Golden Globes 2009 Recap

Written by: Phoebe Raven, CC2K Staff Writer

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The Golden Globes are generally a well-liked event, especially by the actors and actresses attending the award show. Why? Because there is food, drink and it only takes half as long as the Oscars. You can walk around and talk to everyone in the business, and when you actually win, you don't get as rudely interrupted by music as you do at the Oscars (or at least not as fast).
Now for the viewer at the television at home, it is a different story. The frequent commercial breaks after every second award are more than annoying; especially when you would much rather see what goes on in the ballroom during these breaks. Who talks to whom? Who ignores whom? And who fixes their dress in a way that allows a peek at an "unfortunate angle" of the otherwise flawless stars?

Alas, after a year of abstinence due to the writers' strike the Globes were back with a full award show and it wasn't half as boring as it could have been.

The evening started off with Jennifer Lopez in a one-step-too-far golden dress (more on fashion hits and misses at the end of this article), who tried to get the crowd to settle down and listen to her by proclaiming: "Mamma's talking!" I can't blame the A-listers for not listening to her, they probably thought she was just a life-sized mock up of the Golden Globe statue.
But J-Lo was the bearer of very good news. She handed out the award for Best Supporting Actress Drama to Kate Winslet for The Reader and Kate Winslet can do no wrong. As gracefully as only English women of a certain standard can do it, she accepted her award by saying about her acceptance speech "I'm sorry I'm gonna have to read this out, but I have a habit of not winning things!" She gave a shout out to her kids ("Look! I won!") and apologized to her husband, director Sam Mendes, for "being so mental at the end". A perfect kick-off to the evening.

Keeping up the concept, the only thing making Sally Hawkins' acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy bearable was another English lady named Emma Thompson, who signaled to Sally asking if she was okay, because she seemed to be hyperventilating on the stage (yes, you can feel reminded of Gwyneth Paltrow's pointless Oscar win for Shakespeare in Love now).

Yet another highlight of the night came from another human from the British Isles, Collin Farrell, who was more than surprised by his win for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for In Bruges. Earlier, while presenting Best Foreign Language Film, he had already joked that he had a runny nose because of a cold and not because of cocaine (that would have been a few years ago, he said) and his acceptance speech was both short and heartfelt. It's always best to see those people win, who never thought in a million years they would win anything.

Tina Fey, though, must have known she would win after the year she has had. Although she managed to avoid having to give a speech for her first win for 30 Rock (Best TV Show Musical or Comedy) by making Tracy Morgan official spokesperson in honor of Barack Obama's win, she did have to address the crowd a little later when she won Best Actress in a TV Show Musical or Comedy. She was almost as charming as Kate Winslet, when she told all her haters on the internet to "Suck it" and her husband that she loved him dearly.

As expected, the emotional high point of the night came when Heath Ledger posthumously won the Globe for Best Supporting Actor. Standing ovations followed as director Chris Nolan took the stage and lamented that Heath’s death ripped a huge hole in the future of film making. But he hoped that over time he would be able to focus less on the hole in the future and more on the place in history that Heath had carved out for himself. Nolan ended by saying: “He will be eternally missed, but he will never be forgotten.” I couldn’t help it, but I instantly teared up at the mention of Heath’s name. And that’s when I wasn’t even a conscious fan of his while he was alive. Some tragedies just hit close to home, I suppose.

Steven Spielberg also finally got to accept his Cecil B. DeMille Award, which he was supposed to be awarded last year,  but due to the strike it was postponed. He made quite the nice speech, and thankfully he is still coherent enough to not make listening to him cringe-inducing, like it is so often the case when really old people get a lifetime achievement award. Spielberg talked about his starting point in film making (crashing his electrical train and capturing it on film in an effort to emulate said Cecil B. Demille) and thanked everybody in the room for the inspiration they all gave each other and him, because at the end of the day inspiration is what it’s all about. Ain’t that the truth!

