Golden Globes 2015: The Most Important Thing That Night Was Politics

Although Russia isn’t getting good press right now, foreign journalists did not hesitate to award a Golden Globe to Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Leviathan” instead of the Polish “Ida.” The most important Golden Globes were awarded to Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” and Wes Anderson’s “Grand Budapest Hotel.”

On Sunday night, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles, for the 72nd time, the Golden Globes were awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which is made up of 91 foreign journalists from 55 countries. The Golden Globes are usually the most certain pre-Oscar predictions.

Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood,” a story of a growing boy from a fictional family in Austin, Texas that was filmed over 12 years, received a Golden Globe for best drama, best director and best supporting actress for Patricia Arquette, who played the mother of the hero. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who led the ceremony, joked that Arquette proved that “there are still great roles for women over 40 as long as you get hired when you’re under 40.”

Wes Anderson’s stylish “Grand Budapest Hotel,” about the good times and the end of an elegant hotel in a fictitious country called Zubrowka, won among comedies. The hosts assured the audience that, Anderson, regarded as eccentric, “arrived at the ceremony on a bicycle made of antique tuba parts.”

Maybe it’s a coincidence, but awards for the best drama roles were given to redheaded actors who played sick people. Julianne Moore in Richard Glatzer’s and Wash Westermoreland’s “Still Alice” is a linguistics professor from Columbia University who gets Alzheimer’s disease. And Eddie Redmayne in James Marsh’s “The Theory of Everything” (which also won an award for music) plays famous British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking who is secluded from the world by being paralyzed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

This year’s winners also include Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s “Birdman,” about an actor who once played a superhero (former “Batman” star Michael Keaton) and who now struggles for a role on Broadway. Here the screenplay and leading male role were rewarded.

And who lost? Among others, Bill Murray and the “Girls” series. Two other series were acknowledged instead: “The Affair,” about a romance between a waitress (played by Ruth Wilson, who won for the best drama role in a series) and a teacher on vacation, as well as “Transparent,” about a family from Los Angeles that discovers that the head of the family – the father (played by Jeffrey Tambor, who won for best role in a drama series) – thinks he is a woman.

“This is just the beginning of my revenge… This is the eighth time I’ve been nominated. I can’t… believe I won,” said Kevin Spacey when receiving the Golden Globe for the role of demonic senator Francis Underwood in the “House of Cards” series.

The main subject of mockery that evening was comedian Bill Cosby, who is currently publicly accused of rapes he committed many years ago. Fey and Poehler surpassed each other in showing who was better at parodying Cosby talking about “giving women sleeping pills.”*

Two more serious subjects prevailed: the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo’s editorial office and hackers from North Korea who stole data from Sony, threatening to use it if Sony released “The Interview” in American cinemas – a comedy about Kim Jong Un. Sony succumbed. When Dutchman Theo Kingma, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, said, “We will stand against anyone who would repress free speech anywhere from North Korea to Paris,” he received a standing ovation.

A similar speech was delivered by George Clooney when he received the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille award. “Today was an extraordinary day; there were millions of people who marched not just in Paris but around the world, and they were Christians and Jews and Muslims, they were leaders of countries all over the world and they didn’t march in protest, they marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear. So je suis Charlie,” declared Clooney.

However, Poehler and Fey considered “The Interview” to be rubbish: “Korea called the movie a ‘terrorist attack.’ Curiously enough, it was not the worst review it received,” they said.*

At the ceremony, Clooney for the first time showed up with his new wife, human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin. The hosts listed her political achievements, laughing that it’s her husband who receives awards for achievements in life.

Oscar nominations will be known on January 15.

Golden Globes 2015

Best Drama: “Boyhood”

Best Comedy or Musical: “Grand Budapest Hotel”

Best Director: Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Actress in a Drama: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”

Best Actor in a Drama: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”

Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical: Amy Adams, “Big Eyes”

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical: Michael Keaton, “Birdman”

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”

Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

Best screenplay: “Birdman”

Best Original Score: Jóhann Jóhannsson, “The Theory of Everything”

Best Original Song: “Glory,” John Legend and Common (from “Selma”)

Best Animated Feature: “How to Train Your Dragon 2”

Best Drama TV Series: “The Affair”

Best Comedy TV Series: “Transparent”

Best Actress in a Drama TV Series: Ruth Wilson, “The Affair”

Best Actor in a Drama TV Series: Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”

Best Actress in a Comedy TV Series: Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin”

Best Actor in a Comedy TV Series: Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”

Best Miniseries or Motion Picture made for TV: “Fargo”

Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture made for TV: Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Honorable Woman”

Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture made for TV: Billy Bob Thornton, “Fargo”

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture made for TV: Joanne Frogatt, “Downton Abbey”

Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture made for TV: Matt Bomer, “The Normal Heart”

* Editor’s note: The original quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.