Edited by Deepali Verma
The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, hosted the 81st edition of the Golden Globes. From ‘Barbie’ losing the best comedy to ‘Poor Things’ to ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ beating ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ for the screenplay, the awards were certainly witnessed as an affair of surprises. The award show was hosted by first-time host Jo Koy who presided over the telecast, as per Variety.
‘Barbie’ lost best musical or comedy to ‘Poor Things’, which started off a disappointing night for Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s blockbuster. ‘Poor Things’ follows Bella Baxter (played by Emma Stone, who won female actor in a Musical/Comedy earlier in the night), a woman whose brain has undergone transplant with an infant’s, as she develops her own peculiar outlook on herself, her sexuality, and the world. ‘Poor Thing’ is a companion to Barbie’s unique explanation of what it is like to be a woman in the world, and it is also humorous.
Stone, in the role of a producer, and director Yorgos Lanthimos are undoubtedly to be pleased with their win as ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ beats ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ for screenplay
As per Variety, both ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ received much success and acclaim in no small part owing to the daring and inventiveness of their screenplays by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, and Christopher Nolan, respectively. However, the two behemoths lost instead to the writers of ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, a French courtroom thriller revolving around a novelist (nominee Sandra Huller) on trial for the death of her husband. Director Justine Triet and her co-writer Arthur Harari appeared genuinely floored as their win was announced.
The movie later bagged the Globe for best non-English language film. Though, it was an expected win. And while the Hollywood Foreign Press is not a thing anymore, Globes voting body consists of international journalists. Irrespective, this was a real surprise!
Elizabeth Debicki beats Meryl Streep in TV Supporting Actress
Elizabeth Debicki may claim, “I beat Meryl!” regardless of anything else that occurred in her career, so as to paraphrase Jennifer Lawrence from ‘The First Wives Club’. Convincingly enough, Debicki’s portrayal of the tragic Princess Diana in Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ final season won her the role.
The predictions were such that Streep would win the trophy for her performance in Season 3 of ‘Only Murders in the Building’, and if she couldn’t manage that then Hannah Waddingham might have won for her part in Season 3 of ‘Ted Lasso’.
A notable and fascinating aspect of Debicki’s well-deserved win is that it is the second time a performer has gone home with a Golden Globe for the same character. In 2021, Emma Corrin managed a win for TV Actress for her portrayal of Diana in Season 4 of “The Crown.”
Ricky Gervais wins Stand-Up award
Ricky Gervais had this award to his name for his Netflix special ‘Armageddon’, demonstrating again that he is a mainstream comedian and still stands firmly in the business. Gervais, at this period of his career, mostly makes jokes about how controversial he is. There is no way that Gervais’ five Globe hosting stints–2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, and 2020–put him above the rest of the field in the vote; after all, he managed to beat the apparent front-runner Chris Rock for his own Netflix special, ‘Selective Outrage’.
‘The Boy and the Heron’ beats ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ for Animated Film
‘Across the Spider-Verse’ was a gargantuan hit, or one may say that it was one of the only successful superhero movies of the year, and just as critically acclaimed as its predecessor, 2018’s ‘Into the Spider-Verse’, which won the Globe for animated film.
But the film that beat ‘Across the Spider-Verse’, ‘The Boy and the Heron’, was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, a living legend in animation that came out of retirement at 83 to make the most intimate film of his career. And it managed to write history by opening at the top of the domestic box office in December.
