Golden Globes kicks off awards season with tech glitches, diversity scandal
LOS ANGELES:
Hollywood’s awards season kicked off Sunday at a very different Golden Globes, with winners dialing in remotely to a ceremony that ba led through technical glitches and a few awkward moments as the stars doled out prizes and confronted controversy over a lack of diversity among event organizers. Usually a starpacked party that draws Tinseltown’s biggest names to a Beverly Hills hotel ballroom, this pandemic edition was broadcast from identical sets in California and New York, with essential workers and a few glamorous Alist presenters among the few in a endance.
British royals drama “The Crown” reigned over the TV drama series categories, but all eyes were on the final film prizes, which will boost or dash the Oscars hopes of early frontrunners like “Nomadland” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
The night was hit with an immediate technical glitch, as the first winner, Daniel Kaluuya, initially lost sound for his acceptance speech, forcing instudio presenter Laura Dern to apologize before audio was restored.
“You’re doing me dirty! Am I on?” joked best supporting actor Kaluuya, before paying tribute to late Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who he played in “Judas and the Black Messiah.”
“I hope generations a er this can see how brilliantly he fought, how brilliantly he spoke, and how brilliantly he loved,” he said of Hampton. In other early film awards, Jodie Foster accepted the prize for best supporting actress for Guantanamo legal drama “The Mauritanian” alongside her wife at home, telling viewers: “I just never expected to ever be here again.”
Korean-American immigrant family drama “Minari” won the Globe for best foreign language film.
Pixar’s “Soul” – mispronounced by presenter Tracy Morgan as “Sawl,” to widespread amusement among the various stars appearing on videolink – won best animated feature, as well as best musical score.
Unlike the Oscars, the Globes split most movie categories into drama and “musical or comedy,” with Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” sequel and the Disney+ film of hit musical “Hamilton” expected to lead the la er fields.
Rosamund Pike scooped best comedy actress for Netflix’s dark thriller “I Care A Lot.”
“I had to swim up from a sinking car. I think I still would rather do that than have to be in a room with Rudy Giuliani,” said Pike, referring to her rival Maria Bakalova’s infamous real-life encounter with Donald Trump’s lawyer in the “Borat” film. lywood’s actors and directors unions.
Both “Nomadland” and “Chicago 7” are fueled by their timely themes of protest and joblessness, but could be rivalled by “Promising Young Woman” – about a revenge-seeker who lurks at bars, feigning drunkenness to lure men into revealing their own misogyny.
The other films vying for best drama are “Mank” – David Fincher’s ode to “Citizen Kane,” which topped the overall nominations with six – and “The Father” starring Anthony Hopkins.
In the television categories, the latest series of “The Crown” continued the show’s multiyear dominance at the Globes, with acting awards for Gillian Anderson, Emma Corrin and Josh O’Connor, and best drama series honors. — AFP