The Golden Globes have just finished and there was certainly no shortage of surprises to be found throughout the evening. Just to give you an idea, only eight of my predictions came true out of 14 film categories.
The very first award of the night (Best Supporting Actress) presented us with the first upset, with Jennifer Lawrence winning for American Hustle over the heavily-favored Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave. As I mentioned in my predictions, it’s rather baffling that Lawrence has been getting this much attention for her short performance, which was not particularly memorable. Apparently the HFPA was quite taken with her though.
The other major acting upset of the evening came in Best Actor in a Drama, where Matthew McConaughey won for his outstanding performance in Dallas Buyers Club over the expected winner Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave. After this, I actually began to think that 12 Years a Slave might go home empty-handed as it had already been denied Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Score. However, its award came at the very end of the show, where it took home Best Drama as it was fully expected too.
The biggest disappointment of the evening came in the Best Comedy or Musical category, where I was hoping that Spike Jonze’s incredible Her would stand a chance of winning given its strong popularity during the critics awards, but instead the award went to the merely decent American Hustle. It certainly could have been worse. They could have chosen Nebraska. At least Her went away with the consolation prize of Best Screenplay, an award very much deserved.
The only other surprises came in the smaller categories, where it seemed as though they were randomly picking the winners out of a hat when declaring All is Lost to have the Best Original Score and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom to have the Best Original Song.
Regarding all of these surprises that occurred this evening, I wouldn’t count on them carrying through to the Screen Actors Guild or the Oscars. Chiwetel Ejiofor is still firmly in the lead for Best Actor and Lupita Nyong’o is still firmly in the lead for Best Supporting Actress. Nor would I expect their musical choices to carry through given the popularity of the expected winners. As for American Hustle, I hope the filmmakers enjoyed their time in the sun because come Oscar time, it’s only expected to take Best Makeup at this point.
There are still many more stops to come on the awards circuit. Just to give you an idea, the Oscar nominations are this Thursday (Jan. 16th) morning and the Critics Choice awards are that night too. SAG announces on Jan. 18th, Producers Guild on the 19th, and the Directors Guild on the 25th. It all culminates with the BAFTA awards on Feb. 16th and the Oscars on March 2nd, with a multitude of awards between now and then that will help us narrow down most of the smaller categories. As always, be sure to check back here for the latest news.
See below for a complete list of Golden Globe winners and, of course, feel free to chime in with your thoughts in the comments. Anything you found particularly surprising tonight? Let us know!
Best Picture (Drama): 12 Years a Slave
Best Picture (Comedy or Musical): American Hustle
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Best Actor (Drama): Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress (Drama): Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Amy Adams, American Hustle
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Best Screenplay: Spike Jonze, Her
Best Original Score: Alex Ebert, All is Lost
Best Original Song: “Ordinary Love,” Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Best Animated Feature: Frozen
Best Foreign Language Film: The Great Beauty
Best TV Series (Drama): Breaking Bad
Best TV Series (Comedy): Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Best TV Movie or Miniseries: 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 (TV Movie or Miniseries): Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
Best Actress (TV Movie or Miniseries): Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake
Best Supporting Actor (TV Movie, Series, or Miniseries): Jon Voight, Ray Donovan
Best Supporting Actress (TV Movie, Series, or Miniseries): Jacqueline Bisset, Dancing on the Edge