Sorry Daniel but you’re muted: Golden Globes goes remote
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 a storm of criticism.
Fey took the stage at New York’s Rainbow Room while Poehler remained at the Globes’ usual home at the Beverly Hilton. In their opening remarks, they managed their typically well-timed back-and-forth despite being almost 5000km from each other.
‘‘I always knew my career would end with me wandering around the Rainbow Room pretending to talk to Amy,’’ said Fey. ‘‘I just thought it would be later.’’ They appeared before masked attendees but no stars. Instead, the sparse tables – where Hollywood royalty are usually crammed together and plied with alcohol during the show – were occupied by ‘‘smoking-hot first responders and essential workers,’’ as
Fey said.
In a production nightmare but one that’s become familiar during the pandemic, the night’s first winner accepted his award while muted. Only after presenter Laura Dern apologised for the technical difficulties did Daniel Kaluuya, who won best supporting actor for his performance as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah, get his speech in. Pandemic improvising was only part of the damage control for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the Globes. After The Los Angeles Times revealed that there are no Black members in the 87-person voting body of the HFPA, the press association came under mounting pressure to overhaul itself and better reflect the industry it holds sway in.
This year, none of the most acclaimed Black-led films – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, One Night in Miami, Judas and the Black Messiah, Da 5 Bloods – were nominated for the Globes’ best picture award. Top awards went to
Moviefilm, The Crown and Schitt’s
Creek.
The night’s top award, best picture drama, went to Chloe Zhao’s elegiac road movie Nomadland, a Western set across economic upheaval and personal grief. Zhao, the China-born filmmaker of, 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.
Netflix, which came in with a commanding 42 nominations, won the top TV awards. The Crown, as expected, 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.