Robert Pattinson stepped out at last night’s 70th Annual Golden Globes with a clean cut and a wide smile and absolutely no chip about the fact that — in truth — his performance in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis deserved a nomination instead of just a presenting gig.
But in a Best Actor cut that mixed Daniel Day-Lewis ( Lincoln ), Richard Gere ( Arbitrage ), John Hawkes ( The Sessions ), Joaquin Phoenix ( The Master ), and Denzel Washington ( Flight ), it wasn’t unexpected that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) went for the current best actor Oscar front-runner, who, in fact, did go on to win.
Moving on. Pattinson — who, the LA Times noted was there to root for Phoenix and to party — co-presented with Les Miserables’ Amanda Seyfried in the category of Best Screenplay: Motion Picture. That award was won by a surprised and delighted Quentin Tarantino for his slavery western Django Unchained .
Christoph Waltz also later nabbed Best Supporting Actor for his role in it.
In what’s been a tough few weeks for Tarantino, assailed by the ongoing debate about whether fictional violence affects real-life violence , the Tennessee native’s win last night for one of the few films that addresses America’s slave trade past with style, wit — and yes, violence — must have tasted sweet.
So too for Ben Affleck. Despite his much talked about directorial Oscar snub, Argo managed to take Best Director for Affleck and Best Picture: Drama in a year packed with worthy contenders.
According to the LA Times , in the press room backstage, everybody’s favorite Bostonian later said:
“We got nominated for seven Oscars, including best picture. If you can’t be happy with that, then your prospects for long-term happiness are probably pretty dim.”
Sweeping through, Les Miserables waltzed off with Best musical or comedy, Best Actor: Comedy or Musical for Hugh Jackman and Best Supporting actress for Anne Hathaway.
Lincoln , which had led the way with seven nominations, delivered Day-Lewis’ aforementioned Best Actor: Drama, while Jessica Chastain deservedly won Best Actress: Drama for Zero Dark Thirty , thanking director Kathryn Bigelow for doing “more for women in cinema that you can take credit for,” ITN notes.
Introduced in a hilarious skit by Will Farrell and Kristen Wiig, Jennifer Lawrence — battling the flu — beat out veterans Meryl Streep ( Hope Springs ), Maggie Smith ( Quartet ), Judie Dench ( The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ), and Emily Blunt for ( Salmon Fishing In The Yemen ) to take Best Actress: Comedy or Musical for Silver Linings Playbook . The popular winner kept it short but got in a killer line about Harvey Weinstein, saying “Thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me up here today.”
More on the wins and losses reported here by The Inquisitr .
Undeniably, last night’s Globes were a tremendous success. From the utterly funny opening by hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who proceeded to rip through Ricky Gervais, jokingly likened the HFPA to a disease, an awesome James Franco dig for the 2011 Oscars, and pulled off a money shot zinger for Zero Dark Thirty’s Kathryn Bigelow — “when it comes to torture I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron” — and literally so many more.
Pressing on, former US President’s Bill Clinton’s — who received a standing ovation — surprise introduction for a clip of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln was a major coup for the Globes.
On stage, Clinton referred to the real Abraham Lincoln’s “tough fight to push a bill through a bitterly divided House of Representatives, winning it required the president to make a lot of unsavory deals that had nothing to with the big issue, I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
Fast forward to Jodie Foster’s many-layered Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement award — that wasn’t a retirement announcement — it made for alternately jaw-dropping and moving watching.
Held against the indisputable weight of her 47 years in the business, Foster at 50 is no less formidable than she was at 13 in Taxi driver and Busgy Malone , which she played in the same year.
During her speech [transcribed here by The Guardian ], the mother of two de facto “came out” to an industry that already knew her sexuality and to a worldwide audience that perhaps didn’t. In a frank monologue that included the privacy and dignity themes that she wrote about in defence of Kristen Stewart back in August, last night Foster said:
“So while I’m here being all confessional, I guess I have a sudden urge to say something that I’ve never really been able to air in public. So, a declaration that I’m a little nervous about but maybe not quite as nervous as my publicist right now, huh Jennifer? … But I’m just going to put it out there, right? Loud and proud, right?”
“I am single. Yes I am, I am single. No, I’m kidding — but I mean I’m not really kidding, but I’m kind of kidding. I mean, thank you for the enthusiasm. Can I get a wolf whistle or something? [here the audio mysteriously muted for seven seconds]… be a big coming-out speech tonight because I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago back in the Stone Age … But now I’m told, apparently that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime-time reality show.”
Today, Foster’s speech is being analysed within an inch of its life everywhere , but it’s bravery and honesty cannot be denied — nor should it be faulted.
In television land, Showtime’s Homeland won its second consecutive award for drama series, with Claire Danes and co-star Damian Lewis taking Best Actress and Actor in a television Series: Drama. Game Change scored Best Miniseries or Television Movie and garnered the Best Supporting Actor in a miniseries to Ed Harris and Best Actress for the same to Julianne Moore.
HBO’s Girls won for Best Television Series: Comedy or Musical and its creator and star Lena Dunham won Best Actress in the related category, while Adele accepted Skyfall’s only award for Best Original Song.
While it is lamentable that Pattinson was overlooked in this awards season, he enters 2013 riding a wave of magnificent reviews for his role in Cosmopolis and now embarks on a bulging and interesting film slate that kicks off imminently with David Michod’s The Rover. Last night’s Golden Globes may well turn out to be the last time Pattinson is shut out of the prestige awards.
Despite snarking from some (predictably Nikki Finke at Deadline ), as Fey promised the Golden Globes wrapped before “11 dark thirty” and delivered a party with thrills, spills, and surprises. In short, it was a triumph.
Over to you, Oscars.