“The Undoing” will likely dominate the Golden Globes when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces its nominations on February 3, 2021. Take that to the bank. No other show this year boasts this much star power: showrunner David E. Kelley, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, Donald Sutherland, director Susanne Bier. The HFPA loves to honor A-list stars, so they won’t be able to resist. What may be surprising is that the one contender from the show who is most likely to win among all that star wattage, and in the highly competitive limited series races, is leading man Grant. SPOILERS FOLLOW!
The series, based on the book “You Should Have Known” by Jean Hanff Korelitz, was adapted by Kelley (“L.A. Law,” “Picket Fences,” “The Practice,” “Ally McBeal,” “Big Little Lies”) and directed by Bier (“The Night Manager”). It follows Grace Sachs (Kidman), who lives a picture-perfect Upper East Side life as a successful therapist, married to esteemed doctor Jonathan (Grant), and raising their son Henry (Noah Jupe).
Their lives painfully unravel after a young woman is brutally murdered, Jonathan goes missing and it is later revealed that the victim was Jonathan’s mistress. As a series of shocking revelations rock Grace’s world and the family endures a painful trial, she is forced to start over with her son while questioning whether she truly ever knew the man she married.
The shocking series finale concluded with the reveal that Jonathan was not only guilty of violently bludgeoning his mistress to death, but that he was a depraved sociopath hiding in plain sight as an upstanding family man. We have never seen Grant like this before: as a cold-blooded, remorseless killer hellbent on covering up his lies by expertly manipulating his family and friends.
Interestingly, in the race for Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor where Grand will be competing, the HFPA have demonstrated an eerily unhealthy penchant for sociopaths, villains, narcissists and thugs. Russell Crowe won at the last Globes for playing the late disgraced TV mogul and sexual predator Roger Ailes in “The Loudest Voice.” The year before, Darren Criss won for playing murderous psychopath Andrew Cunanan in “The Assassination of Gianni Versace.” And a few years before that Billy Bob Thornton won as a creepy hitman in the first season of “Fargo.” You get the drift.
So look out for Grant to bludgeon to death the competition in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor race. While he is currently sitting in third place with 9/2 odds behind recent Emmy winner Mark Ruffalo (“I Know This Much Is True”) and Ethan Hawke (“The Good Lord Bird”), the Globes love big stars who have mounted recent career comebacks, and Grant has done just that after recent accolades for his thoroughly creepy turn in another limited series, “A Very English Scandal,” where the erstwhile romantic comedy king proved his dramatic chops by playing a real-life dastardly politician.
Grant last won a Globe 25 years ago for “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (1994) and has since earned four additional career nominations for “Notting Hill” (2000), “About a Boy” (2003), “Florence Foster Jenkins” (2017) and the aforementioned “Scandal” (2019).
We know that the HFPA also loves awards-magnet Kelley, having showered a staggering 81 nominations on nine of his series over the years, most recently “Big Little Lies,” which won four Globes out of nine overall nominations, including Best TV Movie/Limited Series in 2018. The Globes also love Danish auteur Bier, bestowing three awards on “The Night Manager” in 2017 — all for acting. So voters clearly admire her work with actors, and with Grant gives them plenty more to be excited about.
SEE Hugh Grant (‘The Undoing’) could win his first Golden Globe in 26 years
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