NEW YORK (AP) – With nominees at home appearing through remote videos and hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in various parts of the country, a 78 socially distant Golden Globe Award has entered the midst of a pandemic and a storm of criticism for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, with top awards for “Nomadland”, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”, “The Crown” and “Schitt’s Creek”.
The biggest prize of the evening, the best image for the film, was given to Chloé Zhao’s elegiac road movie “Nomadland”, a western set that faces economic turmoil and personal pain. Zhao, the Chinese-born filmmaker, became the first woman of Asian descent to win the best director. She is only the second woman in the history of the globes to win and the first since Barbra Streisand won for “Yentl” in 1984.
“The basic nomadland for me is a pilgrimage through pain and healing,” Zhao said, accepting the awards at a distance. “For all those who have gone through this difficult and beautiful journey at some point in their lives, this is for you.”
With a canceled red carpet and celebrities giving speeches on the couch, Sunday’s Globes had little of their typical frothy aroma. But they continued, however, with winners in sweat and dogs in turns, in a pandemic that brought out almost all of Hollywood’s glamor.
Faced with the traditional reduced studio competition, streaming services dominated the Globes like never before – even if the top prize was awarded to a familiar source, if renamed: Searchlight Pictures, the specialty label now owned by Disney behind “12 Years a Slave ”and“ Birdman ”.
Amazon’s “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” – one of the few nominated films partially shot during the pandemic – won Best Picture, Comedy or Musical. His star, guerrilla comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, also won Best Actor in a Comedy. Referring to Rudy Giuliani’s famous cameo, Baron Cohen thanked “a new talent that came out of nowhere and turned out to be a comedy genius.”
“I mean, who could laugh more than a single discharge,” he said.
Netflix, which came with 42 nominations, won the top TV awards. “The Crown”, as expected, took the best drama series, along with acting victories for Josh O’Connor (Prince Charles), Emma Corrin (Princess Diana) and Gillian Anderson (Margaret Thatcher). “Queen’s Gambit” won the best limited series and the best actress in the category for Anya Taylor-Joy. “Schitt’s Creek”, the Pop TV series that found a wider audience on Netflix, won the best comedy series for its final season. Catherine O’Hara also took the best actress in a comedy series.
As expected, Chadwick Boseman posthumously won Best Actor in a Drama for his final performance in August Wilson’s adaptation of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” – a Netflix release. Boseman’s wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, tearfully accepted the award.
“He would thank God. He would thank his parents. He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and sacrifices, ”Ledward said. “It would say something beautiful, something inspired.”
Apple TV + won its first major award when Jason Sudeikis, dressed in a sweatshirt, won best actor in a comedy series for “Ted Lasso” by the streamer
NBC television started in split screen. Fey took to the Rainbow Room stage in New York, while Poehler stayed at the regular Globe House at Beverly Hilton. In their opening statements, they managed to walk back and forth, usually despite the fact that they were almost 3,000 miles apart.
“I always knew my career would end with me wandering around the Rainbow Room, pretending to talk to Amy,” Fey said. “I just thought it would be later.”
They appeared in front of masked participants, but without stars. Instead, the rare tables – where Hollywood royalties are usually crammed together and covered in alcohol during the show – were occupied by “the first to respond to smoking and the essential workers,” as Fey said.
In a production nightmare, but one that became familiar during the pandemic, the first winner of the night accepted his prize while it was off. It wasn’t until presenter Laura Dern apologized for the technical difficulties that Daniel Kaluuya, who won Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” received his speech. He threw his finger at the room and said, “You’re making me dirty!”
The pandemic improvisation was just part of the damage control for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on Globes. After the Los Angeles Times revealed that there are no black members in the HFPA’s 87-member voting body, the media association has come under increasing pressure to better review and reflect its industry.
This year, none of the most acclaimed black films – “Ma Rainey’s Black Ass”, “A Night in Miami”, “Black Judas and the Black Messiah”, “Yes 5 Blood” – were nominated for the better image of the Globes. . Given that HFPA is potentially fighting for its Hollywood life, Sunday’s Globes were part of the apology tournament. Fey and Poehler quickly started the problem.
“Look, a lot of shiny garbage has been nominated, but that’s what happens,” Poehler said. “It simply came to our notice then. But a number of black actors and black-led projects were overlooked. ”
In the first half hour of the NBC show, members of the press association appeared on stage to promise change. “We recognize that we have our own work to do,” said Vice President Helen Hoehne. “We need to have black journalists in our organization.”
It remains unclear whether these statements – along with a diverse group of winners – have done enough to remedy anything. When the show ended, Time’s Up sent letters to both HFPA and NBCUniveral asking for more. “Globes are no longer golden. It is time to act “, wrote Tina Tchen, the president of the group.
The circumstances of COVID-19 led to some anomalies in the awards. Mark Ruffalo, who appears from a distance, won Best Actor in a Limited Series for “I Know It’s True,” with his children celebrating behind him and his wife, Sunrise Coigney, alongside him.
Lee Isaac Chung, writer-director of the tender Korean-American family drama “Minari” (a film that HFPA was criticized for not being eligible for its top award because of its non-English dialogue), accepted the award for best foreign language movie while his little daughter hugged him. “That’s why I made this film,” Chung said.
John Boyega, the winner of the supporting actor for his performance in Steve McQueen’s anthology “Small Axes”, raised his leg to show that he was wearing sweatpants under his more elegant white jacket. Jodie Foster (“The Mauritanian”) won one of the biggest surprises of the Globes, for best supporting actress in a film, while sitting on the couch next to his wife, Alexandra Hedison, and her dog, Ziggy in her lap .
Even though speeches sometimes lacked drama without bringing Hollywood together in one place, the performance was a common refrain. Referring to the diversity of HFPA, former presenter and winner Sterling K. Brown began: “Thank you. It’s great to be black at the Golden Globes, “he said. “Back.”
Jane Fonda, winner of the Cecil B. DeMille Award, spoke passionately about expanding the great entertainment tent for all. “Art has always been not only in step with history, but has led the way,” Fonda said. “So let’s be leaders.”
Other awards included Pixar’s “Soul” for Best Animated Film; Rosumund Pike took the best actress in a comedy or musical for “I Care a Lot”; Aaron Sorkin (“The Chicago Trial 7”) for best screenplay; and, in the biggest surprise of the night, Andra Day (“United States vs. Billie Holiday”) for Best Actress in a Drama, starring Carey Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”) and Frances McDormand (” Nomadland ”).
Despite the considerable reaction to the show, the Globes persisted due to their popularity (the show ranks as the third most-watched awards show, after the Oscars and Grammys), their profitability (NBC paid $ 60 million for broadcast rights). 2018) and because they serve as important marketing material for competing films and Oscar hopes.
The Oscars will take place on April 25.