Big win for ‘Oppenheimer’
Movie tops Golden Globes on bittersweet night for ‘Barbie’
Los Angeles: Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s drama about the inventor of the atomic bomb, topped the Golden Globes – but its fellow summer smash hit Barbie missed out on best comedy film honours to Poor Things.
Oppenheimer took five prizes including best drama, best director for Nolan, best score, as well as acting trophies for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.
Nolan told journalists backstage he was drawn to the “tragedy” of J. Robert Oppenheimer, a scientist who remained loyal to his country and never apologised for his actions, yet was “wracked by tremendous guilt”.
Emma Thomas, the film’s producer and Nolan’s wife, said his work about “one of the darkest developments in our history” was “unlike anything anyone else is doing”.
Murphy, who plays the title character in the three-hour epic, hailed his “visionary director,” while Downey Jr, portraying the protagonist’s bitter rival, praised the movie as a “masterpiece”.
In winning best director, Nolan fended off Greta Gerwig, who helmed Barbie – the other half of the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon that grossed a combined Us$2.4bil last year.
Turning nostalgia for the beloved doll into a sharp satire about misogyny and female empowerment, Barbie was the leading film heading into the night with nine nominations, but ended the gala with just two prizes.
It won the award for best song, for a tune written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’connell. And as the year’s highest grossing movie, it claimed a newly created trophy for box office achievement.
“We would like to dedicate this to every single person on the planet who dressed up and went to the greatest place on Earth, the movie theatres,” said Margot Robbie, the film’s star and producer.
“Thank you to all the Barbies and Kens in front of and behind the screen,” added Gerwig.
But Barbie lost out on best comedy to Poor Things – a surreal, sexy bildungsroman which also earned Emma Stone best actress for her no-holds-barred turn as Bella Baxter.