NEW YORK (AP) – With homebound nominees appearing remotely by video and hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on different sides of the country, a very socially detached 78th Golden Globe Awards trudged in the midst of the pandemic and in the midst of a storm of criticism at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, with top awards for ‘Nomadland’, ‘Borat Subsequent Movie Film’, ‘The Crown’ and ‘Schitt’s Creek’.
The night’s top prize, best film drama, went to Chloé Zhao’s elegiac road movie “Nomadland”, a western set in economic turmoil and personal grief. Zhao, the Chinese-born filmmaker of, became the first woman of Asian descent to win Best Director. She is only the second woman in Globes history to win, and the first since Barbra Streisand won for “Yentl” in 1984.
“Nomadland is essentially a pilgrimage through grief and healing to me,” said Zhao, receiving the awards from a distance. “For anyone who has ever gone through this difficult and beautiful journey in their life, this is for you.”
With a canceled red carpet and stars making speeches from the couch, Sunday’s Globes had little of their typical frothy flavor. But they nonetheless continued with winners in a sweat and dogs on their lap, in a pandemic that has drowned out nearly all of Hollywood’s glamor.
Faced with the sparse traditional studio competition, streaming services dominated the Globes like never before – even if the top prize went to a well-known but renamed source: Searchlight Pictures, the now Disney-operated specialty label behind “12 Years a Slave” and “Birdman.”
Amazon’s “Borat Subsequent Movie Film” – one of the few nominated films partially shot during the pandemic – won the best film, comedy or musical. The star, guerrilla comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, also won Best Actor in a Comedy. Referring to Rudy Giuliani’s infamous cameo, Baron Cohen thanked “a fresh new talent who came out of nowhere and turned out to be a comedic genius.”
“I mean, who else can laugh when you unwrap it,” he said.
Netflix, which came in with 42 nominations, won the best TV awards. The Crown, as expected, won Best Drama Series, along with acting victories for Josh O’Connor (Prince Charles), Emma Corrin (Princess Diana) and Gillian Anderson (Margaret Thatcher). The Queen’s Gambit won the Best Limited Series and 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 the final season. Catherine O’Hara also took the best actress in a comedy series.
Chadwick Boseman, as expected, posthumously won Best Actor in a Drama for his final appearance, in the August Wilson adaptation “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” – a Netflix release. Boseman’s wife, Taylor Simone Ledward, accepted the award emotionally in tears.
He would thank God. He would thank his parents. He would thank his ancestors for their guidance and their sacrifices, ”said Ledward. “He would say something beautiful, something inspiring.”
Apple TV + received its first major award when Jason Sudeikis, dressed in a sweatshirt, won Best Actor in a Comedy Series for the streamer’s “Ted Lasso”.
The NBC broadcast started in split screen. Fey took the stage in New York’s Rainbow Room while Poehler stayed in the Globes’ usual home at the Beverly Hilton. In their opening speech, they managed to move their usually well-timed back and forth, despite being nearly 3,000 miles apart.
“I’ve always known my career would end if I wandered around the Rainbow Room pretending to talk to Amy,” said Fey. “I just thought it would be later.”
They appeared in front of masked attendees, but not stars. Instead, the scarce tables – where Hollywood royalty are usually stuffed and filled with alcohol during the show – were occupied by “steaming hot first responders and essential workers,” as Fey said.
In a production nightmare, but one that rose to prominence during the pandemic, the evening’s first winner took his prize while muted. It was only after presenter Laura Dern apologized for the technical problems that Daniel Kaluuya, who won Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” got his speech. When he finally came through, he wagged his tail. put his finger to the camera and said, “You’re doing me dirty!”
Pandemic improvisation was only part of the harm reduction for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which attracts the Globes. After The Los Angeles Times revealed that there are no black members on the HFPA’s 87-member voting body, the press association came under increasing pressure to rethink itself and better reflect the industry in which it holds sway.
This year, none of the most acclaimed Black LED movies – ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’, ‘One Night in Miami’, ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’, ‘Da 5 Bloods’ – was nominated for the Best Picture Award of the Globes. As the HFPA may be fighting for its life in Hollywood, Sunday’s Globes were partly an apology tour. Fey and Poehler quickly raised the issue.
“Look, a lot of flashy crap was nominated, but it does,” said Poehler. ‘That’s their thing. But a number of black actors and black-led projects were overlooked. “
Within the first half hour of the NBC broadcast, members of the press association took to the stage to promise change. “We recognize that we have our own work to do,” said Vice President Helen Hoehne. “We must have black journalists in our organization.”
Whether those statements – along with a diverse group of winners – did enough to remedy anything remained unclear. When the show ended, Time’s Up was sending letters to both the HFPA and NBCUniveral demanding more. “The Globes are no longer golden. It’s time to take action, ”wrote Tina Tchen, the group chair.
COVID-19 conditions led to some anomalies during the awards ceremony. Mark Ruffalo, who appeared from a distance, won Best Actor in a Limited Series for “I Know This Much Is True” with his kids celebrating behind him and his wife, Sunrise Coigney, next to him.
Lee Isaac Chung, writer-director of the tender Korean-American family drama ‘Minari’ (a film criticized by the HFPA for failing to receive the highest accolade for its non-English dialogue), took the prize for best picture in a foreign language while his young daughter hugged him. “She is the reason I made this movie,” said Chung.
Supporting actor John Boyega for his appearance in Steve McQueen’s “Small Ax” anthology, raised his leg to reveal that he was wearing sweatpants under his more elegant white coat. Jodie Foster (“The Mauritanian”) won one of the Biggest Surprise Globes for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie, sitting on the couch next to her wife Alexandra Hedison with her dog Ziggy on her lap.
While speeches sometimes lacked drama without Hollywood gathering in one place, representation was a common chorus. Referring to the diversity of the HFPA, presenter and previous winner Sterling K. Brown began, “Thank you. It’s great to be black at the Golden Globes, ”he said. “Back.”
Jane Fonda, honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award, spoke passionately about expanding the marquee of entertainment for all. “Art has always not only been in step with history, but has also paved the way,” said Fonda. “So let’s be leaders.”
Other awards included Pixar’s “Soul” for Best Animated Feature; Rosumund Pike took the best actress in a comedy or musical film for “I Care a Lot”; Aaron Sorkin (“Trial of the Chicago 7 ″) for best screenplay; and, in the night’s biggest surprise, Andra Day (” The United States vs. Billie Holiday “) as best actress in a drama, with Carey as best Mulligan (“Promising Young Woman”) and Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”).
Despite significant backlash before the show, the Globes have survived because of their popularity (the show is the third most watched award show, after the Oscars and Grammys), their profitability (NBC paid $ 60 million for broadcast rights in 2018), and because they serve as important marketing material for warring movies and Oscar hopefuls.
The Academy Awards will be held on April 25.