Golden Globes: award without glamor

The winners of the Golden Globes have been announced in Los Angeles. Awards went to Nicole Kidman and Will Smith, among others. However, the award was extremely unspectacular.

The Association of the Foreign Press in Hollywood (HFPA) has awarded its Golden Globes film prizes in significantly reduced terms.

The Western family drama “The Power of the Dog” won the Golden Globe for best film drama. He prevailed against candidates such as “Belfast” and “Dune”, among others. Director Jane Campion also won the Director’s Globe.

Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story” won a number of trophies, including best musical. Rachel Zegler was honored for her role in the play as best actress, Ariana DeBose for best supporting role.

Third globe for Hans Zimmer

Star composer Hans Zimmer (64) also increased his trophy collection. Born in Frankfurt, he won with his composition for the science fiction drama “Dune”. It was his 14th nomination in the category “Best Film Music”. He already has two Globes, 1995 for “The Lion King” and 2001 for “Gladiator”.

Actress Nicole Kidman won the Golden Globe for best drama actress. She won the award with her leading role in the film “Being the Ricardos”, which is set during the McCarthy persecution of alleged communists in the USA. Will Smith was named Best Actor in a Leading Actor for his role in “King Richard”. The 53-year-old plays the father of tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams in the film.

The award for the best non-English feature film went to the Japanese production “Drive My Car”.

“Succession” wins several awards

The big winner in the series categories is the family epic “Succession” with three awards. As in 2020, the gloomy satire about the family power struggle in a media company won the award for best drama series. Jeremy Strong was also named Best Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of exiled son Kendall Roy.

At the 79th Golden Globes awards, the HFPA waived a television broadcast, nominees, red carpet, presenter and press. There wasn’t even a live stream. Instead, HFPA members and some association grant recipients gathered at the Beverly Hilton hotel for a 90-minute event. The winners were announced on social media. Apparently none of the winners were present. At first none of them commented on his or her success.

Enigmatic tweets

When the prizes were announced on Twitter, it was always unclear for which specific work a prizewinner was awarded. The HFPA congratulated Andrew Garfield on the Golden Globe for best actor in a musical or comedy, but forgot to mention that the 38-year-old received the award for his role in “Tick, Tick … Boom!” had received.

Other tweets remained puzzling. The success of “West Side Story” was proclaimed, “If laughter is the best medicine, @WestSideMovie is the cure for what ails you.” The plot of the musical is full of death and tragedy.

The HFPA fell into a deep crisis last year after the Los Angeles Times revealed, among other things, that not a single black journalist was among its 87 members. Studios announced they would boycott the Golden Globes, and more than 100 public relations firms said their clients would not attend until the HFPA enforced profound changes. Long-time media partner NBC did not want to broadcast the award. It used to cost around $ 60 million for the show and typically had 18 million viewers.

“Studios need a PR platform”

What’s next for the Golden Globes? Film expert Matt Belloni said in the film show “The Business” on the radio station KCRW that there was definitely interest in the Golden Globes on the part of the industry, because: “The studios need a PR platform in early January. Usually there is one on the weekend after the Globes Increase in cinema ticket sales. That won’t happen this year because there isn’t a show for people to see the winners. “