Jacques Audiard’s audacious musical “Emilia Pérez,” about a Mexican drug lord who undergoes gender affirming surgery, led nominations to the 82nd Golden Globes on Monday, scoring 10 nods to lead it over other contenders like the musical smash “Wicked,” the papal thriller “Conclave” and the postwar epic “The Brutalist.” The nominations for the Globes, which will be televised by CBS and streamed on Paramount+ on Jan. 5, were announced on Monday morning by Mindy Kaling and Morris Chestnut. The embattled Globes, which are no longer presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are still in comeback mode after years of scandal and organizational upheaval. Working in the Globes favor this year: a especially starry field of nominees. Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig, Denzel Washington, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Glen Powell and Selena Gomez all scored nominations. The young Donald Trump drama “The Apprentice” also landed nominations for its two central performances, by Sebastian Stan as Trump and Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn. The president elect has called “The Apprentice” a “politically disgusting hatchet job" made by "human scum.” How much the recent president election will figure into Hollywood's awards season remains to be seen. In the season's first awards ceremony, the Gotham Awards, Trump went unmentioned but sometimes alluded to. Stan also received a nomination Monday for the dark comedy “A Different Man.” While “Oppenheimer” and, to a lesser degree, “Barbie,” sailed into the Globes nominations as the clear heavyweights of awards season, no such frontrunner has emerged this year — and, with the exception of “Wicked," most of the contenders are far lighter on box office. The Globes don’t often align with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, a much larger group that far more closely reflects the film industry. But they can give movies a major boost, and ripe fodder for their awards marketing. Netflix, which acquired “Emilia Pérez” after its Cannes Film Festival debut, dominated the nominations, leading all studios in both film nods (13) and in the TV categories (23). “Emilia Pérez," an operatic genre-skipping movie that combines elements of a narco thriller, a Broadway musical and a trans drama, scored nominations for its three stars: Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña and Gomez. No comedy or musical has ever received more Globe nominations. Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” landed seven nominations, including best picture, drama, and acting nods for Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce. The soon-to-be-released film, from A24, is uncommonly ambitious, with a runtime of three-and-a-half hours, including an intermission. A24 narrowly trailed Netflix in the film categories, scoring 12 nominations overall, including best actor, drama, for Hugh Grant's darkest turn yet in the horror film “Heretic.” Grant, in a statement, thanked the directors, Scott Beck and Bryan Woods “for spotting my need to kill." Close behind it was Edward Berger’s “Conclave,” starring Ralph Fiennes as a cardinal tasked with leading the conclave to elect a new pope. It landed six nominations, including best picture, drama, and acting nods for Fiennes and Isabella Rossellini. Sean Baker's Palme d'Or-winning “Anora,” starring Mikey Madison as a Brooklyn sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, was nominated for five awards, including best picture, comedy or musical, and best female actor for Madison and best supporting actor for Yura Borisov. The Globes will be hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser, who scored her own nomination for best stand-up special. CBS, which began airing the Globes last year on a new deal, will hope Glaser manages to do better than last year’s emcee, Jo Koy, whose stint was widely panned. The nominees for best motion picture drama are: “The Brutalist”; “A Complete Unknown,”; “Conclave”; “Dune: Part Two”; “Nickel Boys;” “September 5.” The nominees for best film musical or comedy are: “Wicked”; “Anora”; “Emilia Pérez”; “Challengers”; “A Real Pain”; “The Substance.” Coralie Fargeat's gory body horror satire “The Substance," starring Demi Moore as an actress who resorts to extremes to stay young in a Hollywood obsessed with young beauty, landed five nominations overall, including nods for both Moore and her younger doppelganger, Margaret Qualley. Among animated movies, DreamWorks' “The Wild Robot” also had an especially good day. The tale of the shipwrecked robot came away with four nominations, including one for cinematic and box office achievement, a relatively new category populated by big ticket-sellers like “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2.” The strong showing suggests the other animated nominees — “Flow,” “Inside Out 2," “Memoir of a Snail," “Moana 2," “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl” — may have a hard time besting “The Wild Robot.” The Bob Dylan film “A Complete Unknown," starring Chalamet, also had a lot to celebrate. Coming off an endorsement from Dylan, himself, the film landed nominations for Chalamet, Edward Norton (who plays Woody Guthrie) and best picture, drama. Pamela Anderson also landed her first Golden Globe nomination. In “The Last Showgirl,” Anderson plays an aging Las Vegas showgirl, a performance that's led to the best reviews of Anderson's career. She was nominated for best female actor, drama, alongside Jolie ("Maria"), Nicole Kidman ("Babygirl"), Tilda Swinton ("The Room Next Door"), Fernanda Torres ("I'm Still Here") and — in a surprise — Kate Winslet ("Lee"). Anderson, reached by video conference Monday, said she put her whole life into the film. “I was making pickles and jam. I didn’t think I’d be doing any more in this industry,” said Anderson. “I was a little disappointed in myself and was kind of reassessing some of my life choices. But then this came up.” “The Bear,” which dominated the 2024 Globes, led all series with five nominations for its third season. That included nods for Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Liza Colón-Zayas and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Its stiffest competition this year might come in the FX series “Shogun" (four nominations, including acting nods for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada) or Apple TV's “Slow Horses" (nods for Gary Oldman and Jack Lowden). “Only Murders in the Building” again led the comedy or musical category, with nominations for it stars Steve Martin, Martin Short and Gomez, her second nomination to go with hers for "Emilia Pérez." The Globes aren’t ever quite drama-free, but things have settled down for the embattled awards body. After The Los Angeles Times reported that the HFPA voters included no Black members, among other issues, most of Hollywood boycotted the show and the 2022 ceremony was scrapped. Last January's Globes were the first after the disbanding of the HFPA and their acquisition by Dick Clark Productions and billionaire Todd Boehly’s private equity firm Eldridge Industries. However, earlier this fall, the Ankler reported that former members of the HFPA filed a letter with the California attorney general’s office questioning “the validity of the purchase.” Though the 2024 Globes were mostly panned, ratings improved. According to Nielsen, some 9.5 million watched, leading CBS to give the show a five-year deal. Last year, the Globes introduced two new categories that remain this time around: the cinematic and box office achievement award and the best performance in stand-up comedy on television. One tweak this time comes in the lifetime achievement awards. This year, those are going to Ted Danson (for the Carol Burnett Award) and Viola Davis (for the Cecil B. DeMille Award). Those will be handed out in a gala dinner on Friday, Jan. 3, two days before the Globes. AP's Ryan Pearson in Los Angeles contributed to this report. For more coverage of the 2025 Golden Globe Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/golden-globe-awardsUS H-1B Spouse Work Permit Extension: What It Means For Visa Applicants
