Lady Gaga won for A Star Is Born, Christian Bale thanked the antichrist for inspiration in playing former US vice president Dick Cheney and co-host Sandra Oh took home an award, too, after speaking passionately about "faces of change" at the 76th Golden Globes.
Politics were largely absent from the ceremony on Sunday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, before Bale took the stage to accept a globe for best actor in a musical or comedy for his lead performance in Adam McKay's Vice.
"What do you think? Mitch McConnell next?" joked the Welsh-born actor, referring to the Senate's majority leader. "Thank you to Satan for giving me inspiration for this role."
Sandra Oh's roasts and serious moments
Oh and Andy Samberg opened the Globes, put on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, on a note of congeniality, including a mock roast of attendees and a string of jokes that playfully commented on critiques of Hollywood. Oh performed an impression of a sexist caveman film executive who casts like the title of Damien Chazelle's Neil Armstrong drama: "First ... man."
Noting the success of Crazy Rich Asians, Oh alluded to films with white stars in Asian roles such as Ghost in the Shell and Aloha, the latter of which prompted Emma Stone, who starred in Aloha, to shout out "I'm sorry" from the crowd.
But Oh, who later also won for her performance on the BBC America drama series Killing Eve, closed her opening monologue on a serious note explaining why she was hosting with Samberg.
She made history on Sunday as she became the first Asian host of the Golden Globe Awards, as well as the second woman of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe, after Japanese actress Yoko Shimada won in 1981 for Shogun.
"I wanted to be here to look out at this audience and witness this moment of change," said Oh, tearing up and gazing at minority nominees in attendance. "Right now, this moment is real. Trust me, this is real. Because I see you. And I see you. All of these faces of change. And now, so will everyone else."
Diverse winners
Some of those faces Oh alluded to won. Mahershala Ali, whom the foreign press association overlooked for his Oscar-winning performance in Moonlight, won best supporting actor for Green Book. While the Globes, decided by 88 voting members of the HFPA, have little relation to the Academy Awards, they can offer a boost when it matter most. Oscar nomination voting begins on Monday.
Green Book, Peter Farrelly's interracial road trip through the early '60s Deep South, also won for its screenplay, giving a boost to a film that has been much criticised for relying on racial tropes.
As expected, Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt won best song for the signature tune from A Star Is Born, the film most expected to dominate the Globes.
"Can I just say that as a woman in music, it's really hard to be taken seriously as a musician and as songwriter and these three incredible men, they lifted me up," Gaga said.
'Roma' wins big
Although the Globes are put on by foreign journalists, they don't include foreign language films in their two best picture categories (for drama and musical/comedy). That left Netflix's Oscar hopeful, Alfonso Cuaron's memory-drenched work Roma out of the top category. Cuaron still won as best director and the Mexican-born filmmaker's movie won best foreign language film.
"Cinema at its best tears down walls and builds bridges to other cultures," Cuaron said accepting the foreign language award. "As we cross these bridges, these experiences and these new shapes and these new faces, we begin to realise that, while they may seem strange, they are not unfamiliar.
"This film would not have been possible without the specific colours that made me who I am. Gracias, familia. Gracias, Mexico."
Time is still up
Best supporting actress in a motion picture went to the Oscar front-runner Regina King for her matriarch of Barry Jenkins' James Baldwin adaptation If Beale Street Could Talk. King spoke about the Time's Up movement and vowed that the crews of everything she produces in the next two years will be half women. She challenged others to do likewise.
"Stand with us in solidarity and do the same," said King, who was also nominated for the TV series Seven Seconds.
A year after the Globes were awash in a sea of black and #MeToo discussion replaced fashion chatter, the red carpet largely returned to more typical colours and conversation. Some attendees wore ribbons that read TIMESUPx2, to highlight the second year of the gender equality campaign that last year organised the Globes black-clad demonstration. Alyssa Milano, the actress who was key to making #MeToo go viral, said on the red carpet that in the past year a "really wonderful sisterhood has formed".
Television awards
The night's first win went to Michael Douglas for the Netflix series The Kominsky Method. Douglas dedicated the honour to his 102-year-old father. The second award went to the acclaimed Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for best animated film.
For its sixth and final season, FX's The Americans took best drama series over shows such as Amazon's conspiracy thriller Homecoming and Oh's own Killing Eve. Richard Madden, the breakout star of the terrorism suspense series Bodyguard, won best actor in a drama series. Ben Wishaw took best supporting actor in a limited series for A Very English Scandal.
The press association typically likes to have first crack at series that weren't eligible for the 2018 Emmys. They did this year in not just The Kominsky Method and Bodyguard but also the Showtime prison drama Escape at Dannemora. Its star, Patricia Arquette, won for best actress in a limited series.
Usually the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's ceremony is known for its freewheeling frivolity and fun. But the 2018 Globes were the first major televised awards in Hollywood following the downfall of Harvey Weinstein and the subsequent push for greater gender equality in the film industry.
Last year's show, like a lot of recent awards events, took place against a backdrop of declining ratings. About 19 million tuned in to the Seth Meyers-hosted broadcast, an 11 per cent fall in viewers. This year, NBC had one thing in its favour - an NFL lead in. Ahead of the Globes, NBC broadcast the late afternoon wild card game between the Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles, which proved to be a nail-bitingly close battle – likely delivering the network a huge audience.
Jeff Bridges and Carol Burnett
Jeff Bridges received the Globes' honorary Cecil B DeMille Award. In remarks about everything from Michael Cimino to Buckminster Fuller and, of course, to his Big Lebowski character the Dude, Bridges compared his life to a great game of tag. "We've all been tagged," said Bridges. "We're alive." He ended by "tagging" everyone watching. "We can turn this ship in the way we want to go, man," said Bridges.
A similar television achievement award was also launched this year, dubbed the Carol Burnett Award. Its first honoree was Burnett, herself.
"I'm kind of really gobsmacked by this," said Burnett. "Does this mean that I get to accept it every year?"
And the winners are:
FILM
Best Picture – Comedy or Musical: Green Book
Best Motion Picture – Drama: Bohemian Rhapsody
Best Director, Motion Picture: Alfonso Cuaron, Roma
Actor, Comedy or Musical: Christian Bale, Vice
Actress, Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Actress, Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Drama: Glenn Close, The Wife
Actor, Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Drama: Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Foreign Language Film: Roma
Actress-Supporting Role, Motion Picture: Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Actor-Supporting Role, Motion Picture: Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Screenplay, Motion Picture: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Motion Picture Animated: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Original Score, Motion Picture: Justin Hurwitz, First Man
Original Song, Motion Picture: Shallow, A Star Is Born
TELEVISION
Drama Series: The Americans
Musical or Comedy Series: The Kominsky Method
Actress, TV Series, Drama: Sandra Oh, Killing Eve
Actor, TV Series, Drama: Richard Madden, Bodyguard
Actress, TV Series, Musical or Comedy: Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel
Actor, TV Series, Musical or Comedy: Michael Douglas, The Kominsky Method
Actor, Limited Series or Movie Made for Television: Darren Criss, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Actress, Supporting Role, Limited Series or Movie Made for Television: Patricia Clarkson, Sharp Objects
Actor, Supporting Role, Limited Series or Movie Made for Television: Ben Whishaw, A Very English Scandal
Actress, Limited Series or Movie Made for Television: Patricia Arquette, Escape at Dannemora
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Read more:
The best looks from Golden Globes past - in pictures
The best dressed celebrities of 2018
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Backstage with Dolce & Gabbana in Dubai
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