, from Warner Bros, all from Everett Collection.
Best Actor for Marlon Brando in The Godfather
While Marlon Brando was easily the biggest star in the classic gangster film The Godfather, he’s not quite the lead. Still, an actor of his magnitude with an indelible performance under his belt doesn’t get placed in the supporting category. The H.F.P.A. balanced it out by nominating Al Pacino in the lead category as well—but while Brando ended up winning best actor at both the Globes and the Oscars, Pacino was left empty-handed at both ceremonies.From Everett Collection.
Best Actress for Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada
Speaking of stars who have graduated from the supporting treatment: have you heard of Meryl Streep? The actress (who has more Globe nods than any actor in history) is basically always a lead star, so she’s always in the lead category, barring the occasional Into the Woods. But her role in the 2006 drama The Devil Wears Prada is arguably a supporting one, much smaller than Anne Hathaway’s role as an ambitious writer and assistant. Streep was tapped in the lead category anyway, and ended up picking up the statuette.From 20thCentFox/Everett Collection.
Downton Abbey
The popular British drama is a multi-season TV show—not a capsule season of television, not a TV movie. Yet it still landed in the miniseries/TV-movie category in 2012! (To be fair, the Emmys did the same thing in the series’s first year, for similarly head-scratching reasons.) The H.F.P.A. eventually shunted Downton itself to the drama categories, while co-stars Joanne Froggatt and Dame Maggie Smith competed against performers from dramas, comedies, and miniseries alike in the show’s overstuffed supporting-actress category—and ultimately both won statuettes.From PBS/Everett Collection.
American Horror Story
This one is slightly debatable, but here are the facts: American Horror Story is an ongoing TV series. Yes, each season is a capsule story with a constantly evolving plot and new characters. However, does that really make it a miniseries? In 2012, the show was nominated as a drama. In 2014 and 2016, it was nominated as a miniseries. While the show itself has never won a globe, its stars have gotten lucky, with Lady Gaga and Jessica Lange picking up acting statuettes.From FX Networks/Everett Collection.
Orange Is the New Black
Dramedies have put awards shows in an awkward place. However, as Orange Is the New Black has shown, voting bodies tend to opt for the comedy category in most cases. The Netflix series has been nominated that way twice, though it’s never won. Curiously, however, its actors are nominated in different categories: Uzo Aduba, who plays Suzanne, has been nominated twice in the best-supporting actress in a miniseries category, while co-star Taylor Schilling has been nominated in the best actress in a drama and best actress in a comedy categories.Courtesy of JoJo Whilden/Netflix.
Yohana DestaYohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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