Netflix’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is slated to have a big morning when Golden Globes nominations are announced on Feb. 3, with predicted bids for Best Film Drama, Drama Actress (Viola Davis) and Actor (Chadwick Boseman) and anticipated wins for its two leads. With so many high profile nominations in the offing, might one of its legendary featured players, Glynn Turman, come along for the ride with a surprise citation for Film Supporting Actor?
The Emmy-winning actor plays Toledo, Ma Rainey’s wise pianist who not only delivers a sensational August Wilson monologue about race and the leftovers of history, but also spars with Ma Rainey’s younger, ambitious trumpeter Levee (Boseman). Turman has started to collect kudos for his performance, landing nominations from the Independent Spirit Awards and the National Society of Film Critics and winning the Los Angeles Film Critics Association prize for Supporting Actor. The momentum he’s building with these smaller groups could certainly help him score the Globes nomination.
WATCH our exclusive interview with Glynn Turman
Turman is currently in 14th place in our exclusive odds. He trails our predicted nominees Leslie Odom, Jr. (“One Night in Miami”), Sacha Baron Cohen (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”), Bill Murray (“On the Rocks”), Mark Rylance (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”), and Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”). One hurdle Turman may face in landing a spot in the final five is internal competition from his “Ma Rainey’s” co-star Colman Domingo, who just netted an Independent Spirit nomination alongside Turman. Domingo sits a few spots behind him in 19th place, though, and while we anticipate Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) voters will love “Ma Rainey’s,” both actors may miss out if voters don’t have a clear preference for either Turman or Domingo to coalesce behind.
Turman does have an advantage in the race, though, thanks to his work this year on the small screen. He will also compete at the Globes for his scene-stealing turn on the fourth installment of FX’s anthology series “Fargo.” The HFPA loves the series—it has earned 11 nominations and three wins for its first three seasons—and their appreciation for his TV performance could accrue to his benefit on the film side of the ceremony as well. Turman’s “Fargo” work is currently outpacing his performance in “Ma Rainey’s” in our combined TV odds, so voters could very well recognize him for “Fargo” instead of “Ma Rainey’s” if the film race is too crowded.
WATCH our exclusive interview with Ruben Santiago-Hudson, ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ writer
If Turman manages to score both nominations, he would join a growing number of actors who have earned film and TV bids in the same year. In the past 10 years, Amy Adams (“Vice,” “Sharp Objects”), Regina King (“If Beale Street Could Talk,” “Seven Seconds”), Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies,” “Wolf Hall”), Idris Elba (“Love & Mercy,” “Luther”), Mark Ruffalo (“Foxcatcher, “The Normal Heart”), Bill Murray (“St. Vincent,” “Olive Kitteridge”), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Enough Said,” “Veep”), Nicole Kidman (“The Paperboy,” “Hemingway & Gellhorn”), Maggie Smith (“Quartet,” “Downton Abbey”), and Kate Winslet (“Carnage,” “Mildred Pierce”) have all pulled off this estimable feat. Turman would certainly be an incredibly worthy addition to this already starry line-up.
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