Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 1917 win top Golden Globes

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — World War One movie 1917 and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, set in 1960s Tinseltown, won the top movie prizes at the Golden Globes on Sunday on a night packed with upsets.

1917 was named best drama, beating presumed front-runners The Irishman and Marriage Story, both from Netflix, while the nostalgic Once Upon a Time in Hollywood from Sony Pictures won for best comedy or musical, as well as two other statuettes.

British director Sam Mendes was also named best director for his immersive 1917 from Universal Pictures

“That is a big surprise,” said Mendes, who beat Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.

Joaquin Phoenix, who played a terrifying Joker, and Renee Zellweger, who played Judy Garland in Judy took the drama movie actor honors. Taron Egerton (Rocketman) and Awkwafina (The Farewell) were first-time acting winners in the comedy/musical field.

Tarantino took home the Golden Globe for the screenplay of his love letter to the industry, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, while Brad Pitt was a popular winner for playing a laid-back stunt double in the movie.

Laura Dern was named best supporting actress for her role as a ruthless divorce lawyer in Marriage Story, defeating presumed favorite Jennifer Lopez as a feisty pole dancer in Hustlers.

British comedian Ricky Gervais, hosting the awards ceremony for a fifth time, threw caution to the wind with expletives and jokes that drew mostly nervous laughter in the room of A-list celebrities.

Gervais, known for his no-holds-barred style of comedy, joked about Hollywood’s lack of diversity, film producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused by more than 80 women of sexual misconduct, and the suicide of financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“Let’s have a laugh at your expense,” Gervais said at the start of his opening monologue, in which he vowed that the ceremony would be his last time hosting. “Remember we’re all gonna die soon. And there’s no sequel.”

Gervais also called out Hollywood actors as hypocrites for giving impassioned political speeches at awards shows while working in movies or television series produced by major tech and media corporations.

“You say you’re woke, but the companies you work for — I mean, unbelievable — Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service, you’d call your agent, wouldn’t ya?,” he asked.

“So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You are in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.

“So if you win, right? Come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God” and leave the stage, he concluded, using an expletive.

Gervais’ jokes prompted nervous laughter from the audience at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Actor Tom Hanks, who received a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony, was caught giving a disapproving look during Gervais’ monologue that went viral on Twitter.

Safer subjects, such as the US college admissions scandal and long movies, also provided Gervais with irresistible fodder.

Gervais said he “came here in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman,” referring to the Desperate Housewives actress, who served nearly all of a 14-day prison sentence last year for her role in the admissions scandal.

The comedian also said Leonardo DiCaprio, the star of Quentin Tarantino’s two-hour-and-40-minute-long film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, “attended the premier and by the end his date was too old for him.”

In the television honors, HBO’s media dynasty show Succession and Amazon Studio’s quirky British comedy Fleabag were the big television winners.

Ellen DeGeneres and Tom Hanks received lifetime achievement awards. DeGeneres the stand-up comedian who broke barriers to gays to become one of the most popular people on TV, received the Carol Burnett Award. Meanwhile, Hanks, regarded as one of the nicest men in show business, was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille.

TRADITIONAL STUDIOS
Movie studios owned by Comcast Corp. and Sony Corp. won the top film honors at the Golden Globe, overshadowing a number of nominees from streaming service Netflix Inc.

Best motion picture drama 1917 was released by Comcast’s Universal Pictures while Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was from Sony Pictures.

Awards experts say both are likely to be in the running for the movie industry’s most-coveted prize, the best picture trophy that will be given out at the Feb. 9 Oscars ceremony. Movie studios use the awards in marketing to try to attract new audiences.

Netflix, which began releasing original movies in 2015, has been courting awards voters and also is expected to compete for best picture. It had three films in the race for best movie drama at the Globes: The Irishman, Marriage Story, and The Two Popes.

The streaming service scored one movie award, for Laura Dern as a supporting actress in Marriage Story.

At the start of the Globes ceremony, host Ricky Gervais predicted a big night for Netflix.

“Everyone’s watching Netflix,” Gervais said. “This show should just be me coming out going ‘Well done, Netflix. You win.’ But no, we have to go on for three hours.”

But in addition to the film honor, Netflix landed only one other trophy. Olivia Colman was named best actress in a TV drama for playing Queen Elizabeth on Netflix series The Crown.

Premium network HBO, owned by AT&T Inc., led the TV awards with four, including best TV drama for media dynasty saga Succession.

Apple Inc, which was vying for its first major Hollywood awards since launching its Apple TV+ streaming TV service in November, ended the night without a win. — Reuters