The gritty tale of human survival “The Revenant” emerged the big winner at Sunday night’s 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards, taking home prizes for best drama film, best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio and best director for Alejandro Inarritu.
Director Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” also had a big night at the Beverly Hilton. While being inexplicably classified as a comedy film, the science-fiction adventure was named best motion picture comedy and star Matt Damon won for best actor in a comedy.
“The Revenant,” however, carried the night. The hard-edge drama starring DiCaprio as an 1820s frontierman who is left for dead by his comrades following a brutal bear attack made Hollywood headlines for the grueling conditions in which it was filmed. Inarritu, who won an Oscar last year for directing “Birdman,” said that while the film was made under constantly challenging circumstances, the result was worth the struggle.
“Every film is so difficult to make. But I have to tell (you) in my experience this was the most difficult journey,” he said, hailing the cast and crew who endured the struggle.
“We all in this room know very well that pain is temporary, but a film is forever, right? So who cares?” he said.
For DiCaprio, the Globe win was his third. He previously won for best actor in “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “The Aviator.” He also noted that complications of filming in rugged conditions, but said it went along with a film about survival, adaptation and “strength of the human spirit.”
“Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this journey with you,” DiCaprio said to Inarritu. “… I’ve never had an experience like this in my entire life.”
He also hailed co-star Tom Hardy, “who I know in real life would never bury me alive.”
Ridley Scott, accepting the award for best comedy film for “The Martian,” paused to note the question over the film’s classification by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
“Comedy?” he said. “But anyway, I’m very grateful.”
Scott had never won a Golden Globe before, despite being nominated for best director three times — including this year. His previous nominations were for “American Gangster” and “Gladiator.”
“Where have you been?” Scott asked, looking at the statuette in his hand. “I was beginning to think this was going to be posthumous.”
Damon was named best actor in a comedy film for his role in the film as an astronaut stranded on Mars. It was his first Golden Globe since 1998, when he shared a screenwriting prize with Ben Affleck for “Good Will Hunting.”
“I know how lucky I am and how lucky I am to do this for a living,” he said, noting the film’s wildly successful run in theaters. “I’ve made a lot of movies that people just didn’t go see.”
He gave full credit for the success of “The Martian” to the film’s director, saying, “It really all came down to Ridley Scott.”
Brie Larson was named best actress in a drama for her work in “Room,” about a women held captive with her 5-year-old son. Jennifer Lawrence, meanwhile, was named best actress in a comedy for “Joy,” the story based on the rise of entrepreneur Joy Mangano. The win was the third for Lawrence, who previously won for best actress for “Silver Linings Playbook” and supporting actress for “American Hustle.” All three of her wins have been in films directed by David O. Russell.
“Every time I’m up here it is because of you,” Lawrence told Russell while accepting the award. “Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for your brilliance.”
She later added: “David, I love you. I want us to be buried next to each other.”
In one of the evening’s more emotional moments, Sylvester Stallone received a standing ovation when he was awarded his first career Golden Globe for his reprisal of the role of Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa in “Creed.” It was Stallone’s first trip to the Golden Globes since 1977, when he was nominated for best actor and screenplay for the original “Rocky.”
“I want to thank my imaginary friend Rocky Balboa for being the best friend I ever had,” he told the crowd.
He gave special thanks to “Rocky” producers Irwin Winkler and Bob Chartoff for taking a chance “on a mumbling actor” and changing his life.
Kate Winslet won her fourth career Golden Globe for her supporting role in the drama “Steve Jobs.” She won for best actress in a television movie or miniseries for “Mildred Pierce” in 2012, and for best actress in a drama for “Revolutionary Road” and supporting actress for “The Reader,” both in 2009.
“What an incredible year for women in film,” she said. “These categories are so crowded and crammed with skill and integrity.”
She praised her co-star, Michael Fassbender, whom she called “a legend.”
“I would watch you every day,” she said. “You set the bar so high for everybody. Thank you for being an incredible colleague and friend.”
“Steve Jobs” also won a best screenplay prize for Aaron Sorkin.
The Golden Globes are often touted as an indication of how Oscar winners will go, but the record is mixed. Since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association adopted the split drama/comedy-musical format for the Golden Globes in 1963, 65 percent of the films that ended up with best picture Academy Awards had first received a Golden Globe.
The Golden Globe drama winner has gone on to win best picture 27 of 52 times — or 52 percent. The musical/comedy winner has won seven times at the Oscars, including each of the first three years.
Last year, the Golden Globe for best drama went to “Boyhood.” The Oscar for best picture went to “Birdman,” which was nominated in the comedy/musical category at the Golden Globes, losing to “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”
On the television side of the awards, the Amazon streaming series “Mozart in the Jungle” — based loosely on the life of conductor Gustavo Dudamel — was a surprise winner for best comedy series, while its star, Gael Garcia Bernal, snagged the Globe for best actor in a comedy series.
“This is incredible. This is really a big surprise,” Bernal said.
He dedicated the award to music, which he said offers people a “common ground for communication, for justice and for happiness.”
“Mr. Robot,” USA Network’s show about a cybersecurity computer programmer who moonlights with a vigilante group of computer hackers, also was a surprise winner for best drama series.
Sam Esmail, the show’s co-creator, gave credit to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for honoring the show.
“They just gave the best drama series award to a show called ‘Mr. Robot,'” he said. “That took a lot of courage.”
Christian Slater, who co-stars in the show, took home the Globe for best supporting actor in a series, limited series or made-for-TV movie.
Jon Hamm won the Globe for best actor in a drama series for his work in the farewell season of AMC’s period advertising drama “Mad Men.” It was his second win in six nominations, having previously won in 2008.
Hamm thanked AMC and the HFPA for its continued support of the series throughout its run.
“This is a very kind representaion of that,” he said.
“Thank you for including me in this insanely talented group of actors,” he added, referencing his fellow nominees.
Taraji P. Henson, meanwhile, won her first Golden Globe for lead drama actress in “Empire.”
Oscar Isaac was named best actor in a limited series or television movie for his work in HBO’s “Show Me a Hero,” the story of racial tensions that escalated over a court-ordered public housing development in Yonkers, New York, in the late 1980s.
Singer Lady Gaga, meanwhile, was named best actress in a limited series or television movie for her turn as the countess in “American Horror Story: Hotel.”
“This is one of the greatest moments of my life,” she said, heaping praise on her cast mates.
“You’re all so talented and because of you I was able to shine, I guess. Thank you,” she said. “I wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a singer. But music worked out first.”
The prize for best TV movie or limited series went to the BBC’s fictional historic miniseries “Wolf Hall.”
— City News Service