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January 13, 2014
Golden Globes: And the winners were…

golden_globes

Last night's Golden Globes ceremony was a delightfully brisk, fun affair anchored by hilarious vignettes from co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, and full of a perfect blend of both deserved wins and surprising upsets -- and it appears America noticed: it was the highest-rated telecast of the ceremony in seven years.

Last week, I published my predictions on who would take home trophies.  In the interest of accountability, let's examine what I got right, what I got wrong, and what it all means for the upcoming Oscar race.  Keep in mind that there's no overlap in the voting bodies between the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Globes) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars), so we're examining these wins for the general mood of the Hollywood industry and not for any sort of direct correlation.

Best Picture - Drama

My prediction: "Gravity"
Winner: "12 Years A Slave"

To be fair, I did admit that this award was pretty much a toss-up between these two frontrunners.  And for most of the night, it appeared I had predicted correctly.  "12 Years" lost every single award it was up for (Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Screenplay and Score), so the HFPA appeared to not be too enthused by the otherwise widely-acclaimed film.  Color me (and everybody else) shocked, then, when they handed it the most important trophy of the night, despite having previously awarded Alfonso Cuarón of "Gravity" the Directing prize, an award that typically goes hand-in-hand with a Best Picture win.  In the course of three hours, the HFPA singlehandedly turned "12 Years" from the biggest frontrunner into the biggest underdog, and made it simultaneously the biggest loser and the biggest winner of the night.

Best Picture - Comedy or Musical

My prediction: "American Hustle"
Winner: "American Hustle"

Earlier this year, Oscar season seemed like it would be a two-horse race between "12 Years" and "Gravity".  Then "Gravity" started falling back a bit, admired more for its technical proficiency than its storytelling.  Enter "Hustle", a late entry that has swooped in and started grabbing awards left and right.  Now, Oscar season is still a two-horse race -- but it's between "12 Years" and "Hustle", with "Gravity" a fading third.  The fact that "Hustle", unlike "12 Years", managed to nab a couple other wins last night, might give it the edge for the top prize this March.

Best Director

My prediction: Alfonso Cuarón, "Gravity"
Winner: Alfonso Cuarón, "Gravity"

Despite ultimately losing to "12 Years", "Gravity" still got the coveted Directors prize.  This honor is often awarded to the director that voters perceive as having had the hardest job, rather than the one who ended up directing the best movie of the year (after all, that's what the Best Picture prize is for).  So Cuarón rightly earned the voters' admiration for his years of painstakingly developing brand new technology.  This race is still far from over, but Cuarón's chances of taking home the equivalent Oscar have just improved greatly.

Best Actor, Drama

My prediction: Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years A Slave"
Winner: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"

I was clearly counting on a bit more HFPA love for "12 Years" last night.  I did have McConaughey as my "Could Win", so I'm mollified that I got it half right.  With ten actors nominated for Globes (between Drama and Comedy), it's inevitable that five of these men will lose out when the five Actor nominees are announced for the Oscars.  Unfortunately, it looks like Robert Redford's refusal to campaign may indeed be hurting his chances.  Don't be surprised to see him left off the ballot.

Best Actress, Drama

My prediction: Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"
Winner: Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"

I can't take too much credit for this one.  It was the biggest gimme of the night, and this was not the time the HFPA chose to make a shocking upset.  Blanchett is still firmly the frontrunner for the Oscar, too.

Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

My prediction: Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf Of Wall Street"
Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf Of Wall Street"

It's easy to argue that Leo is one of the most under-awarded actors of his caliber.  This is only his second Globe (after winning Best Actor, Drama for "The Aviator" in 2005) and he has yet to win an Oscar.  He's lucky "Wolf" was (dubiously) submitted under Comedy, since he wouldn't have stood a chance of winning against McConaughey or Ejiofor.  Unluckily for him, he will be competing against them at the Oscars.  So while an Oscar win for his role in this extremely divisive film is unlikely, this probably at least guarantees him another nomination.

Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

My prediction: Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"
Winner: Amy Adams, "American Hustle"

Half right again.  I knew there was a chance the HFPA's adoration of "Hustle" would land Adams the prize, but I thought the voters' respect for Queen Meryl would clinch the victory in her favor.  After being passed over here, Streep should be shaking in her boots about her Oscar chances.  Blanchett, Sandra Bullock for "Gravity", Judi Dench for "Philomena" and Emma Thompson for "Saving Mr. Banks" are pretty much guaranteed to hold four of the five slots.  The last is generally considered a battle between Adams and Streep, and with Adams winning here, it's likely that Streep could be left out in the cold.  (Not that she really needs an eighteenth Oscar nomination...)

Best Supporting Actor

My prediction: Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Winner: Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"

The second biggest no-brainer of the night after Blanchett.  The attention Leto has received for his transformative performance as transgender AIDS victim Rayon hasn't lost a bit of steam since "Dallas" opened over seven weeks ago.  You can count on him taking home the Oscar, too.

Best Supporting Actress

My prediction: Lupita Nyongo', "12 Years A Slave"
Winner: Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"

The first award presented at the ceremony last night previewed the HFPA's general disinterest in all things "12 Years"...until that confounding Best Picture trophy, that is.  Nyong'o has been receiving universal accolades as the besieged but resilient slave Patsey, and many thought that with a recent win for "Silver Linings Playbook" under her belt, Lawrence would lose out to this captivating new talent.  Not so.  Lawrence's boozy, endlessly entertaining turn as a destructively bored housewife in "Hustle" landed the actress her second Globe in as many years.  Only time will tell if AMPAS voters will lean in her favor, too.  But if they do, she would only be the sixth person in history to receive two acting Oscars in back-to-back years, and the first woman to do it since Katharine Hepburn in 1968 and 1969.

Best Screenplay

My prediction: Spike Jonze, "Her"
Winner: Spike Jonze, "Her"

Critics loved this quiet meditation on the intersection of love and technology, although with Scarlett Johnasson being deemed ineligible for her voice-only performance and Joaquin Phoenix eclipsed by the likes of McConaughey and Ejiofor, this was the film's best chance to earn a trophy.  And sure enough, the HFPA gave the prize to this gem of a film over more universally awarded fare like "Hustle" and "12 Years".  Don't necessarily consider this one a done deal yet, although AMPAS does recognize more writers than the HFPA (the former has ten nominees between two categories for Original and Adapted Screenplays, while the latter only has five nominees for both), which means Jonze has even better odds when it comes to the Oscars.

So, out of the 10 major awards, I got 6 completely right -- and of the categories I got wrong, I had picked the eventual winner as my potential upset in all 4 of them.  Not too shabby!

Other winners

Best Score: Alex Ebert, "All Is Lost"
Best Song: "Ordinary Love", "Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom"
Best Animated Feature Film: "Frozen"
Best Foreign Language Film: "The Great Beauty"
Best TV Series, Drama: "Breaking Bad"
Best TV Series, Comedy: "Brooklyn Nine-Nine"
Best Mini-Series or TV Movie: "Behind The Candelabra"
Best Actor, Drama: Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Best Actress, Drama: Robin Wright, "House Of Cards"
Best Actor, Comedy: Andy Samberg, "Brooklyn Nine-Nine"
Best Actress, Comedy: Amy Poehler, "Parks And Recreation"
Best Actor, Mini-Series or TV Movie: Michael Douglas, "Behind The Candelabra"
Best Actress, Mini-Series or TV Movie: Elisabeth Moss, "Top Of The Lake"
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Movie: Jon Voight, "Ray Donovan"
Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Movie: Jacqueline Bisset, "Dancing On The Edge"

 

Who were you pulling for last night? What did you think was the biggest shocker of the ceremony? Tweet us @Stagebuddy and let us know what you thought about the Golden Globes!

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Written by: Jefferson Grubbs
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