Peter Farelly’s Green Book emerged as the big winner at the 76th Golden Globe Awards ceremony that took place in Beverly Hills on Sunday. The period comedy, based on a real incident, won the award for best film in the Musical or Comedy category as well as the award for best screenplay (Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, and Peter Farrelly).
Mahershala Ali won the Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for Green Book. Regina King won the Best Supporting Actress for her work in If Beale Street Could Talk.
Sandra Oh, who hosted the ceremony alongside Andy Samberg, became the first person of Asian descent to be a Golden Globes host as well as a winner at the event. For her performance in Killing Eve, Oh won the Best Actress award in a Television Series – Drama.
The award for the best film in the Drama category went to the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. For playing the lead singer of the Queen band, Rami Malek won the award in the Best Actor – Drama category. Both Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born, two song-heavy films, were nominated for the top awards as dramas, and not musicals.
There was criticism on social media for the recognition given to Bohemian Rhapsody. Its director, Bryan Singer, has been accused of raping 17-year-old Cesar Sanchez-Guzman in 2003. Singer was fired from Bohemian Rhapsody weeks before filming ended, and was replaced by Dexter Fletcher. However, due to industry regulations, Singer was credited as director since he helmed the bulk of the production.
The best actress award in Motion Picture – Drama category went to Glenn Close for her work in The Wife. On the way to the stage, an emotional Close embraced her fellow nominee Lady Gaga, and was heard saying, “I’m so honoured to be with my category sisters.”
Glenn Close won over the crowds by talking about her role in the film, as a wife living in the shadow of a narcissistic husband who wins the Nobel Prize in Literature. “ “Women, we’re nurturers, that’s what’s expected of us,” she said. “But we have to find personal fulfillment. We have to say ‘I can do that, and I should be allowed to do that.’”
Chrstian Bale took home his second Golden Globe award for Adam McKay’s biopic Vice, in which he plays Republican politician and former American Vice-President Dick Cheney. During his acceptance speech for the best actor award in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, Bale thanked “Satan” for inspiring him to play the part. The Church of Satan acknowledged Bale’s remark.
For her performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, Olivia Colman won the best actress award in the Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy category. Colman thanked her “bitches”, co-stars Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone, saying, “Every second of working with you girls was such a joy.”
Veteran actress Carol Burnett was presented the inaugural Carol Burnett Award recognising her lifetime of work in television. “I am really gobsmacked by this,” a surprised Burnett quipped on receiving the award. “Does this mean I get to accept it every year?”
Jeff Bridges was the recipient of this year’s Cecil B DeMille Award, which recognises lifetime achievement. Bridges thanked his father, the actor Lloyd Bridges, and pulled up his sleeves to reveal his cuff-links. “They were your dad’s too,” Jeff Bridges said.
Bridges also acknowledged his frequent collaborators, the Coen brothers. Speaking about his iconic role in the directors’ The Big Lebowski (1998), the 69-year-old actor said, “If I’m lucky, I’ll be associated with the dude for the rest of my life.”
Alfanso Cuaron won the Best Director award for the semi-autobiographical Roma. The United States-Mexico production, made in the Spanish and Mixtec languages, also won the award in the best foreign language film category.
The Best Animated Feature Film award went to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse. “Anyone can wear the mask, everyone is powerful and everyone is necessary and that is the spirit of the movie,” said Peter Ramsey, who directed the film alongside Bob Persichetti and Rodney Rothman, backstage. The film features an African-American teenager as Spider-Man.
Justin Hurwitz won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for his second-ever nomination for his work in Damien Chazelle’s First Man. In 2017, Hurwitz had won the award for Chazelle’s La La Land.
The award for the Best Original Song went to Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt for Shallow from Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born. “As a woman in music, it is really hard to be taken seriously as a musician and as a songwriter,” Gaga said upon receiving her award.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story won the Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television award. The series also yielded a Best Actor award for Darren Criss.
The Best Actress award in the same category went to Patricia Arquette for her role in Escape at Dannemora. The Best Supporting Actor award was won by Ben Whishaw for A Very English Scandal. Patricia Clarkson won the Best Supporting Actress award for her work in Sharp Objects.
The award for the Best Television Series – Drama went to The Americans. The Kominsky Method won the award for the Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. Michael Douglas won the award for Best Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy for The Kominsky Method.
Richard Madden won the Best Actor in a Television Series award – Drama for his performance in Bodyguard. The Best Actress award in a Television Series – Drama went to Sandra Oh for Killing Eve. In the Best Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy category, the award went to Rachel Brosnahan for her role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
The evening appeared lukewarm compared to 2018’s ceremony, where attendees were dressed in black to commemorate the MeToo and TimesUp movements, and 2017’s ceremony, where Meryl Streep made an anti-Donald Trump speech, but it had its share of light moments. Jeff Bridges’s speech and Harrison Ford’s follow-up drew laughs.
And there was a certain “water lady” who was the unexpected star of the evening.
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