Do you know who stars in Avatar? Do you know who directed Precious? Golden Globe voters apparently don't, either.
A bunch of blue-faced folk and Lee Daniels, the answers to the above questions, respectively, were among today's MIAs, as were Zooey Deschanel and every human (and animal) who appeared in The Hangover.
James Cameron's Avatar did well with four nods, but scored none for its actors, regardless of their hue.
Daniels was the only director with a film in the best drama race to not snag a Best Director nod. On the flip side, Clint Eastwood was the only Best Director nominee to not snag a best drama nom for his film, the sorta-snubbed Invictus.
Deschanel didn't make the cut in the comedy category, even though her film, (500) Days of Summer, and her peer, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, did.
And while The Hangover made awards season safe for R-rated raunch, it didn't get Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms or any of its actors seats at the grown-up table.
More Star Trek snubs—and District 9 surprises:
• Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen made more money than any 2009 movie, period. Its reward? Um, did we mention it made a lot of money?
• The difference between this year and last is that Transformers wasn't expected to be a player, and The Dark Knight, which infamously came away with only one nod, was. If there was a big surprise today, it's that the nominations went pretty much exactly as expected.
• Star Trek, great reviews, great box office and all, got zip. Then again, it wasn't "supposed" to get anything. Please see above.
• New Moon, great, um, hair and all, got zip. Then again, it wasn't "supposed" to get anything, either. Please see above.
• Globe voters loved Borat. As for Brüno? Eh, not so much. (Zero nominations.)
• Globe voters love Peter Jackson. Even King Kong—King Kong!—scored him a Best Director nod. So, one can only presume they really didn't like The Lovely Bones, which did well for Stanley Tucci, but nobody else involved.
• District 9 qualifies as both a snub and a surprise. The little sci-fi movie that could was shut out of best drama but welcomed in Best Screenplay. (Hey, Globe voters got to show Jackson a little love, after all—he produced!)
• The Proposal's Ryan Reynolds can relate to the Deschanel dilemma. His romantic-comedy partner, Sandra Bullock, was nominated for the film; he wasn't.
• Mariah Carey will always have the good buzz of appearing, sans her diva hair, in Precious. She just won't have the long-shot Globe nomination to go with it.
• Avatar and Precious, both up for best drama, were both denied for Best Screenplay. If that happens at the Oscars, both films' Best Picture dreams presumably would be all but dashed.
• The Hurt Locker is Avatar, with soldiers instead of blue people: Not a single acting nod. (It did, however, get a screenplay nod.)
• Michael Jackson's This Is It wasn't snubbed; it wasn't eligible.
• Monsters vs. Aliens made more money than any 2009 big-screen 'toon, save Up. Its reward? The same as Transformers', Star Trek's and New Moon's.
(Originally published Dec. 15, 2009, at 7:57 a.m. PT)
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