Hollywood Elsewhere approves of anything that might hinder the Golden Globe or Oscar prospects of A Star Is Born. In a 12.26 piece titled “Due Respect, But A Star Is Born Must Be Stopped,” I asked “Is this who we are? Are we really going to give a Best Picture Oscar to the fifth version of a showbiz saga that dates back 85 years?”
And so HE heartily approves of 13 out of 20 Gold Derby spitballers (myself included) having predicted that Bohemian Rhapsody‘s Rami Malek will snatch the Best Actor in a Drama Golden Globe trophy, and in so doing slow or perhaps even stall the Oscar momentum of competing nominee Bradley Cooper, the director-star in A Star Is Born.
This is exactly and precisely what the doctor ordered. Stop Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and A Star Is Born…stop Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and A Star Is Born…jump in, the water’s fine…stop Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and A Star Is Born, stop Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga and A Star Is Born, etc.
Walk over to their Golden Globes table, give them the biggest and warmest hug in the universe and say “guys, you delivered a very good remake and earned a shit-ton of money but we can’t give you Oscars, and we’re saying this with love and respect. We can’t shower the fourth remake of a 1932 inside-baseball melodrama with Little Gold Men…we just can’t.”
Perspective: Golden Globe and Oscar predictions are two different realms. Out of 30 Gold Derby predictions for the Best Actor Oscar race, Malek is sitting at the top of exactly two lists — that of Fox TV’s Tariq Khan and TCM’s Alicia Malone. Two out of 30, and yet 13 out of 20 are going with Malek for the Golden Globe Best Actor Drama award. Not Comedy or Musical but Drama. How to explain? The Golden Globe awards are about champagne highs and goofing off but the Oscars are sober and serious…something like that?
Hollywood Elsewhere has joined the Malek movement in the Golden Globe realm, but has him in fifth place on the GD Oscar ballot. Because I honestly believe that the top five Best Actor contenders are, in this order, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Ethan Hawke, Viggo Mortensen and Malek.