With the 2017 Golden Globes in our immediate rearview, it is time to pick up the pieces. Let’s analyze the surprising aftermath of the Golden Globes to see how it will affect the Academy Awards in February.

 

Best Supporting Actor

Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s win in this Golden Globe category was a complete surprise to those following this year’s award season. His performance in Nocturnal Animals aside, many assumed that this was a two-horse race between the favorite Mahershala Ali and the veteran Jeff Bridges.

With neither of these two taking the award, the question of Johnson’s odds moving forward have drastically increased. He now has a larger chance of earning an Oscar nomination, something he was not necessarily favored for in the first place. Will he unseat Ali and Bridges at the Academy Awards?

I still have my doubts. I think that if Johnson gets an Oscar nod he will still be a dark horse to win the award. The Golden Globes often are telling of what will happen at the Oscars, but when they go off script it does not always affect the Academy’s choice.

 

La La Land Loses No Ground

The feel-good musical of 2016 began its night by winning back to back music awards (no surprise here). It went on to take awards for Best Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Actress (Emma Stone), Best Screenplay (Damien Chazelle), Best Director (Damien Chazelle), and Best Picture – Musical or Comedy.

The clear favorite going into the Oscars, going 7/7 at the GGs does not hurt its stock any. It will be hard to dethrone this musical throwback come this February.

 

Sure Things Make Their Position More Sure

It was no surprise that La La Land won Best Original Song and Best Original Score, Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress, Ryan Gosling and Casey Affleck won Best Actor, Emma Stone won Best Actress.

These folks will take this win and skyrocket even closer to Oscar gold. An interesting race to look at in this regard will be Best Actress, where Stone will face tougher competition from her Drama category competitors, most notably Natalie Portman and GG winner Isabelle Huppert.

 

The Best Foreign Picture Race is Unaffected

Paul Verhoeven’s French-language film Elle won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, but that won’t change the Oscar race one bit. The Academy has already narrowed down its choices to a select shortlist of films, and Elle did not make the cut. Those thinking that that snub would allow Toni Erdmann to sneak up and take the GG (*cough* this reviewer *cough*) were a bit too eager. Still, Erdmann remains the favorite for the Oscar.

 

As always, thanks for reading!

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—Alex Brannan (@TheAlexBrannan)