At what the beleaguered Hollywood Foreign Press Association itself said could be described as “the most exclusive event in the industry” – with neither nominees nor press invited – trophies that no-one really knows if anyone wanted were handed out, with no-one there to collect them.
In any other year, the teams behind The Power of the Dog and West Side Story would be celebrating a raft of honours, as their Oscar campaigns begin to pick up steam. But this year – with the Omicron outbreak providing useful cover for the largely empty ballroom at the Beverly Hilton hotel – rather than that nail-biting moment of anticipation, with the world watching, followed by awkward or angry speeches, winners will have found out on social media, as the HFPA tweeted the categories, one by one, without so much of a tweet of their own in thanks – in all but the rarest of cases. Perhaps that will change once the dust settles.
Whatever Hollywood thinks about the Golden Globes, after a year of reforming due to considerable amounts of bad press, people will have taken notice – but whether winners crow about being recognised by an organisation that was barred from watching their films by most of their publicists will be interesting to see.
With many of the winning films still available in cinemas, in previous years, the posters and trailers would have been reworked to boast about their “Golden Globe winning” status, but don’t expect to see that this year.
It’s the drama categories of the Golden Globes that usually correspond most closely with the Oscars, which would bode well for The Power of the Dog and its Globe-winning best director winner Jane Campion, a rare female front-runner for the best directing Oscar. Kodi Smit-McPhee was also awarded the best supporting actor prize, but Benedict Cumberbatch missed out on best actor to Will Smith, for King Richard, while Kirsten Dunst lost in the best actress race to Nicole Kidman for Being the Ricardos.
With the best musical/comedy winner being from Hollywood favourite Steven Spielberg, West Side Story is likely to fare well at the Oscars too. At the Globes, it also picked up best actress in a musical, for Rachel Zegler, while Ariana DeBose was named the best supporting actress. Best actor in a comedy or musical went to Andrew Garfield for tick, tick…BOOM!
Another British winner was Sir Kenneth Branagh, who missed out on the best director prize for his semi-autobiographical Belfast, but took the best screenplay award – well, was awarded it, at least.
Other film awards saw Hans Zimmer honoured for his score for Dune, while Billie Eilish won the Golden Globe for the best original song, for her title track for No Time To Die. Encanto was named the best animated feature and Japan’s Drive My Car won the foreign film award.
The drama Succession and the comedy Hacks were the main winners in the TV awards. For the first time, a trans woman won a best actress prize, with MJ Rodriguez being honoured for Pose. The other acting winners included Jeremy Strong (Succession), Jean Smart (Hacks), Jason Sudeikis (Ted Lasso), Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown) and Michael Keaton (Dopesick).
One of the HFPA’s key aims was to use its unconventional awards ceremony to publicise its years of philanthropic work. But as many have wondered, if an organisation crows about all the good work it does for charity – but there’s no-one where to hear about it – will it make a difference to its reputation?
When the HFPA announced that it would be going ahead with the Globes despite the scandal engulfing the group, knowing that the event wouldn’t be televised, the rival awards ceremony, the Critics Choice, moved its tanks onto the HFPA’s lawn, grabbing its 9th January and securing a deal to simulcast its ceremony on two TV networks, in the knowledge that all the celebrities would flock to its event. But while Omicron provided the HFPA with an excuse for its private ceremony, the pandemic resulted in the postponement of the Critics Choice; if they want to usurp the Golden Globes in the awards-season calendar, they need the stars on their red carpet.
It’s perhaps ironic, after all the controversy, that the Golden Globes is the one ceremony that’s been able to continue as planned, despite the pandemic. Determined as they were to go ahead with the awards, despite all adversity, not even Covid could stop the Golden Globes.
Here’s a full list of the Golden Globe winners:
FILM AWARDS
BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA – “The Power of the Dog”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA – Nicole Kidman – “Being the Ricardos”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA – Will Smith – “King Richard”
BEST MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY – “West Side Story”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY – Rachel Zegler – “West Side Story”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – MUSICAL OR COMEDY – Andrew Garfield – “tick, tick…BOOM!”
BEST MOTION PICTURE – ANIMATED – “Encanto”
BEST MOTION PICTURE – NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE (FORMERLY FOREIGN LANGUAGE) – “Drive My Car” – Japan
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE – Ariana DeBose – “West Side Story”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN ANY MOTION PICTURE – Kodi Smit-McPhee – “The Power of the Dog”
BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE – Jane Campion – “The Power of the Dog”
BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE – Kenneth Branagh – “Belfast”
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE – Hans Zimmer – “Dune”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE – “No Time To Die” – NO TIME TO DIE
Music & Lyrics by Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell
TV AWARDS
BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA – “Succession”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA – Michaela Jaé Rodriguez – “Pose”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA – Jeremy Strong – “Succession”
BEST TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY – “Hacks”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY – Jean Smart – “Hacks”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY – Jason Sudeikis – “Ted Lasso”
BEST TELEVISION LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES, OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION – “The Underground Railroad”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES, OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION – Kate Winslet – “Mare of Easttown”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES, OR A MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION – Michael Keaton – “Dopesick”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE ON TELEVISION – Sarah Snook – “Succession”
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE ON TELEVISION – O Yeong-su – “Squid Game”