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 The first major awards for the Hollywood film industry this
year were scattered widely among many films, potentially setting
up a complex race towards the industry's top honors, the Oscars,
on Feb. 22.
The night took on a more somber tone from the beginning when
stars like George Clooney and Helen Mirren showed their support
for free expression and the victims of a deadly attack on a
satirical French newspaper last week.
The president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which
organizes the Globes, brought the room to a standing ovation by
saying: "Together we will stand united against anyone who would
repress free speech anywhere from North Korea to Paris."
"Boyhood" took three Globes from five nominations, including the
night's top drama film honor, a reward for the unprecedented
cinematic venture of making a film over 12 years with the same
actors. The man behind the low-budget experiment, Richard
Linklater, won best director and Patricia Arquette won best
supporting actress.
If "Boyhood" goes on to win the Academy Award for best picture,
it will constitute an extraordinary run for a film from the
small studio IFC Films.
"When he came to us with this project 14 years ago, we said yes,
the man has such humanity. He's so humble. He put so much of his
own life into this movie," "Boyhood" producer Jonathan Sehring
said of Linklater.
"Birdman," a satire of show business that led all nominees with
seven nods, picked up best screenplay and best actor in a comedy
or musical for Michael Keaton, embodying a comeback in both the
film and real life.
But losing best comedy or musical to "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
from director Wes Anderson was a big blow to the awards momentum
of "Birdman." The colorful tale of a hotel concierge caught up
in a murder mystery and art heist won only that award.
Up to 10 films can compete for the Oscar best picture. In the
last two years, the winner of best drama at the Globes has gone
on to win the Academy Award for best picture.
'SELMA,' 'IMITATION GAME' FALTER
Another top drama contender to suffer disappointment was the
Martin Luther King Jr. biopic "Selma," which made history with
the first nomination for best director for an African American
woman. It won one award: best song for "Glory."
"The Imitation Game," a British biopic about a World War Two
codebreaking hero, walked away empty-handed despite the
popularity of its star, Benedict Cumberbatch, and the heft of
its distributor, the awards-savvy Weinstein Co.
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The outcome of the 72nd Globes will not influence the Academy Awards
slate, since voting for next week's nominees announcement is closed.
But it can give crucial momentum to the Oscar race.
The Globes fortified the frontrunner positions of actors who
portrayed extreme illness.
Julianne Moore won best actress in a drama as an early-onset
Alzheimer's patient in "Still Alice," while Eddie Redmayne took best
actor in a drama for his portrayal of physicist Stephen Hawking in
"The Theory of Everything."
Politics played heavily into acceptance speeches, from support for
the Hispanic and transgender communities to calls to protect freedom
of expression and solidarity after the deadly attack on French
newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
George Clooney, receiving a lifetime achievement award and sporting
a lapel pin declaring "Je suis Charlie," noted the "extraordinary
day" in Paris and around the world as millions of people and world
leaders marched to pay tribute to victims of Islamist militant
attacks.
"They marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear,"
said Clooney. "Je suis Charlie."
The hacking of Sony Pictures also played out at the Globes, but in a
more humorous way.
Third-time hosts Tiny Fey and Amy Poehler opened with a joke about
the cyberattack, which the U.S. government has blamed on North
Korea. The country, which denies it is behind the hacking, was
angered over the studio's comedy "The Interview," which depicts the
assassination of leader King Jong Un.
"Tonight we are celebrating all TV shows we know and love and all
the movies North Korea was OK with," Fey said.
In television awards, the HFPA anointed "Transparent" as best comedy
series, the first big award for original programing streamed online
from retail giant Amazon Inc.. The show is about a divorced father
transitioning to become a woman and how his grown children react.
In the drama category, Showtime's "The Affair" won for its first
season, serving an upset to the favorite, the political thriller
"House of Cards" from Netflix Inc.
But Kevin Spacey did win best actor in a TV drama series, his first
Globe after eight nominations, for his role as the conniving
politician Frank Underwood in "House of Cards."
(Editing by Eric Walsh and Nick Macfie)
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