Hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey kicked off the 78th Golden Globe Awards on Sunday in the shadow of a global pandemic and a controversy that is roiling the cliquish organization behind the annual broadcast. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the prizes, is under fire after for having no Black members in the 87-person organization, and again facing scrutiny for attending lavish junkets and paying its members handsomely for serving on committees.
Daniel Kaluuya won the evening’s first prize, picking up best supporting actor for his performance as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Kaluuya almost didn’t get to make his acceptance speech due to a bad connection, but was eventually able to be heard.
“I gave everything,” Kaluuya said. “And I couldn’t give it to a more noble man, that’s chairman Fred Hampton. And I hope generations after this can see how brilliantly he thought, how brilliantly he spoke and how brilliantly he loved.”
John Boyega nabbed the prize for best supporting actor in a series, miniseries, or television film for his work as a barrier-breaking police officer in “Small Axe,” while Catherine O’Hara won best actress in a TV comedy for her portrayal of a daffy matriarch in “Schitt’s Creek.” O’Hara thanked the series’ creators Eugene Levy and Daniel Levy for letting her “wear a hundred wigs and speak like an alien.”
The Globes are also taking place with most winners accepting their prizes virtually, the new status quo for awards shows in the age of coronavirus. This could diminish interest in the annual kudos-fest, which often attracts attention for its boozy atmosphere — champagne flows freely, which increases the chance that viewers’ favorite A-listers will let their guard down in front of an audience of millions or be caught in the bathroom when their category is announced. Fey and Poehler took a bicoastal approach to emceeing, with Fey hosting from the Rainbow Room in New York City while Poehler held court from Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton.
Fey and Poehler wasted no time skewering the HFPA in their opening for the group’s shoddy diversity record and ethical lapses.
“The Hollywood Foreign Press association is made up of around 90 international no black journalists who attend movie junkets each year in search of a better life,” Fey said. “We say around 90, because a couple of them might be ghosts and it’s rumored that the German member is just a sausage that somebody drew a little face on.” She also called them “European weirdos” while both hosts urged the organization to include Black members in their ranks.
In a sign of the shifting power dynamics in the media business, this year’s telecast is dominated by streaming services. Netflix came into the night with a staggering 42 nominations across the film and television categories, including nods for the likes of “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “The Queen’s Gambit” and “The Crown.” Amazon Studios has 10 nominations, including nods for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and its “Small Axe” anthology series, while Hulu also has 10 nominations for the likes of “Palm Springs” and “Ramy.”
“Mank,” a black-and-white slice of Hollywood myth-making, leads all films with six nominations. But it is part of a wave of contenders that are more admired than seen. Major studios have delayed most of their big films in recent months, hoping to wait out the pandemic. That means that most of the top candidates for film prizes, such as “Nomadland,” “Trial of the Chicago 7” and “The Father” are from indie studios or streamers… or, in the case of “Nomadland,” which was made by Searchlight and released on Hulu, a combination of both.
On the television side of the aisle, “The Crown,” a lavish historical epic about Queen Elizabeth II and her progeny, is the most recognized show with six nominations. “Schitt’s Creek,” fresh off its Emmy dominance sweep, picked up five nominations, one short of the high-water mark set by “The Crown.”
The Globes are usually self-congratulatory affairs, with stars rattling off thank yo’s to handlers, stylists and agents while doing their best to appear both humble and shocked when their names are called. In the Trump era, these speeches tended to have more of a political undertone. With a new administration in power and the HFPA’s lack of diversity exposed, Hollywood’s ire may be more directed at the group hosting the evening’s affair. Already, top talent such as Ellen Pompeo and Ava DuVernay have criticized the organization, while industry guilds like SAG and advocacy groups like GLAAD have called out the HFPA and demanded change.
The Globes aren’t always an accurate gauge for how the Academy Awards will unfold. Last year, the Globes awarded top honors to “1917” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” only to see them fall short of capturing best picture at the Oscars. Both films lost to “Parasite.”
More to come…
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