A Best Director nod for The Brutalist’s Brady Corbet was expected; a Best Screenplay nod for Emilia Pérez’s Jacques Audiard was expected; and anyone could’ve predicted Best Animated Feature nods for Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot. But there were still plenty of surprises in this year’s Golden Globes nominations. There were some shocking snubs — Saoirse Ronan wasn’t nominated for either of the awards contenders she starred in this year — and there were some nominations that no one saw coming, like Pamela Anderson’s first ever nomination for a Golden Globe.

10 Denis Villeneuve Snubbed For Best Director

From Anora’s Sean Baker to Conclave’s Edward Berger, some really fine filmmakers have been honored with Best Director nominations at the Golden Globes this year. But there’s one filmmaker who’s been snubbed, despite being responsible for one of the year’s greatest cinematic experiences: Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve. The Dune sequel has earned nods for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Original Score for Hans Zimmer, but Villeneuve hasn’t been nominated for Best Director.

If anyone deserves a Best Director nomination, it’s the guy who turned Frank Herbert’s unfilmable sci-fi oddity into a bona fide blockbuster. For the first Dune movie, Villeneuve was nominated for Best Director at the Golden Globes but not at the Oscars. Now that he’s been snubbed by the Globes, maybe it’s a sign that it’ll be flipped this time, and he’ll get a much-deserved Oscar nomination instead.

9 The Substance's Multiple Nominations Are A Surprise

It’s rare that a horror movie of any kind gets any awards recognition whatsoever — the snooty awards circles tend to look down their nose at scary movies — and it’s even rarer that a horror movie as bonkers and over-the-top as The Substance gets noticed by awards voters. But The Substance, one of the wildest body horror movies ever made, has landed five major nominations at the Golden Globes. Due to its shamelessly dark humor, it’s being categorized as a “Musical or Comedy.”

The Substance has been nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Director and Best Screenplay for Coralie Fargeat, Best Actress for Demi Moore, and Best ing Actress for Margaret Qualley. These nominations are a good sign for the movie’s prospects at the Oscars. It shows that awards voters are taking it seriously in all the big categories.

8 Clarence Maclin Snubbed For Best ing Actor

One of the biggest snubs at the 2025 Golden Globes is that Clarence Maclin wasn’t nominated for Best ing Actor for his performance in Sing Sing. Maclin is much closer to his character than most of the other actors in the running, because he played a younger version of himself in the movie. During his sentence at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Maclin took part in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, which the film dramatizes.

Maclin gives a uniquely honest and personal performance in Sing Sing. He’s been nominated at most of the other major awards shows, film festivals, and critics’ organizations, and he won the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding ing Performance. So, he was expected to earn a Best ing Actor nod at the Golden Globes, but he was unfortunately snubbed.

7 Heretic Being Nominated As A Comedy Is A Surprise

Hugh Grant has scored a Golden Globe nomination for his unsettling turn as Mr. Reed in the psychological thriller Heretic. That’s surprising enough in and of itself; he gives a terrific performance, but awards shows don’t usually acknowledge horror films. But the most surprising thing is the category. Grant was nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.

It might be a stretch to call Heretic a drama, but it’s certainly not a musical or comedy. The Substance is another horror movie included in the “Musical or Comedy” categories, but that one has much more of a sense of humor than Heretic. It doesn’t feel disingenuous to describe The Substance as a comedy — it’s a very, very dark comedy — whereas the only thing humorous about Heretic is the novelty of watching a romcom star play a horror villain.

6 Saoirse Ronan Snubbed For Best Actress

One of the biggest surprises from this year’s Golden Globes nominations is that Saoirse Ronan wasn’t nominated for Best Actress — despite giving the voters two movies to choose from. This year, Ronan has given fantastic performances as a recovering addict in The Outrun and a mother surviving World War II in Blitz. Both movies were the subject of a big awards push, and they both received positive reviews from critics.

Leading up to awards season, there was even some discussion of the possibility that she could earn two nominations in the same year, like Kate Winslet did. But now, the nominations have come in and Ronan doesn’t even have one. Ronan is usually a favorite among awards voters. She has four Oscar nominations, five BAFTA Award nominations, and four previous Golden Globe nominations (and one win).

