Joker Lands Four Golden Globe Nominations Including Best Picture

After winning the top prize at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year, the coveted Golden Lion Award, Joker instantly set itself up to be a serious contender for the entire awards season. That was further proven on Monday morning when the nominees for the Golden Globes were announced, and the name Joker popped up several different times. Of the major categories, Joker wound up with four nominations, solidifying itself as a force to be reckoned with as we head into the thick of awards season.

Joker has been nominated for Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama (Joaquin Phoenix), Best Director (Todd Phillips), and Best Original Score (Hildur Guðnadóttir).

The Golden Globe nominations come just a day after Joker's outstanding showing at the Critics' Choice awards nominations. There, the film got seven total nominations, nearly double its total from the Globes. The broadcast critics nominated Joker for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Hair and Makeup, and Best Score.

The Academy Awards will be announced in early January, and precursors like the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards are a solid way to measure how a film will perform at the biggest show of them all. It looks like Joker has a great chance to land some big nods at the Oscars.

Joker has been a fairly divisive film since its festival premiere earlier in the year, mainly due to its dark and difficult subject matter. That said, a deep look into the character of the Joker was always going to be a difficult challenge, and that's what initially drew Phoenix to the role.

"There was a lot of fear, yeah," Phoenix said last month. "But I always say there's motivating fear and debilitating fear. There's the fear where you cannot make a f--king step, and there's the kind where it's like, 'OK, what do we do? That's not good enough.' And you're digging deeper and deeper. I love that kind of fear. It guides us, makes us work harder."

Do you think Joker is worthy of its Golden Globe nominations? Will it be just as successful at the Academy Award nominations next month? Let us know in the comments!