The 77th Golden Globes proved to be a night when Hollywood pushed back against streaming companies such as Netflix and Amazon. Sam Mendes's First World War epic 1917 won the award for best drama, even though the film's wider theatrical release isn't until later this week. Mendes also took home the best director award.
However, The Irishman, Netflix's star-studded crime drama, did not win any trophies despite being nominated for five categories. Although its projects received 34 nominations, Netflix only walked away with two awards.
Its comedy-drama Marriage Story, about a stage director and his actor wife going through a divorce, had six nominations, more than any other film. Laura Dern walked away with a trophy for her supporting role in the movie. The second Netflix win was by Olivia Colman, who received the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in The Crown.
Amazon Prime's Fleabag won two Golden Globe awards, one for best comedy series and the other going to Phoebe Waller-Bridge for for best actress in a comedy series. Its other award contender, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, had two nominations but failed to take home a trophy.
The Biggest Winner … Is Hollywood
Whether you thought the movie was on a par with the rest of Quentin Tarantino's oeuvre, the biggest winner of the 77th Golden Globes was Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood. Tarantino's movie about late 1960s Los Angeles won three of the night's awards.
The film earned the trophy for best musical or comedy, while Tarantino nabbed the award for best screenplay. Brad Pitt won the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture, beating The Irishman stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, as well as Anthony Hopkins, who was nominated for his role as Pope Benedict XVI in The Two Popes.
Maybe Pitt deserved the award for his role as a war veteran-turned-stuntman living with his pit-bull in a tiny trailer. But did the movie deserve to take home best comedy and best screenplay?
Tarantino has set his own standards with the eight films that came before Once Upon a Time – he counts Kill Bill as one collective movie – but the film was arguably one of his weakest. Across the 160-minute epic, only two scenes had that signature Tarantino suspense, one of which was the brilliantly improvised scene by Leonardo DiCaprio in the actor's trailer. Still, the movie came out on top as best musical or comedy motion picture, beating Eddie Murphy's Dolemite Is My Name, Second World War drama-comedy Jojo Rabbit and Elton John biopic Rocketman.
Notable snubs
One of the biggest snubs of the night went to Murphy and his brilliant portrayal of pioneering comedian Rudy Ray Moore, who became a 1970s blaxploitation phenomenon with his hilarious kung-fu fighting alter-ego Dolemite.
Murphy was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, but neither he nor the movie won any trophies. Nonetheless, he was up against some worthy contenders, such as teenage actor Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit), Daniel Craig (Knives Out) and Taron Egerton (Rocketman), who won the award.
Another noteworthy rebuff at this year's awards was Netflix's When They See Us, a show about a 1989 case of five teenagers wrongfully convicted of rape. The series was not nominated for a single award.
Ava DuVernay, the director of the show, threw shade at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, on Twitter. "Upside of not being nominated for Golden Globe for When They See Us: I don't have to juggle getting into hair, makeup [and] gown while researching, reading and worrying about impeding war. Also: easier to block trolls without newly manicured nails. Thanks, HFPA. This is a win win!"
Upside of not being nominated for Golden Globe for WHEN THEY SEE US: I don’t have to juggle getting into hair, makeup + gown while researching, reading and worrying about impeding war. Also: easier to block trolls without newly manicured nails. Thanks, HFPA. This is a win win! pic.twitter.com/U5YN0xQLsU
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) January 5, 2020
The deserving and the expected
One of the most deserved wins of the night was by composer Hildur Gudnadottir, who made history by becoming first woman to win the original score Golden Globe outright. She collected the trophy for her work on the Joker.
The soundtrack played as much of a role as Joaquin Phoenix's acting in making the Joker the unnerving thriller it is. Incidentally, Phoenix unsurprisingly took home the award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Lisa Gerrard was the last woman to win the Golden Globe for original score, after her work on 2000 film Gladiator, but she shared it with Hans Zimmer.
HBO secured four wins from 15 nominations. Its five-part series Chernobyl, which dramatises the story of the April 1986 nuclear power plant disaster, won the award for Best Limited Series. Succession, a satire about a family that controls the biggest media and entertainment company in the world, won the award for Best Television Series – Drama, beating The Crown and Killing Eve.
