With so many categories at the Golden Globes, not least the split between dramas on the one side and comedies and musicals on the other, the chances of a clean sweep is impossible, but the 2015 awards saw film honours spread largely between Boyhood, Birdman and The Theory of Everything – with a handful of other films picking up a single prize.
It was always expected that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association would name Boyhood the best dramatic film of 2014, and Patricia Arquette’s win for best supporting actress in a drama also came as little surprise. And Richard Linklater was a popular choice for the best director.
With Boyhood and Birdman thought to be the main contenders come Oscar night next month, there was a surprise winner in the contest for the best comedy or musical, with The Grand Budapest Hotel pushing out Birdman. The entertainment industry satire, which went into the night with the most nominations, did take home two awards – best screenplay, for its director Alejandro González Iñárritu, and best actor in a comedy, for Michael Keaton.
This will set up an interesting fight for the Academy Award between Keaton and Eddie Redmayne, picked by the HFPA as their best dramatic acting performance, portraying the cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking, in The Theory of Everything, which also took home two trophies, the second being for the best original score.
The other acting honours saw Julianne Moore take the best dramatic film actress, thanks to her role as a woman suffering from early onset alzheimer’s in Still Alice and Amy Adams picked up another Golden Globe as the best actress in a comedy for Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, while a thumping performance from JK Simmons earned him a well deserved best supporting actor prize for Whiplash.
Rounding off the film awards, Russia’s Leviathan was the best foreign language film, How To Train Your Dragon 2 was named the best animated feature and Selma won the best original song.
As is often the case in the TV categories of the Golden Globes, new shows took many of the honours, with The Affair being named the best drama series and also winning best actress for Britain’s Ruth Wilson, Transparent getting the best comedy series and its star Jeffrey Tambor taking the category’s best actor award. Best actress in a comedy was Gina Rodriguez for Jane the Virgin. Only Kevin Spacey’s best actor for House of Cards went to a returning show.
It was a good night for Fargo, which took best miniseries – even though it has the same number of episodes in its first season as The Affair – and Billy Bob Thornton also took the best actor in the category, which also combines TV Movies. The best supporting actor in the category went to a TV Movie – Matt Bomer for The Normal Heart. The women in the category saw Maggie Gyllenhaal take home the best lead for The Honorable Woman and Britain’s Joanne Froggatt, bursting with excitement on the worldwide stage, gratefully accepted the supporting prize for Downton Abbey.
With the film awards spread so thinly and the TV honours largely recognising newer shows, whose networks often push harder to promote them, not too much can be read into either set of winners, but with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s now familiar brand of cheeky ladette banter with their predecessor Ricky Gervais making a similarly cheeky return and a surprise appearance from the 1980s music legend Prince, the Golden Globes know how to put on a show.
And the show itself stood as a beacon for the campaign in solidarity with those killed in Paris earlier this month, with everyone from winners at the podium, photographers along the red carpet, the HFPA President Theo Kingma and George Clooney, in accepting his lifetime achievement award, invoking the “Je Suis Charlie” mantra that’s become synonymous with calls to protect freedom of expression.
The full list of winners:
MOVIES
Drama
Winner: Boyhood
Actor, drama
Winner: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Actress, drama
Winner: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Comedy or musical
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Actor, comedy or musical
Winner: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Actress, comedy or musical
Winner: Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Director
Winner: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Supporting actress
Winner: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Supporting actor
Winner: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Animated feature film
Winner: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Screenplay
Winner: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, Birdman
Original song
Winner: John Legend, Common, Glory (Selma)
Original score
Winner: Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Foreign film
Winner: Leviathan
PRIME-TIME TELEVISION
Drama
The Winner: The Affair
Actor, drama series
Winner: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Actress, drama series
Winner: Ruth Wilson, The Affair
Comedy
Winner: Transparent
Actor, comedy series
Winner: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent
Actress, comedy series
Winner: Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin
Miniseries or TV movie
Winner: Fargo
Actor, miniseries or TV movie
Winner: Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo
Supporting actor, series, miniseries or TV movie
Winner: Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart
Actress, miniseries or TV movie
Winner: Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honorable Woman
Supporting actress, series, miniseries or TV movie
Winner: Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey