The Golden Globes made their big comeback on television on Tuesday and notably acclaimed director Steven Spielberg, who was well present in the room alongside many Hollywood heavyweights, despite the scandals that have tarnished the image of these awards.
The American filmmaker received the Golden Globe for best director for his very intimate “The Fabelmans”, which also won the award for best dramatic film.
He co-starred in the Irish tragicomedy ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’. The film, which tells the abrupt end of a friendship on an imaginary island in the 1920s, won three Golden Globes, including Best Comedy and Best Actor for Colin Farrell.
Largely inspired by Mr. Spielberg’s childhood, “The Fabelmans” depicts a young American Jew who dreams of making films in the 1960s, while his parents watch their couple inexorably fall apart.
On stage, the director explained that he “never had the courage to face this story head-on”.
By his own admission, his personal story comes through in fragments in some of his films such as “ET” or “Encounter of the Third Kind”. But the filmmaker, who lost his father in 2020 and his mother in 2017, finally waited until he was 75 to really bring his childhood to the screen.
Shunned by the gratin and deprived of television last year, the Golden Globes tried to turn the page on accusations of racism, sexism and corruption aimed at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which forms their jury and which had no black members in 2021.
After a ceremony without a televised broadcast in 2022, the American network NBC agreed this year to resume broadcasting following a series of reforms to improve the diversity of the HFPA.
Mark Absent
As much as the prizes, attention was therefore focused on the presence or not of the guest stars, to gauge whether Hollywood is ready to grant a comeback to the Golden Globes.
Many heavyweights responded. Directors James Cameron, nominated for the second part of “Avatar”, and Guillermo del Toro, who won the prize for best animated film for his “Pinocchio”, walked the red carpet. Just like actor Brad Pitt or singer Rihanna.
But the evening also had notable absentees. Crowned best actress in a dramatic film for her role as a ruthless conductor in “Tar”, Cate Blanchett was not present to receive her award.
Other winners like Kevin Costner (“Yellowstone”), Zendaya (“Euphoria”) and Amanda Seyfried (“The Dropout”) were also absent. As did Tom Cruise, producer of the blockbuster “Top Gun: Maverick”, who returned his three Golden Globes in 2021 in protest, or actor Brendan Fraser, nominated for “The Whale”.
Austin Butler, on the other hand, was thrilled to take the stage to accept his role as best actor in a dramatic film, after his brilliant incarnation of rock’n’roll legend Elvis Presley in the biopic “Elvis”.
“You were an icon and a rebel, and I love you so much,” the American actor said, addressing the late singer directly.
On the comedy side, in addition to Colin Farrell, Michelle Yeoh was voted best actress for her portrayal of a laundromat owner immersed in parallel universes in the surreal “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. The film also won a Best Supporting Actor award for Vietnamese actor Ke Huy Quan, who plays her husband.
Teasing presenter
The Golden Globes have not escaped a few spades from their presenter, the American comedian Jerrod Carmichael. He was ironic about the lack of diversity that turned into a drag on the HFPA.
“I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m here because I’m black,” he said, calling himself “the black face of a beleaguered white organization.”
Faced with the scandals, the HFPA notably renewed the Golden Globes jury, including 103 new entrants – who are not full members of the association – including many women and people from ethnic minorities.
Reforms defended by some of the guests.
“I think we should applaud an organization making such drastic changes,” ‘Avatar’ director James Cameron told AFP.AFP.
It remains to be seen whether this will be enough for the Golden Globes to regain their former influence. In the past, a success at this ceremony was a valuable marketing tool, capable of launching a victorious campaign towards the supreme reward of the Oscars, scheduled for March 12.
But their power of influence now seems to be permanently diminished, according to the specialized press. This year, the studios themselves, which used to drown the winners under champagne, have also for the most part given up their sumptuous “after parties”.