LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Emilia Perez — Jacques Audiard’s surreal narco-thriller musical about a Mexican drug lord who transitions to life as a woman — leads the Golden Globes nominations with 10, as the race to the Oscars heats up.

The genre-defying film stars transgender actress Karla Sofia Gascon as the title character, along with actress-singer Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana in supporting roles.

All three are up for prizes for the Golden Globes, set for January 5, which are widely seen as a bellwether for the Academy Awards.

The Brutalist, starring Oscar winner Adrien Brody as a Hungarian Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust and emigrates to the US, came in second with seven nominations, followed by papal drama, starring Ray Fiennes Conclave with six nods.

Smash hit Wicked, the movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical, earned four nominations, including for pop sensation Ariana Grande as the bubbly, pink-clad Glinda and Tony winner Cynthia Erivo as the green-skinned Elphaba.

Emilia Perez, which is almost entirely in Spanish, started its march towards Hollywood awards glory in Cannes, where it won the Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival.

Audiard told AFP in October that he was “terrified” about the upcoming Oscars campaign for his film, which is streaming on Netflix after debuting in cinemas.

It earned nods in the categories for director, two entries for best original song, best score, best non-English language film, best screenplay, and best comedy or musical film.

It will compete for top comedy-musical honours with Wicked, Cannes darling Anora, tennis love-triangle film Challengers, Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, and body horror film The Substance starring Demi Moore.

Ahead of the nominations, Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis suggested organisers should save the last three categories of the night for comedy-musical honours, especially lead actress, which he called “the bloodbath category”.

The Golden Globes offer separate awards for dramas and comedies/musicals widening the field of stars who will walk the red carpet.

The Globes are in year two of a revamp, following a Los Angeles Times expose in 2021 that showed that the awards’ voting body — the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) — had no black members.

Now under new ownership, and with the HFPA disbanded, organisers are hoping to capitalise on a ratings bump registered last January, and perhaps even burnish the gala’s status as a predictor of Oscars success, scheduled for January 17.

Comedian Nikki Glaser will host the January 5 gala in Beverly Hills.