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina Democratic Party sued on Friday to block the potential removal of tens of thousands of ballots tallied in an extremely close state Supreme Court race, saying state election officials would be violating federal law if they sided with protests initiated by the trailing Republican candidate. The lawsuit filed in Raleigh federal court comes as attorneys for Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin also went to state courts on Friday to attempt to force the State Board of Elections to act more quickly on accusations contained in the protests. The board tentatively planned to hold a public hearing on the protests next Wednesday, according to a board email provided with Griffin's motion. Griffin wants a final decision from the board earlier. Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs leads Griffin by 734 votes following a machine recount of over 5.5 million ballots cast in their Nov. 5 election. A partial hand recount began this week and is nearly complete. But Griffin, joined by three other GOP state legislative candidates, contend that well over 60,000 ballots shouldn't have counted, casting doubt on election results. Among their complaints: voter registration records of some voters casting ballots lack driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers, and overseas voters never living in North Carolina have run afoul of state residency requirements. The Democratic Party's lawsuit said that some of the protests represent “systematic challenges to voter eligibility” that counter a federal law's prohibition of what's essentially removing people from voter registration lists retroactively after an election. The lawsuit wants a judge to declare federal law and the Constitution prevents the votes from being discarded and to order the election board — a majority of its members Democrats — to comply. “No North Carolinian deserves to have their vote thrown out in a callous power grab,” state party Chair Anderson Clayton said in a written statement. According to state law, a board considering an election protest could correct a ballot tally, direct another recount or order a new election. Griffin's attorneys filed requests Friday for judges to demand that the board issue final rulings by late Tuesday afternoon. They were filed in Wake County Superior Court and at the Court of Appeals — the same court where Griffin serves. Usually three members on the 15-judge court — second only to the Supreme Court in state's jurisprudence — hear such motions. “Public trust in our electoral processes depends on both fair and efficient procedures to determine the outcome of our elections. By failing to give a timely decision, the State Board continues to undermine the public interest,” Griffin attorney Troy Shelton wrote. Attorneys for Riggs separately on Friday also responded to Griffin's actual protests before the board, saying they should all be denied. Griffin led Riggs — one of two Democrats on the seven-member court — by about 10,000 votes on election night, but that lead dwindled and flipped to Riggs as tens of thousands of qualifying provisional and absentee ballots were added to the totals through the canvass. Riggs has declared victory. The three Republican legislative candidates joining Griffin's protests all trailed Democratic rivals after the machine recounts. One is GOP Rep. Frank Sossamon, who trails Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn by about 230 votes. Should Cohn win, Republicans would fall one seat short of retaining its current veto-proof majority in both chambers. That would give more leverage to Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Stein in 2025. The Associated Press has not called the Supreme Court race and two of the three legislative races highlighted in the protests. Gary D. Robertson, The Associated Press
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has become the latest tech billionaire to signal allegiance to Donald Trump by pledging to donate to the president-elect's inaugural fund . An OpenAI spokesperson told Newsweek on Friday that Altman would make a $1 million "personal donation" to Trump's fund. Altman said in a statement that "President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead." Altman's decision comes amid his ongoing l egal battle with fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk , who became a staunch Trump supporter and mega-donor earlier this year. In 2015, Musk co-founded OpenAI along with Altman and others, then left the company in 2018. Altman warned earlier this month that Musk was using his newfound "political power" to "hurt" his competitors and enrich himself, which "would be profoundly un-American." In the 48 hours preceding news of Altman's donation, the following two tech giants announced that they would be donating to Trump's inaugural fund: Newsweek reached out for comment to Trump's office and the Trump transition team via email on Friday. Before Zuckerberg's recent meeting with Trump and his decision to have Meta donate to the inaugural fund, he and the president-elect had a very rocky relationship . Trump accused Facebook of "censorship" after he was banned from the platform following the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Trump has also repeatedly threatened to jail Zuckerberg and said without evidence that he was involved in a plot to help President Joe Biden "steal" the 2020 election. At the same time, Zuckerberg rarely made public remarks about Trump, although he did praise him for raising his fist after surviving an assassination attempt in July, calling it "one of the most badass things I've ever seen in my life." Zuckerberg also quickly congratulated Trump after he won last month's election. In a post to Threads, he praised him for "a decisive victory" and said he was "looking forward" to working with the incoming administration just hours after Trump's win over Vice President Kamala Harris . Bezos seemingly experienced his own rapid change of opinion regarding Trump in the months before Amazon 's inaugural donation. He blocked the editorial board of The Washington Post , which he owns, from endorsing Harris, citing concerns about "bias." Facebook did not donate to Trump's inaugural fund in 2017 or Biden's inauguration fund in 2021, according to the Associated Press. Amazon donated around $58,000 to Trump's first inauguration and streamed Biden's inauguration.