Tom Beasley takes a look at the winners and losers from the Golden Globes, and what that means for the Oscars…
Hollywood’s biggest and brightest starts packed into the Beverly Hilton Hotel last night for the 75th Golden Globes. The spectre of movie industry harassment loomed large over proceedings, whether it was in the stars wearing black on the red carpet or the spiky remarks in talk show host Seth Meyers’s opening monologue.
The awards themselves were largely predictable, but the ceremony is one of the first major awards shows on the calendar, which makes it worth a look for those looking to get an early edge when it comes to predicting the Oscars. The Globes are not likely to be replicated by the Academy, but they give us a decent idea of where the season is heading.
With that in mind, here are some winners and losers from the Golden Globes ceremony.
WINNER: Oprah Winfrey and Hollywood Women
The most celebrated moment of the Golden Globes was the rousing speech delivered by Oprah Winfrey as she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. Winfrey used her address to highlight the importance of the current sea change in Hollywood, before urging both men and women to challenge the powerful people who have been able to perpetrate harassment and assault for so long.
It was a powerful moment in a night filled with politically-charged speeches. By the time Winfrey left the stage to a standing ovation, Meyers’s joke in the opening monologue about a Winfrey-Hanks presidential ticket had begun to look like a utopian future.
WINNER: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
In the face of strong competition, Martin McDonagh’s incendiary drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won four awards at the Golden Globes, converting most of its six nominations. The film won Best Picture (Drama) and landed prizes for stars Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, as well as its screenplay.
The field for Best Picture at the Oscars has been wide open throughout the early stages of awards season, but this victory could see Three Billboards begin to crystallise as a frontrunner for the crown. McDonagh’s film held strong in all of the categories it will need to win on Oscar night, leaving its competitors in the dust.
This spiky, acidic film with a strong woman at its heart is beginning to feel like the perfect Best Picture winner for 2018.
LOSER: The Post
Seth Meyers’s joked about the awards prowess of Steven Spielberg’s journalism drama in his opening monologue, so it likely came as a surprise to many when The Post left the building empty-handed. The film won the same number of nominations as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but came up short in all of its categories.
Despite its seemingly obvious status as an awards contender, The Post likely missed out due to its release. The film was a late-breaking entry in the race and it’s possible that many voters had made up their mind by the time they saw the movie. Its similarity to Spotlight, which won the Best Picture Oscar just two years ago, may also have left it feeling like a lesser contender.
WINNER: Gary Oldman
Gary Oldman’s heavily made-up take on Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour is, in many ways, an old-fashioned obvious choice for awards glory. Trailers suggest a big, broad, shouty performance as a historical icon, in a role that required considerable physical transformation. However, Oldman has been short on momentum in the awards race so far, leaving his victory as something of a surprise.
Oldman had never won a Golden Globe in his 40 year career, so it’s encouraging to see him finally lift some gold but there are questions as to whether this is the Oldman performance that deserved to break his awards duck.
LOSER: Timothée Chalamet and Daniel Day-Lewis
Oldman’s rivals in the Best Actor race were dealt a severe blow by the Brit’s victory. Timothée Chalamet has been hoovering up gongs from critics’ groups for his work in Call Me By Your Name and he was looking like a solid Oscar frontrunner until last night. His main competition seemed to be Daniel Day-Lewis, who has the ‘final performance of a legend’ narrative going for his starring turn in Phantom Thread.
Both are now looking significantly weaker in the wake of the Oldman win, though their performances are both more friendly to the Academy than the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
WINNER: Guillermo del Toro
The award for most touching acceptance speech of the night would almost certainly go to Guillermo del Toro, who paid tribute to the monsters he has always loved as he picked up the Best Director prize. The Shape of Water was the most nominated film this year and it largely missed out, but for Del Toro’s victory and a nod for Alexandre Desplat’s beautiful score.
The Shape of Water is a wonderful film and awards success has eluded Guillermo del Toro for many years. As the ceremony organisers tried to play him off stage, he shouted at them to “lower the music”, adding: “It’s taken 25 years. Give me a minute.” It was a brilliant moment and Del Toro is now ensconced as a major contender for his first Best Director Oscar.
LOSER: Get Out
This year’s most egregious example of category fraud was Jordan Peele’s searing horror satire Get Out, which was shunted into the musical/comedy categories. The film competed against Lady Bird and The Disaster Artist and missed out in both of its two categories.
The film is a deserving award winner, but was snubbed by the HFPA. The comedy categorisation did the film no favours and, though it might pick up a few nominations at the Oscars, it looks unlikely to win any of its awards.
WINNER: Lady Bird
The biggest winner, however, of the comedy categories was Greta Gerwig’s critically lauded Lady Bird. Gerwig’s tale won the Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) award and star Saoirse Ronan left with the Best Actress (Musical/Comedy) prize, accepting the gong with her mother on FaceTime somewhere in the audience.
Lady Bird is looking like a dark horse contender in this awards season and it was certainly helped at the Golden Globes by its separation from the other big hitters, who were competing in the drama categories.
LOSER: All the Money in the World
One of the most bizarre success stories of the Golden Globes nominations list was the inclusion of Ridley Scott’s kidnapping drama All the Money in the World, which popped up in three categories. The film got a kicking in the opening segment as a result of the controversy over its Kevin Spacey inspired reshoots and then left without a single award. It wasn’t likely to ever be an awards big hitter and its lack of success at the Globes will seal its fate.
Tom Beasley is a freelance film journalist and wrestling fan. Follow him on Twitter via @TomJBeasley for movie opinions, wrestling stuff and puns.
