‘FABELMANS’ WINS TOP HONOURS
Movie inspired by Spielberg’s teen years bags best movie drama, best director awards
STEVEN Spielberg’s movie inspired by his teen years, The Fabelmans, and dark comedy The Banshees of Inisherin landed the top movie awards at the Golden Globes on Tuesday as Hollywood returned to a show that had been knocked off television by scandal.
The Fabelmans was named best movie drama at the star-studded ceremony here. The Banshees of Inisherin, the story of feuding friends on an Irish island, won best movie musical or comedy.
The honours are likely to give both movies a boost on the road to the Academy Awards in March.
Spielberg, who also won best director, based The Fabelmans on his real life as a teenager dealing with his parents’ marital struggles and anti-Semitism. He said he had been “hiding this story since I was 17”.
“When I turned 74, I decided you better do it now. I’m really happy I did.”
Celebrities and broadcaster NBC had abandoned the 2022 Globes because of ethical wrongdoings at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the group that hands out the awards.
The future of the Globes was
thrown into doubt after a 2021 Los Angeles Times investigation revealed the organisation had no Black journalists in its ranks.
Some members were accused of making sexist and racist remarks and soliciting favours from celebrities and movie studios.
A larger, more diverse membership and other changes by the HFPA persuaded many of the biggest movie and TV stars to support this year’s ceremony, which provides publicity for winners and nominees and often boosts their chances at the Oscars.
The show unfolded largely as it had in years past, except for a biting monologue from comedian
and host Jerrod Carmichael who opened the show joking: “I’m here because I’m black.”
“One day you’re making mint tea at home. The next day you’re invited to be the black face of an embattled white organisation.”
The winners list reflected a wide range of diversity.
Abbott Elementary, about teachers at a predominantly black public school, was named best television comedy and received acting trophies for star and creator Quinta Brunson and supporting actor Tyler James Williams.
Malaysian actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, honoured for her leading role in dimension-hopping action movie Everything Everywhere
All at Once, recalled that said she had been called a “minority” and asked if she could speak English early in her career.
Forty years later, “it’s been an amazing journey and incredible fight to be here today, but I think it’s been worth it”, she said.
Ryan Murphy, who brought gay and transgender stories to television, received a lifetime achievement award.
Roughly 200 journalists and others from the international film industry voted on this year’s Globes. Among those voters, nearly 52 per cent are racially and ethnically diverse, including 10 per cent who are black, according to the HFPA.