Nominees for the 2023 Golden Globes were announced on Monday, and an Alabama filmmaker is high on the list, competing in two major categories.
Daniel Scheinert, a Birmingham native, is nominated for best director and best screenplay for the movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” along with his professional partner, Daniel Kwan. (The two are known as “the Daniels.”)
Scheinert and Kwan are up against some powerhouse names in the film world, such as Steven Spielberg (nominated for best director and screenplay for “The Fabelmans”) and James Cameron (nominated for best director for “Avatar: The Way of Water”).
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” earned six nominations total:
- Best Director – Motion Picture, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
- Best Screenplay – Motion Picture, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.
- Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Michelle Yeoh.
- Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture, Jamie Lee Curtis.
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture, Ke Huy Quan.
Scheinert, 35, grew up in Birmingham. He attended Oak Mountain Elementary and Middle schools, and went to high school at the International Baccalaureate School at Shades Valley. In an interview with AL.com earlier this year, Scheinert said his parents, Ken and Becky, encouraged creative endeavors during his childhood and teen years. He also pointed to the Sidewalk Film Festival as an early influence.
“Sidewalk Film Festival just blew my mind when I made a movie in high school with my best friends and it played for an audience and they liked it,” Scheinert said. “I was like, ‘This is incredible.’ So we just started trying to make movies and do all the Sidewalk Scrambles and enter all the competitions. I interned at Sidewalk Film Festival for a while, and it became my favorite thing to do my last three years of high school.”
Scheinert moved on to study filmmaking and theater at Emerson College in Boston. There, he teamed up with Kwan, a fellow student. As the Daniels, the duo has created music videos, short films, TV episodes and full-length features such as 2016′s “Swiss Army Man,” starring Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe.
Scheinert made his solo directing debut in 2019 with “The Death of Dick Long,” shot in and around the greater Birmingham area. He’s returned to his hometown for screenings and filmmaker chats at Sidewalk, which has featured “Swiss Army Man” and “Dick Long” on its lineups.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” is the Daniels’ breakthrough project, widely heralded as one of the best films of 2022. The movie’s IMDB synopsis describes the plot as follows: “An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, in which she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led.”
The Golden Globes, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, honor excellence in film and television. In the past, the Golden Globes were regarded as signposts for Oscar nominations, but their influence has been diluted, according to reports by national entertainment media.
“A few years ago, nominations for the Globes were seen as a key marker of awards season — a sign of who was up and who was down in the hunt for Oscars and other trophies,” said Brent Lang and Jordan Moreau of Variety. “A steady stream of scandals and celebrity defections has muted that impact, so it’s unclear how seriously Hollywood and its cottage industry of awards prognosticators and strategists will take Monday’s announcement.”
The Golden Globes still draw attention in the entertainment industry, however, as evidenced by Monday’s coverage by Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, The Los Angeles Times and more. (See the full list of nominations here.)
The 80th Golden Globe Awards will be presented on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. CT (8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT) at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The ceremony is set to air on NBC and stream on Peacock.
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