In our Oscar odds, Mikey Madison (“Anora”) and Karla Sofia Gascon (“Emilia Perez”) have emerged as the front-runners for Best Actress. But the first of those films is a comedy and the latter is a musical. Since comedies and musicals are separated from dramas at the Golden Globes, that opens up a golden opportunity for a dramatic actress to assert herself this awards season. As of this writing, it looks like that actress will be Angelina Jolie (“Maria”).
Jolie is the front-runner for Best Film Drama Actress for her biographical performance as opera singer Maria Callas. The film is directed by Pablo Larrain, who guided Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart to Best Actress Oscar nominations for the respective biopics “Jackie” and “Spencer.” Currently, Jolie leads our Globe forecasts with 37/10 odds. Among those backing her are 13 out of 18 Expert journalists we’ve surveyed from major media outlets. Gold Derby Editors are also confident, with eight out of 11 betting on Jolie. And she’s supported by 17 of our Top 24 Users and 21 of our All-Star Top 24.
Jolie was loved by the old Hollywood Foreign Press Association that used to hand out the Golden Globes. She won for three years in a row in the 1990s: Best TV Supporting Actress for “George Wallace” (1997), Best TV Movie/Limited Actress for “Gia” (1998), and Best Film Supporting Actress for “Girl, Interrupted” (1999). The first two of those also earned Jolie Emmy nominations, while the last won her an Oscar.
She received three more motion picture nominations after that: Best Film Drama Actress for “A Mighty Heart” (2007) and “Changeling” (2008), and Best Film Comedy/Musical Actress for “The Tourist” (2010). The last of those was notorious as the film had received poor reviews and brought the HFPA under scrutiny. But the HFPA was discontinued, replaced by a larger and more diverse body of awards voters.
Jolie hasn’t been nominated for a Globe since then, though she hasn’t had as many acting roles in the last decade or so as she turned her attention towards directing and humanitarian work; she won the academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2014. Biographical roles are always popular with awards voters, though, so “Maria” puts her back in the conversation. And most Experts say it’ll put her back on the stage.
