‘Nomadland,’ ‘Borat,’ ‘The Crown,’ ‘Schitt’s Creek’ take Golden Globe awards
Low-fanfare awards hosted from 2 coasts
NEW YORK — With homebound nominees appearing by remote video and hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on different sides of the country, a very socially distanced 78th Golden Globe Awards trudged on in the midst of the pandemic and amid a storm of criticism for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, with top awards going to “Nomadland,” “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “The Crown” and “Schitt’s Creek.”
The night’s top award, best picture drama, went to Chloé Zhao’s road movie “Nomadland,” a Western set across economic upheaval and personal grief. Zhao, a China-born filmmaker, became the first woman of Asian descent to win best director. She’s only the second woman in the history of the Globes to win, and the first since Barbra Streisand won for “Yentl” in 1984.
“‘Nomadland at its core for me is a pilgrimage through grief and healing,” said Zhao, accepting the awards remotely.
With a canceled red carpet and stars giving speeches from the couch, Sunday’s Globes had little of their typically frothy flavor.
Facing scant traditional studio competition, streaming services
dominated the Globes like never before — even if the top award went to a familiar if renamed source: Searchlight Pictures, formerly the Fox specialty label of “12 Years a Slave” and “The Shape of Water” now owned by the Walt Disney Co.
Amazon’s “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” won best film, comedy or musical. Its star guerilla comedian, Sacha Baron Cohen, won best actor in a comedy. Referring to Rudy Giuliani’s infamous cameo, Cohen thanked “a fresh new talent who came from nowhere and turned out to be a comedy genius.”
“I mean, who could get more laughs from one unzipping,” said Cohen.
Netflix, which came in with a commanding 42 nominations, won the top TV awards. “The Crown” took best drama series, along with acting wins for Josh O’connor (Prince Charles), Emma Corrin (Princess Diana) and Gillian Anderson (Margaret Thatcher). “The Queen’s Gambit” won best limited series, and best actress in the category for Anya Taylor-joy. “Schitt’s Creek,” the Pop TV series that found a wider audience on Netflix, won best comedy series for its final season. Catherine O’hara also took best actress in a comedy series.
Chadwick Boseman, as expected, posthumously won best actor in a drama film for his final performance, in the August Wilson adaptation “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” — a Netflix release. Boseman’s wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, tearfully, emotionally accepted the award.
Fey took the stage at New York’s Rainbow Room, while Poehler remained at the Globes’ usual home at the Beverly Hilton.