GOLDEN GLOBES: ‘1917’ TAKES TOP HONOR
Best drama goes to ‘1917’; ‘Fleabag’ and ‘Succession’ also take honors
“1917” won best motion picture, drama, and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” won best motion picture, musical comedy Sunday night at the 77th Golden Globes held in Los Angeles.
On an evening where top awards were scattered among eight films, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” — about a fading actor and his longtime stunt man — shined, also earning a screenplay award for Quentin Tarantino and a supporting actor award for Brad Pitt. Its three wins made it the night’s big movie winner.
Sam Mendes’ World War I film, “1917,” earned two statues, including best director.
The Elton John biopic, “Rocketman,” was a multiple award winner, also earning best actor in a musical or comedy for Taron Egerton and best original song for “I’m Gonna Love Me Again,” which John co-wrote with longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
Other acting awards went to Awkwafina, who won best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy for “The Farewell”; Katy native Renée Zellweger, who won best actress, drama, for “Judy”; and Joaquin Phoenix who won for best actor, drama, for “Joker.”
TV’s top winners were all deserving shows: “Succession,” “Fleabag” and “Chernobyl.” “Succession,” Jesse Armstrong’s darkly comic drama about a media mogul and his backstabbing brood, won best TV series, drama, and also earned an acting award for Brian Cox, who plays the show’s patriarch.
“Fleabag” — a brilliant comedy about a woman in London navigating grief, family and sometimes slowly destructive urges — continued its hot run after its second and final season, having cleaned up a few months ago at the Emmy Awards. Creator and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge referred to it as “this little scrap of a show,” when she won best performance by an actress in a TV series, musical or comedy. The show also won best TV series, musical or comedy.
“Chernobyl” won best limited series or motion picture made for television as well as a supporting actor award for Stellan Skarsgard.
Prior to the telecast, NBC was wrapping up coverage for some NFL thing, when a former Cincinnati Bengals star said, “This has been a year of change in the NFL. A whole new era of young, phenomenal quarterbacks.”
Changes in film and TV were taking place prior to this year. But the streaming virus that upended the Emmy Awards appears to have found its way to cinema, too. “Fleabag” found its way to the world through Amazon, and WallerBridge thanked the studio for letting her get away with “all the things no one would let us say or do.”
TV wins were scored by HBO — at this point the paid cable studio is a veteran — as well as Showtime, FX, Hulu and Amazon.
Laura Dern’s win — a best supporting actress award in a motion picture for “Marriage Story” — was notable as a
feature film award that went to a Netflix film.
Not surprisingly, several winners offered acceptance speeches that steered into the political, starting with the acceptance speech an absent Russell Crowe sent for his win for best actor in a limited series, “The Loudest Voice.” He was in his native Australia, which is dealing with catastrophic wildfires. Crowe’s comments blamed man-made climate change for the crisis. Patricia Arquette (supporting actress in a limited series for “The Act”) touched on climate change and war. And Michelle Williams (actress in a limited series for “Fosse/Verdon”) made a strong plea for women to “vote in your own self-interest. It’s what men have been doing for years.”
The heaviness ran contrary to the Globes reputation as a looser, lighter alternative to the Oscars and Emmys.
And if the Globes’ distribution feels a little arbitrary, it’s due in part to the fact that about 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association vote on the Globes, and around 7,000 vote on the Academy Awards.
So the Globes are often capable of surprise recipients. The telecast’s first award was among them: Ramy Youssef ’s show “Ramy” proved an intriguing and funny play on a recent spate of shows by stand-up comedians. He won best performance by an actor in a TV series, musical or comedy. Youssef ’s story follows him as a young American Muslim juggling faith, family, friends and 21st-century life in New Jersey. It’s charming, stirring and funny. And Youssef, a stand-up comedian, had a little fun with his win. “Look,” he said. “I know you guys haven’t seen my show. Everyone’s like, ‘Is this an editor?’ ”
Such little success stories bear a certain sweetness to offset the hermetic nature of an awards show. Before show went to a commercial break mid-way through, it promised, “More thrilling stars are on the way. … More Ricky, too!”
I’m not sure what the yardstick for thrilling was, as the stars mostly showed up, read queues, handed out trophies. And Ricky … I don’t know how the shows producers could’ve anticipated which stars would react negatively to host Ricky Gervais’ opening bit. But they did, interspersing numerous looks of disapproval with shots of Tom Hanks who grimaces when he smiles, so it’s hard to tell if he’s laughing or not.
Gervais was a curious choice considering his recent series of tweets that found him taking trans-exclusionary radical feminist position. He didn’t address the issue directly, but instead referenced his “offensive tweets … lucky for me, the Hollywood Foreign Press can barely speak English.”
He also tossed darts at Martin Scorsese’s height, Leonardo DiCaprio’s affinity for younger girlfriends, Felicity Huffman’s prison term, and, James Corden’s involvement with “Cats.” All were funny enough. But through the TV, the feel of the room was uncomfortable, and only got worse with a Jeffrey Epstein joke.
“Shut up,” Gervais said to the groans. “I know he’s your friend.”
“You’ll be pleased to know this’ll be the last time I host these awards,” he said. “I don’t care anymore.”
He repeatedly referenced the fact that he’s been asked to host five times.
“Remember, they’re just jokes,” he said. “We’re all going to die soon, and there’s no sequel.”
There’s a nasty truth to that, I suppose. His point is that his job is to be funny, and listeners and viewers can choose to tune in or find humor elsewhere.
Ellen DeGeneres proved a heartfelt counterweight. She was given the Carol Burnett Award for excellence in television. DeGeneres’ speech was lovely and funny, poking gentle fun at award show acceptance speech cliché: “I couldn’t have done it without my husband, Mark,” she said. “Mark, you are my rock. Rupert and Fiona, go to bed. I love you …”
She never broke from humor, but still touched on her path from stand-up comedian to TV star, who came out and lost her show. A few creaky years followed before she launched a talk show 17 years ago where “I was able to be myself.”
“All I’ve ever wanted to do,” DeGeneres said, “is make someone feel better or laugh.”