(Los Angeles) With new owners, a change of television channel and a radically reshuffled jury, the Golden Globes hope to break with their scent of scandal by unveiling their nominations on Monday.
These film and television awards used to be the most followed behind the Oscars. The laid-back ceremony traditionally served as a fun and rowdy kickoff to the American awards season.
But they have lost their luster amid accusations of racism and corruption, and some in Hollywood say the reforms put in place to redress the situation pose new ethical problems.
For decades, the Golden Globes were owned, operated and awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). An eclectic group of around a hundred journalists covering the entertainment section for international media, often criticized by industry professionals for its amateurism and opacity.
These behind-the-scenes barbs came to light in 2021, when an investigation by the Los Angeles Times revealed that the organization had no black people within it, and that its members accepted incredible gifts.
The ceremony was then boycotted the following year by all of Hollywood, and the event has remained in search of redemption ever since.
In June, the Golden Globes were bought by a group of private investors, including American billionaire Todd Boehly. The HFPA was disbanded and a new plan adopted to try to regain lost prestige.
Reforms questioned
Under this new framework, members of the old HFPA are now employees of the new Golden Globes company, paid to watch films, vote and write articles for the organization’s website. A situation potentially leading to conflicts of interest.
Especially since some of the new owners are essential players in the industry. Like the production company Penske Media, which owns the magazines Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, or the Eldridge company, which owns a stake in the A24 film studio, regularly in the running for Hollywood awards.
“There is something inappropriate about a Globes voter being paid to write on the Globes website about an actor he might nominate for a Golden Globe being brought back to the stage. a ceremony to the company for which he works”, recently pointed out the LA Times in an editorial.
For the newspaper, “the new model seems to be a gigantic public relations machine”.
But the new Golden Globes organization defends its reforms.
According to her, paying a salary of $75,000 to Hollywood-based voters puts an end to a flawed system, where precarious journalists, often independent, accepted sumptuous gifts and luxurious, all-expenses-paid press trips from studios.
More than 200 non-member, and therefore unpaid, voters from around the world were also appointed for greater impartiality. And the new board includes respected industry veterans, like former Variety editor-in-chief Tim Gray.
“I think people in Hollywood and around the world will be happy to see integrity restored while still retaining a sense of fun,” Mr. Gray assured in August, praising the “major changes.”
“Oppenheimer” and “Barbie”
The next Golden Globes will take place on January 7 and will be broadcast on CBS, after years on NBC.
The channel will surely look closely at the audience generated by this new partnership: in 2023, the ceremony reached a historic low, with only 6.3 million viewers – compared to 18 million in 2020 before the pandemic.
And this despite the presence of industry heavyweights, such as Steven Spielberg, Colin Farrell, Brad Pitt and Michelle Yeoh, who suggested that at least part of Hollywood seemed ready to turn the page.
This year, other big names – Leonardo DiCaprio, Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr and Ryan Gosling – are expected. The organization hopes that they will not follow the example of Cate Blanchett, who shunned the ceremony last January.
On the cinema side, the nominations should include the two essential blockbusters of the summer: “Oppenheimer” by Christopher Nolan in the best dramatic film category, and “Barbie” by Greta Gerwig for best comedy.
They will be announced at 8:30 a.m. Eastern on Monday.