Free speech, because so many of the most powerful actors in Hollywood decided to stand up for it, even in a year in which Sony decided to cancel the release of a film because North Korea didn’t like it; and older women in complex roles because, perhaps for the first time, there were so many of them on the stage.
Patricia Arquette, for example. She won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of a divorced, single Mum, battling money problems, weight gain and a broken heart while she does her best to raise her son, Mason, in Boyhood.
The film, which won Best Drama and is therefore now an Oscar favourite, took 12 years to make. The actors, Patricia included, aged naturally over that time. In her case, that meant she shot her first scenes at age 33, and her final ones at age 45 (she’s now 46.)
In the opening monologue, Amy Poehler joked that the film was proof that there were “still great roles for women over 40 … as long as you get hired when you’re under 40.”
In interviews to promote the film, Patricia has said that it was “brutal” to watch herself age so rapidly but many who have seen the film – and the Golden Globe judges – clearly thought it was marvellous.
Golden Globe winners: Patricia Arquette, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Julianne Moore.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, who won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a mini-series for The Honourable Woman, addressed the issue of women in Hollywood directly, saying she had noticed “a wealth” of interesting parts for women this year.
“When I look around the room, I see women (playing women) who are sometimes powerful, sometimes not, sometimes sexy, sometimes not, sometimes honourable, sometimes not,” she said, adding that she found it “revolutionary, and evolutionary and that is what it is turning me on.”
Julianne Moore, who is 54, began her speech by saying it was a thrill to win for her portrayal of a woman who has received a devastating diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in Still Alice, because she had been told that “nobody wants to see a movie about a middle-aged woman.”
On the contrary, there were plenty of women playing older women on the list of nominees: Jennifer Aniston, now 45, was nominated for Cake (she didn’t win, again); Amy Adams, 40, for Big Eyes; Meryl Streep, 65, for Into the Woods; Julianna Margulies, 48, for The Good Wife; Robin Wright, 48, for House of Cards; Edie Falco, 51, for Nurse Jackie; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 53, for Veep; Jessica Lange, 65, for American Horror Story: Freak Show; Frances McDormand, 57, for Olive Kitteridge; and the Australian actress, Frances O’Connor, 47, for The Missing.
The awards were held on a day when a million people took to the streets in Paris and around the world, to protest the murder of the staff of Charlie Hebdo magazine. Four were cartoonists, murdered by Islamic extremists offended by their portrayal of Islam.
Several actors, Helen Mirren and Kathy Bates included, were photographed holding #Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie) posters, but Amy Poehler stuck the knife into Sony, by describing the Golden Globes as a “celebration of all the films that North Korea was okay with.” (Sony cancelled the release of The Interview after its emails were hacked, apparently by North Korea.)
George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin-Clooney on the red carpet.
George Clooney made special mention of the free speech protestors in Paris, while accepting the Cecil B. de Mille award for outstanding achievement, saying: “We will not walk in fear. We will not do it.”
His new wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney also wore a #Je Suis Charlie badge; and actor Jared Leto referenced the attack on freedom while introducing an awards category, saying: “To our brothers, sisters, friends and families in France, our thoughts, prayers, hearts are with you tonight.”
Tina Fey roasted Clooney by noting that his wife was a “human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, an advisor to Kofi Annan on Syria and was a appointed to a three-person commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza strip … so tonight her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.”
George took it well, saying: “I’ve had a pretty good year … it’s a humbling thing when you find someone to love … Amal, whatever alchemy it is that bought us together, I couldn’t be more proud to be your husband.”
The three Australians on the list of nominees – the singer and songwriter, Sia; the actress, Frances O’Connor, and The Lego Movie (it was mostly made in Australia) missed out.
Former host Ricky Gervais arrived with a glass of wine, mocking himself: “Going well, isn’t it? Let’s not ruin it, by me saying anything. Nobody wants me to insult you rich, over-privileged people. You’re better than ordinary people.”
Billy Bob Thornton played it safe, saying: “You could say anything in the world and get in trouble. I know this for a fact. So I am just going to say thank you.”
Kevin Spacey said he’d started drinking in the limousine on the way to the event, on the grounds that he’d been nominated seven times previously, and never won, “so I might as well get drunk.”
He won.
“I can’t (eff-en) believe it,” he said (the swearing was bleeped.)
And the Golden Globe winners were…
Best Motion Picture – Drama
Winner: Boyhood
Lead Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Winner: Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Lead Actress in a Motion Picture- Drama
Winner: Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical
Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lead Actor in a Motion Picture- Comedy or Musical
Winner: Michael Keaton – Birdman
Lead Actress – TV Drama
Winner: Ruth Wilson – The Affair
Director
Winner: Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Lead Actor – TV Drama
Winner: Kevin Spacey – House of Cards
Best TV Drama
Winner: The Affair
Actress – TV Miniseries or Movie
Winner: Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Honorable Woman
Foreign Film
Winner: Leviathan, Russia
Lead Actor – TV Comedy
Winner: Jeffrey Tambor – Transparent
Screenplay
Winner: Alejandro G. Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo – Birdman
Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
Winner: Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Animated Feature
Winner: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Lead Actress in a Motion Picture- Comedy or Musical
Winner: Amy Adams – Big Eyes
Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries, or TV movie
Winner: Matt Bomer – The Normal Heart
Original Song – Motion Picture
Winner: Glory – Selma (John Legend, Common)
Original Score – Motion Picture
Winner: Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything
Best TV Comedy or Musical
Winner: Transparent
Lead Actress – TV Comedy or Musical
Winner: Gina Rodriguez – Jane the Virgin
Actor – TV Miniseries or Movie
Winner: Billy Bob Thornton – Fargo
TV Miniseries or Movie
Winner: Fargo
Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries, or TV movie
Winner: Joanne Froggatt – Downton Abbey
Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
Winner: J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
