NEW DELHI: After a two-month delay, the 78th annual Golden Globes finally took place on Sunday, February 28, giving the industry something to celebrate while also reflecting the reality we inhabit. The awards went bi-coastal this year, most winners accepted their trophies from the safety of home, and the telecast was dominated by streaming services walking away with several top honours.
Nomadland scored the best motion picture drama award, while Chloé Zhao made history as the first woman of colour to take home the best director trophy for the Frances McDormand-starrer. She's only the second woman ever to win a Golden Globe for directing. The other contenders in the category were Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman), Regina King (One Night in Miami), David Fincher (Mank) and Aaron Sorkin (The Trial of the Chicago 7).
Chadwick Boseman was posthumously awarded the best actor Golden Globe for his last performance as a brash trumpet player in drama film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. The Black Panther actor's death at 43 of an undisclosed battle with cancer had stunned fans and the industry last year.
Andra Day became the second Black woman to win best performance by an actress in a motion picture (drama) for her stupendous act in The United States vs Billie Holiday. She was in the running with Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman), Frances McDormand (Nomadland) and Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman).
British actor Daniel Kaluuya won the coveted best supporting actor - motion picture award for Judas and the Black Messiah, but suffered a technical glitch when his acceptance speech via remote video was suddenly muted. Jodie Foster won the award for best supporting actress in a motion picture for her turn in legal drama The Mauritanian.
Amazon Studios’ Borat Subsequent Moviefilm won in the best motion picture – musical or comedy category, beating out Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, musician Sia's debut directorial venture Music, Ryan Murphy's The Prom and time loop-romcom Palm Springs. Sacha Baron Cohen took home the award for the best actor in a comedy or musical film for his performance as the titular character.
Rosamund Pike won the award for the best actress in a comedy or musical film for her role in Netflix original movie I Care a Lot.
Lee Isaac Chung’s semi-autobiographical story Minari was the favourite to win the best motion picture - foreign language category. On Sunday, it triumphed over controversy to secure the trophy. The film had not met the Globes’s 50 per cent English language requirement — the characters mostly speak Korean — so it did not make the cut for the best picture awards and was entered under the foreign-language category, even though Chung is an American director, the movie was filmed in the US and it was financed by American companies.
Disney-Pixar's Soul spirited away the best animated film award.
83-year-old actor and activist Jane Fonda received the lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday, marking a career in film and television and at the forefront of social issues over some 60 years.
In television, Netflix royal series The Crown, whose current season focuses on the late Princess Diana, swept the TV drama categories. The show, which chronicles the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II and her progeny, scooped up the best television series – drama award, edging out Lovecraft Country, The Mandalorian, Ozark and Ratched. The Crown stars Josh O’Connor, Emma Corrin and Gillian Anderson beat out stiff competition to bag the best actor, best actress and best supporting actress honours respectively.
The streamer’s The Queen’s Gambit took home two top prizes: limited series, anthology or TV movie and limited series/TV movie actress for star Anya Taylor-Joy. The Argentinian actor was nominated alongside acting tour-de-forces Cate Blanchett (Mrs. America) and Nicole Kidman (The Undoing), as well as Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) and Shira Haas (Unorthodox).
Mark Ruffalo won the best actor in a limited series or motion picture made for television award for his role in I Know This Much Is True.
Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis bagged the musical or comedy series actor statue, virtually accepting the honour from his home while dressed in a tie-and-dye hoodie.
Schitt’s Creek was named best TV comedy and earned star Catherine O’Hara her first Golden Globe. The actor won in the best actress in a television series, musical or comedy category for her role as Moira Rose in the hit CBC comedy series.
Netflix-fever reigned the competition, with the streaming service securing 42 nominations. It's Mank nabbed a leading six nominations on the film side, while The Crown topped the TV field with six as well.
Meanwhile, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler mocked and made cutting references to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which nominates and chooses the winners, and its lack of diversity.
“A number of Black actors and Black-led projects were overlooked,” Poehler noted. Fey chimed in with “inclusivity is important, and there are no Black members of the Hollywood Foreign Press.” This fact was acknowledged by the HFPA’s former president Meher Tatna, who said the association hasn’t had a single Black journalist among its 87-person membership in the last two decades.
In the past, the Academy Awards, too, have been widely panned for giving a miss to people of colour across categories; a phenomenon that is routinely lambasted on social media with the 'Oscars so white' hashtag.
