“Oppenheimer,” the story of atomic bomb mastermind Robert J. Oppenheimer, dominated the revamped 81st Golden Globe Awards Sunday evening, winning five trophies including Best Motion Picture, Drama — while “Succession” led the way among TV categories with four victories including Best Television Series, Drama.
As the Hollywood awards season officially got underway at the Beverly Hilton hotel, “Oppenheimer” also captured Golden Globes for Cillian Murphy for best actor in a motion picture drama; Robert Downey Jr. for best supporting actor in a motion picture; Christopher Nolan for best director in a motion picture; and best original score, to Ludwig Goransson.
“Succession,” the tale of a family’s internal battles to succeed an aging media mogul, which capped a much-decorated four-year run in 2023, also brought home trophies for Kieran Culkin for best actor in a television series drama; Sarah Snook for best actress in a television series drama; and Matthew Macfadyen for best supporting actor, television.
“Poor Things,” a Frankenstein-esque film about a resurrected woman from the Victorian era, captured the award for best picture, musical or comedy, and also earned Emma Stone a best actress award in the musical or comedy film category.
“The Boy and the Heron” won for best animated motion picture, while the French film “Anatomy of a Fall” was victorious as best non-English-language picture — as well as winning best motion picture screenplay for Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.
In other major film categories, Lily Gladstone took the Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture drama for her role in the Martin Scorsese western “Killers of the Flower Moon” — making history by becoming the first Indigenous woman so honored at the Globes.
Gladstone opened her acceptance speech with “a bit of Blackfeet language,” she told the crowd — calling it “the beautiful community, nation that raised me, that encouraged me to keep going, doing this.”
“I’m so grateful that I can speak even a little bit of my language, which I’m not fluent in, up here,” she said, adding that “native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish native languages on camera.”
Paul Giamatti, meanwhile, won best actor in a motion picture musical or comedy for his turn as a prep school teacher in “The Holdovers” — in which Da’Vine Joy Randolph also won for best supporting actress.
Giamatti, who said he comes from a family of academics, lauded teachers in his acceptance speech, saying, “We’ve got to respect them — they do a good thing. It’s a tough job,” a line that drew applause from those gathered.
“Barbie,” Greta Gerwig’s film that brought Mattel’s iconic American toy doll to the big screen, went into the evening with a leading nine nominations (tied with TV’s “Succession”), but came away with only two wins.
One came in the new category of cinematic and box office achievement, and the other was for best original song — “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.
“We would like to dedicate this to every single person on the planet who dressed up and went to the greatest place on earth, the movie theaters,” “Barbie” star Margot Robbie said in accepting the newly minted award.
She also jokingly thanked her co-star, Ryan Gosling, “for going full beach.”
“Barbie,” which along with “Oppenheimer” became a summer 2023 phenomenon that became known as “Barbenheimer,” beat out seven other films for the box-office award, including “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.”
On the TV side, FX’s “The Bear” — the story of a high-end chef who returns to his native Chicago to run the family sandwich shop — captured three Globes, including best television series, musical or comedy; a second straight best actor win for Jeremy Allen White in that category; and a best actress award for Ayo Edebiri.
“Beef,” a dark comedy-drama about a road-rage incident, also won three Globes, including best limited series, anthology series or a motion picture made for television and best actor and actress awards in that category for Steven Yeun and Ali Wong.
Elizabeth Debicki, meanwhile, took home a Globe for best supporting actress, television, for her role as Princess Diana in “The Crown.”
In the other new category added this year, Ricky Gervais was victorious for best performance in stand-up comedy on television for his show “Ricky Gervais: Armageddon.”
Meryl Streep was nominated for best television supporting actress for her appearance in “Only Murders in the Building” — padding her own record for most career Globe nominations, which now stands at 33 — but she lost out to Debicki.
Comedian Jo Koy hosted the 81st edition of “Hollywood’s biggest party,” which was broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. He was taking his first turn hosting a major awards show.
Sunday’s ceremonies capped a year of great change for Globes — and Sunday’s ceremonies also provided a something of return to normal for Hollywood following a wrenching year of strikes by the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America.
The Globes are now under new management following a June sale to Dick Clark Productions and the dissolution of the scandal-scarred Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Beginning in 2022, the HFPA came under fire for a historic lack of Black members, along with questions about ethical standards for members and voters. Under the new set-up this year, the HFPA was dissolved and voter diversity was prioritized.
“Not only are we starting a new partnership with CBS network, but our voting body has grown to 300 members from 75 countries, making the Golden Globes the most culturally diverse major awards body,” Helen Hoehne, president of the Globes, said when nominations were announced in December.
In another change this year, there were six nominees named in most categories, up from the usual five.
The Globes have a mixed history as a predictor of which films will have success on Oscar night.
Since 1963, when the Globes divided the film category into two formats — drama and musical/comedy — nearly 62% 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 a best picture Oscar 29 of 60 times. The musical/comedy winner has won eight times at the Oscars, most recently in 2019, when “Green Book” won the Academy Award for best picture.
During the 80th Golden Globes last January, the best drama picture honor went to “The Fabelmans” while “The Banshees of Inisherin” was named best comedy/musical film. The Oscar, however, went to “Everything, Everywhere All at Once.”