5 Hans Zimmer's Best Original Score Nomination Is A Surprise After His Oscars Ineligibility

Hans Zimmer’s music from Dune: Part Two has been nominated for Best Original Score at this year’s Golden Globes. That wouldn’t usually be a surprise, since Zimmer is one of the most renowned film composers working today and his Dune: Part Two score is epic, cinematic, and full of memorable orchestrations. However, this nomination has arrived on the heels of the disappointing announcement that Zimmer’s Dune: Part Two score isn’t eligible for the Oscars.

Zimmer is ineligible for an Oscar nomination because his Dune: Part Two score reuses a lot of material from the first movie. Dune: Part Two is the second half of the story that began in the first one, so Zimmer was inevitably going to bring back some familiar themes and motifs. Apparently, the Golden Globes don’t share that annoying rule and Zimmer has gotten the nomination he deserves.

4 Jon M. Chu Snubbed For Best Director

Before it was released, Wicked was criticized for overusing greenscreens in its production and for stretching out the Broadway musical to a two-parter. But since it was actually released and people got to see it, it’s received nothing but praise. The story has been acclaimed for adding extra depth that wasn’t in the Broadway version and the visuals have been hailed as a dazzling cinematic spectacle to be seen on the biggest screen possible.

All of that is thanks to director Jon M. Chu, but he’s been snubbed for Best Director. Wicked has received four Golden Globe nominations: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Actress for Cynthia Erivo, Best ing Actress for Ariana Grande, and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. But its nominations don’t include Best Director, and that’s one that it absolutely deserved.

3 Pamela Anderson's First Ever Golden Globe Nomination Is A Surprise

Pamela Anderson has scored her first ever Golden Globe nomination for her performance in The Last Showgirl. This is surprising, because Anderson has never received awards recognition before. She typically makes lowbrow films like Barb Wire and Scary Movie 3, which awards voters wouldn’t take a second look at. Anderson has never seemed like the kind of performer to earn Best Actress nominations, but that all changed when she took a role in an indie drama by Gia Coppola.

It’s a classic awards story for an iconic sex symbol to make a comeback with a brilliant dramatic performance and earn the kind of critical praise they never got in their heyday. But Anderson’s Golden Globe nomination is still a surprise. This year, Anderson’s comeback in The Last Showgirl has been overshadowed by Demi Moore’s similar comeback in The Substance.

2 Danielle Deadwyler Snubbed For Best ing Actress

Some really great performances have been nominated for Best ing Actress at the Golden Globes this year, like Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez, Ariana Grande in Wicked, Felicity Jones in The Brutalist, and Isabella Rossellini in Conclave. But one of the finest performances of 2024 has been snubbed. Danielle Deadwyler was denied a nomination for her powerful turn as Berniece in The Piano Lesson, Malcolm Washington’s adaptation of the August Wilson play.

Deadwyler seemed to be a shoo-in for this category. She was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best ing Performance and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding ing Performance. She even won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ing Actress. It seemed like a no-brainer that Deadwyler would be nominated at the Globes, but she got snubbed.

1 Sebastian Stan's Double Nominations Are A Surprise

Although he’s best known for his Marvel role as the Winter Soldier, Sebastian Stan has just scored two Golden Globe nominations. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for his turn as a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice. But he was also nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his turn as struggling actor Edward Lemuel, who assumes the alias “Guy Moratz,” in A Different Man.

The Apprentice and A Different Man both received positive reviews, but The Apprentice was hurt by its proximity to the polarizing presidential election and A Different Man didn’t make much of a splash at the box office. Stan could’ve comfortably expected one nomination at the Golden Globes this year. But two nominations at the same ceremony is quite a surprise.

Golden Globes

The Golden Globes is an awards show acknowledging the best of American and international film and television. In 2024, the event was held in Beverly Hills, CA, on January 7, 2024, and aired on CBS. The 2024 Golden Globes was hosted by stand-up comedian Jo Koy.