Golden Globes 2018: Kit Harington, Ewan McGregor, Bill Pullman, Jude Law, Robert De Niro top Limited Series / Movie actor picks
On October 31, all official submissions were made to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and on November 24 ballots will begin going out for official nomination voting. The focus of this CarterMatt series is to help identify great shows and performers for the HFPA to consider. We’ll be sharing some of our personal picks in every TV-related category daily throughout the month of November at 1:00 p.m. Pacific time (4:00 p.m. Eastern), and from there, we’ll leave the voting for you to share some of your own favorites!
Voting Rules – Note that this is just for fun and for campaign purposes; you aren’t voting for the actual Golden Globes! Vote however often you want from now until November 30 at 12:00 p.m. Pacific time, when the polls close and will no longer be available. We will announce all of the poll winners at 1:00 p.m. Pacific on November 30, during the heart of campaign season, as a way to help get the word out on some shows and performers worthy of a nomination.
With all of that laid out, let’s get to the first order of business today: Discussing the CarterMatt picks for Actor in a Limited Series / TV Movie. One of the things that is rather interesting about this category is that while there are great performers, there’s a limited pool of them. Many of the biggest Limited Series / TV Movies out there this past year were fronted by women.
Also, we do take slight umbrage to the idea of Twin Peaks (a show appearing on many ballots) being considered a limited series when technically, it’s just another season of the show. To be fair, though, we could make the same argument about Sherlock in the past being able to submit an individual episode as a TV movie.
One name we do want to throw out here before continuing is Benedict Cumberbatch for The Child in Time — we wish that it was airing in the US in 2017, but alas, it isn’t and won’t be eligible until next year.
Robert De Niro, The Wizard of Lies (HBO) – This is the one TV movie actor we’ve got on this list. If you’ve seen The Wizard of Lies, it almost goes without explanation as to why he’s on our list. De Niro completely inhabits Bernie Madoff, throwing you into his story and giving you a chance to see within his own demented brain. He’s a lock to get an actual Globe nomination — of course the Hollywood Foreign Press are going to want him there!
Kit Harington, Gunpowder (HBO) – This violent, immersive three-part series will air in America later this year, but through the airings in Britain (on the BBC) we’ve seen the Game of Thrones star shine as Robert Catesby, the central figure in this narrative set in 1605 London. He brings resolve and great commitment to the role, and he should be this great given his own connection to Catesby — Harington is a distant relative.
Jude Law, The Young Pope (HBO) – Given the production that surrounded Law throughout the entirety of this show it would’ve been easy for him to get swallowed up in it. We’re very happy that this did not end up being the case. Law managed to find a way to shine in the midst of everything going on around him as Lenny, giving him the command you would want from a Pope while also an energy never before seen within the Church.
Ewan McGregor, Fargo (FX) – It’s very difficult to play one character, let alone two — this is what McGregor did with Ray and Emmit on the third iteration of the anthology series. Ewan’s long been underrated ever since the first Trainspotting movie, and what he did building up these two unique characters and playing them off of each other was nothing short of fantastic. Thanks to their appearance you’d be hard-pressed at times to even think they were played by the same person.
Bill Pullman, The Sinner (USA) – A really fantastic performance from a man with many huge credits already under his belt. He brought a lot of pain to Harry Ambrose, but also a lot of power and contemplation. He was detached from his life in a way that felt real — the end result of years on the job. It was this detachment that caused him to become close to Cora (Jessica Biel) while he looked for ways to understand why she murdered Frankie Belmont.
Now, it’s your turn!
Which one of these performers is worthy of getting a Golden Globe nomination? Vote now in our poll below! If there is a performer not on this list that you want to see with a nod, also let us know that in the comments section below. If you are on mobile and cannot see the poll, scroll to the bottom and click to view the non-AMP version of the page.
Meanwhile, visit the link here to read more Golden Globes coverage or like us on Facebook to get even more news on these shows and many others we cover here at the site. (Photo: HFPA.)