The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trophies beside the point at Golden Globes
First, a few local connections to point out.
Atlanta-filmed “Stranger Things” is again up for some Golden Globes love this Sunday. Netflix’s retro sci-fi series is up against “The Crown” (last year’s winner) and other strong contenders, “Game of Thrones,” “Handmaid’s Tale” and “This Is Us.”
“Stranger Things” cast member David Harbour is up for best-supporting actor in a series, limited series or television movie, as are Alfred Molina (“Feud: Bette And Joan”), Christian Slater (“Mr. Robot”), Alexander Skarsgård (“Big Little Lies”) and David Thewlis (“Fargo”).
Jason Bateman, nominated for best actor in a television drama for locally filmed “Ozark,” is up against Sterling K. Brown (“This Is Us”), Freddie Highmore (“The Good Doctor”), Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”) and Liev Schreiber (“Ray Donovan”).
But in this #MeToo era, when every other day seems to deliver fresh headlines of yet another celebrity accused of harassment or worse, trophies won’t be the main focus of this year’s event. The broadcast airs at 8 p.m. on NBC.
Jessica Chastain ,up for best actress in a movie drama, has been among the many outspoken artists demanding action amid the torrent of allegations.
“Thank God for social media,” she posted after the fall of entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose denouement set off a cascade of other career collapses. “Weinstein couldn’t kill this wave of warriors working to keep this story alive. This has been very painful.”
We’d also suggest a shout-out to the journalists at The New York Times, The New Yorker and other
outlets whose investigative reporting preceded the tweet storm.
Chastain’s competitors include Sally Hawkins (“The Shape of Water”) and Frances McDormand (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”), along with Meryl Streep (“The Post”), who got into a brief Twitter tangle with actress and Rose McGown. She accused Streep of “hypocrisy” for working with Weinstein over the years, tweeting, “You’ll accept a fake award breathlessly and affect no real change. I despise your hypocrisy.” In response, Streep said she had no idea Weinstein was allegedly abusing women and found McGowan’s words hurtful.
Michelle Williams also is up for best actress in a movie drama, for “All The Money In The World.” That’s the movie with Christopher Plummer as billionaire J. Paul Getty .It was to have starred Kevin Spacey before accusations of misconduct surfaced, sacking him from that project as well as the Netflix series “House of Cards.” There were no nods for “House of Cards” this year; Netflix is no doubt relieved.
Actresses have said they’ll wear black in a show of solidarity, and
it’s a good bet that much of host Seth Meyers’ monologue, acceptance speeches and presenter banter will center on the topic no one talked about until it was all anyone could talk about.
And then there’s the matter of “Get Out,” the brilliant, disturbing and thought-provoking film that made Jordan Peele the first black writer-director to hit the $100 million mark at the box office with a debut feature. It’s up for best motion picture/musical or comedy, and its star, Daniel Kaluuya, is up for best actor/musical or comedy (as is Ansel Elgort for Atlanta-filmed “Baby Driver”).
“Get Out” has a few laugh lines, courtesy of Lil Rel Howery who plays a quippy TSA agent, and there’s a movie score as with any other film. But come on. Who watched this movie about a white woman who strategically lures her black boyfriends to the country so her psychotic father can saw open their skulls and thought, “Hilarious.”
“‘Get Out’ is a documentary,” Peele intoned via Twitter.
No, the trophies aren’t going to take center stage this year. Nor should they.