On the presenters’ side, Ricky Gervais and Sandra Bullock stood out to me.
Ricky joked to Kate Winslet for her win for The Reader: “See, I told you ‘Do a Holocaust movie and you will win’!”, hinting at the plot line Kate played in his show Extras.
Sandra Bullock presented Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy and took delight in the fact that she used the word “Flemish” for the first time ever in a sentence, while looking absolutely fantastic and completely at ease.

The biggest surprise to me was Gabriel Byrne snapping Best Actor in a TV Drama from Jon Hamm, the charismatic Don Draper of Mad Men. Just goes to show you that “broken” always sells better than “hard-ass”, take a note.

The most awkward win of the night must have been Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. Not only did he look hideous (see below), but he also didn’t really know what to do with himself. His speech was nice enough though and it’s always good to see someone come back from the brink, which is what I think he felt like last night. Operation Homecoming complete. But I doubt he can win the Oscar.

The big winner overall was Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which won for Best Original Score, Best Screenplay, Best Directing and Best Film. All of the subsequent acceptance speeches were quite heartwarming to watch, because one could literally imagine the celebration going on in Mumbai at the very minute, where the movie was shot.

And yet the single person to remember from the night was Kate Winslet. Not only did she kick off the show in the right way, she set another highlight towards the end as well. Some predictions didn’t believe that Kate Winslet would win Best Actress on top of Best Supporting Actress, because a double nomination often causes a split vote, but Kate pulled it off this year and took home her second Globe for Revolutionary Road. And no one seemed more surprised by it than Kate herself. Reminding herself to “gather”, she managed to get through yet another enchanting acceptance speech. After apologizing to the other nominated actresses (almost forgetting Angelina Jolie in doing so), Winslet thanked her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio by saying “I love you dearly like I have loved you for the past 13 years.” Her husband, who directed the movie, received thanks for being so hard on Kate and Leo and “actually taking pleasure” in their pain. She ended by thanking her children, who were on set every day, for going on the adventure with their mom.

All in all it was a typical Golden Globe ceremony. Not too long, not too short, a few funny speeches, a few boring ones, and lots and lots of people you wouldn’t have expected to be there. Like Sting and his beard, Heidi Klum and Evan Rachel Wood.

A special shout out at the end though has to go out to Salma Hayek’s boobs. I am sure she made a lot of men happy with that dress (see below).
And also congratulations to the distributors of the new Star Trek movie: Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto look so stiff, you don’t need to make action figures of them, you can just hire out the actors themselves.

So, before we post the complete list of winners, let’s look at some fashion hits and misses. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, you can make up your own quip and post it in the forums!
One note be allowed: I did miss Reese Witherspoon's timeless elegance on the red carpet, but at least Jennifer Aniston wasn't there to ruin it all.

 

 

 

 

 

HITS	MISSES
Jennifer Morrison	Drew Barrymore
Julie Benz	Glenn Close
Tom Cruise	Mickey Rourke
Eva Longoria-Parker	Jennifer Lopez
Kate Winslet	Heidi Klum
Kate Beckinsale	Cameron Diaz
Demi Moore	Anne Hathaway

 

Complete List of Winners

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Kate Winslet for Revolutionary Road (2008)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Colin Farrell for In Bruges (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008)

Best Director – Motion Picture
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Simon Beaufoy

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
The Wrestler (2008) by Bruce Springsteen ("The Wrestler")

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Slumdog Millionaire (2008): A.R. Rahman

Best Animated Film
WALL•E (2008)

Best Foreign Language Film
Vals Im Bashir (2008)

Best Television Series – Drama
Mad Men (2007)

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy
30 Rock (2006)

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
John Adams (2008)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Paul Giamatti for John Adams (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Laura Linney for John Adams (2008)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock (2006)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy
Tina Fey for 30 Rock (2006)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama
Gabriel Byrne for In Treatment (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama
Anna Paquin for True Blood (2007)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Tom Wilkinson for John Adams (2008)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Laura Dern for Recount (2008) (TV)