Will Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson rule the Golden Globes?

 Leonardo DiCaprio. AP PHOTO

LOS ANGELES—Will Leonardo DiCaprio win his third Golden Globe this Sunday (Monday morning, Manila time) for “The Revenant” and start the momentum for him to go on and finally bag his first ever Oscar best actor trophy?

Will Brie Larson, in her portrayal of a kidnap victim who gives birth while being held captive in “Room,” cinch her first best actress-drama Globe?

These are just a couple of the many suspenseful questions that will be answered in the 73rd Golden Globe Awards, Hollywood’s party of the year, that honors excellence in film and television.

The star-studded audience, which will include surprise VIP guests, at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills will also be kept in suspense by returning host Ricky Gervais, who is noted for not holding back his barbed bon mots, even in front of A-listers.

Back to Brie—remarkably, it has been a year since the young indie actress started reaping acclaim when “Room” debuted in Sundance in January last year.

But Brie has formidable competition in Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, both in “Carol,” Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”) and Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”).

DiCaprio’s best actor-drama rivals are Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”), Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs”), Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl”) and Will Smith (“Concussion”).

There are no clear best picture-drama front-runners this year, which will make for an exciting evening. Will “Spotlight,” about how the Boston Globe exposed clergy sex abuse, resonate more strongly with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the international association of journalists which votes on the awards?

Or, will the race be between “The Revenant” and “Mad Max: Fury Road,” the tent-pole pic that opened in May, but hasn’t been forgotten in this awards season?

In the best picture-musical or comedy competition, will “The Big Short” prevail? Also in the running are “The Martian,” “Joy” and “Trainwreck.”

Or will “Spy,” which some argue is the true comedy in this batch, emerge as the victor? In that same context, will “Spy’s” Melissa McCarthy triumph over Jennifer Lawrence (“Joy”), Maggie Smith (“The Lady in the Van”), Lily Tomlin (“Grandma”) and Amy Schumer (“Trainwreck”) for the best actress-musical or comedy honors?

Lucky charm

Matt Damon has surprisingly never won a Golden Globe acting trophy. He shared a best screenplay Globe with Ben Affleck for “Good Will Hunting.” Will Damon’s fifth Globe acting nod, for “The Martian,” prove to be his lucky charm?

Standing in Damon’s way are Mark Ruffalo (“Infinitely Polar Bear”), Christian Bale and Steve Carell, both for “The Big Short,” and Al Pacino (“Danny Collins”).

In the best supporting actor field, Sylvester Stallone (“Creed”) also has a chance to win his first Golden Globe for acting. But he faces stiff competition from Michael Shannon (“99 Homes”), Paul Dano (“Love & Mercy”), Idris Elba (“Beasts of No Nation”) and Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies”).

The best supporting actress contest is also a tough one, with Jennifer Jason Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”), Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs”), Vikander (“Ex Machina”) and Jane Fonda (“Youth”).

With no clear best picture front-runner, the best director category is a wide-open race, too, among: George Miller (“Mad Max”), Alejandro G. Iñarritu (“The Revenant”), Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), Ridley Scott (“The Martian”) and Todd Haynes (“Carol”).

Will “Inside Out,” directed by Pete Docter and codirected by Fil-Am Ronnie del Carmen, continue its universal acclaim and dominate the best animated picture  category? Giving a good fight are Charlie Kaufman’s stop-motion film for adults, “Anomalisa,” “Shaun the Sheep Movie,” “The Good Dinosaur” and “The Peanuts Movie.”

Awards pundits are predicting that Hungary’s “Son of Saul” will take the best foreign film prize over France’s “Mustang,” Chile’s “The Club,” Belgium/France/Luxembourg’s “The Brand New Testament” and Finland/Estonia/Germany’s “The Fencer.”

As we write this column, the presenters so far include Redmayne, Channing Tatum, Lady Gaga, Mel Gibson, Taraji P. Henson, Amy Adams, Terrence Howard, Dwayne Johnson, Grant Gustin, Patricia Arquette, Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx (whose daughter Corinne Fox will grace the show as Miss Golden Globe 2016), Amber Heard, Bryce Dallas Howard, Kate Hudson, Ken Jeong, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, JK Simmons, Jaimie Alexander and Olivia Wilde.

Also announced were Tom Hanks, Chris Evans, Damon, Katy Perry, Schumer, Tom Ford, Melissa Benoist, Viola Davis, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Hart, Michael Keaton, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, Jason Statham, Mark Wahlberg, Jonah Hill, Sophia Bush, Andy Samberg, Will Ferrell, Kate Bosworth and John Krasinski.

(The views expressed by the columnist are his own as a journalist and not those of the HFPA.)

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