What Are the Queer Snubs in this Year's Golden Globe Movie Nominations?

Queer actor Andrew Scott received his first Golden Globe nomination is his breakout role as the gay priest on "Fleabag" in 2020. This year he gets the nod as Best Actor (Drama) for "All of Us Strangers," Andrew Haigh's poignant drama of a man seeking redemption and finding it in the most unlikely of places. That was the film's only nomination with its out director snubbed, along with Scott's co-star Paul Mescal.

The highly anticipated Christmas Day release "The Color Purple," from the musical version of Alice Walker's novel that keeps its lesbian subplot intact, only saw two nominations: one for Fantasia Barrino, who stars as Celie, for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, and the second for Danielle Brooks who was nominated in the Supporting Actress category for her turn as Sophia.

The wildly original "Saltburn," which may be the queerest film of the year, did get two acting nominations: one for Barry Keoghan as the film's mysterious protagonist, and one for Supporting Actress Drama for Rosamund Pike, who scores as the acidic matriarch of a ultra-wealthy family in Emerald Fennell's quirky, dark satire.

Who was shut-out in the film categories? For one, Gael García Bernal as the flamboyant gay amateur wrester – nicknamed the Liberace of Lucha Libre – in "Cassandro" Also, neither Rachel Sennott or Ayo Edebiri in the surprise indie hit "Bottoms." Nor did Sennott and Emma Seligman receive a nom for their script, or Seligman for her direction.

And what of "Passages?" Ira Sachs' drama that was at the center of a controversy when it received a NC-17 rating because of its gay sex scenes, which were no more racy than anything from a similar straight drama. At year's end, German actor Franz Rogowski received the prestigious New York Film Critics Award for Best Actor, but no nod from the Globes. Also ignored is Trace Lysette who played a trans woman who comes home to care for her ailing mother in "Monica." It would have marked the first time a trans actress would have been nominated for playing a trans role, but it wasn't to be.

And certainly terrific and missing from Globe consideration is Sebastián Silva's dazzling, meta-, black comedy "Rotting in the Sun," which barely saw a theatrical release. Here is a queer comedy/mystery deserving of a NC-13 rating in the playful way it mixes hard core footage into its texture, but it isn't the sex that makes this film so special – it is Silva's uncanny understanding of Hitchcock that makes the film, released on streaming by Mubi, such an exhilarating rush. No doubt it was too whatever for the Globe voters, which is a shame because Catalina Saavedra gives one of the best performances of the year as Silva's put-upon maid.