The Golden Globes Kick Off Awards Season in a Post-Strike Hollywood
On Sunday night, a little glitz returned to Hollywood as stars took to the red carpet for the Golden Globes – the first major awards show since the end of the writers' and actors' strikes. In his opening monologue, first-time host Jo Koy did not reference the recent strikes or the show's new ownership following the disbandment of The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) earlier this year. Many of the night's winners and their speechwriters also missed that memo, as they repeatedly thanked the now defunct organization.
Nevertheless, some frontrunners have now emerged as the awards season heats up. In the motion picture world, "Oppenheimer" seems destined to dominate the Oscars after its wins for Best Motion Picture, Drama; Best Director for Christopher Nolan; Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama, for Cillian Murphy; and Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture for Robert Downey, Jr. The historical epic also nabbed the award for Best Original Score for composer Ludwig Göransson.
Success at the Globes does not always lead to Oscar gold. Last year, "The Banshees of Inisherin" won Best Screenplay and Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, while Steven Spielberg won Best Director for his autobiographical film "The Fabelmans," which also won Best Motion Picture, Drama. Those two films would fail to win a single Oscar, with "Everything Everywhere All at Once" dominating last year's Academy Awards ceremony.
Several films that hope to top "Oppenheimer" at the Oscars split up the remaining awards on Sunday night. Martin Scorsese's historical drama "Killers of the Flower Moon" won its lone statuette for star Lily Gladstone in the category Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama. She will surely be in the running for Best Actress at the Oscars, and her main competition will likely be Emma Stone, who won in the equivalent category for Musical or Comedy for "Poor Things." Yorgos Lanthimos' dystopian comedy also won the top award for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.
Greta Gerwig's immensely popular film "Barbie" took home two prizes, including the new Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award. Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell won their second Golden Globe in the category Best Original Song, this time for "What Was I Made For?" The pair won two years ago for the song "No Time to Die" from the James Bond film of the same name and ended up winning the Oscar as well.
Alexander Payne's heartfelt dramedy "The Holdovers" also won two awards, both in acting categories – Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture for Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy for star Paul Giamatti.
France's legal thriller "Anatomy of a Fall" also took home two awards, Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language, and Best Screenplay, Motion Picture, for Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.
Actors Daniel Kaluuya, Hailee Steinfeld, and Shameik Moore joked about the writers' strike when presenting Best Screenplay. "To demonstrate the importance of writers and writing, we asked that this segment be written not by writers, but by studio executives," Kaluuya quipped. What followed was awkward, incomprehensible word salad like "I am relatable. I am enjoy the Golden Globs [sic]" and "Here are these nominations for movie writing for the movies."
Three shows dominated the television awards, all from streaming networks.
"Succession" swept the drama categories, winning Best Television Series, Drama; Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series, Drama, for Kieran Culkin; and Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series, Drama, for Sarah Snook. HBO's hit series about a billionaire family helming a massive media empire also won Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television for Matthew Macfadyen. The only eligible category it failed to win was Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television, which went to Elizabeth Debicki for her role as Princess Diana on "The Crown."
In the comedy categories, Hulu's "The Bear" dominated, with star Jeremy Allen White winning his second award in a row for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series, Musical or Comedy. His co-star Ayo Edebiri won her first award in the equivalent female category. The dramedy about a chef trying to keep his family's Chicago restaurant in business also won Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy.
The night's other big winner was Netflix's road rage-inspired limited series "Beef," which won awards for lead actor Steven Yeun, lead actress Ali Wong, and the top award in its category, Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television.
The Golden Globes added another new category this year, Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television. The inaugural award went to comedian Ricky Gervais for his special "Ricky Gervais: Armageddon."
In another change, this year's ceremony did not include two honorary awards that are typically part of the show – the Carol Burnett Award for "outstanding contributions to television on or off the screen" and the Cecil B. DeMille Award for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment."
Congratulations to all the winners! This Sunday, the awards season will continue as Chelsea Handler hosts the 29th annual Critics' Choice Awards, airing on the CW. Keep checking our blog for the latest updates on the awards season, and see a full list of Golden Globe winners here.