“Boyhood” Tops Golden Globes; “Grand Budapest” Upsets
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North Korea parodies. "Je Suis Charlie" tributes. George Clooney punchlines.
Hollywood toasted free speech in its myriad forms, from mocking Bill Cosby to sincere words about the Paris terrorist attacks, at the 72nd annual Golden Globes on Sunday, where the tender coming-of-age drama "Boyhood" topped all films.
Richard Linklater's 12-years-in-the-making movie was right on time at the Globes, winning the night's top honor, best drama, as well as best director for Linklater and best supporting actress for Patricia Arquette.
The sweetly humanist film had a similarly touching effect on one of Hollywood's glitziest evenings. Taking out her written speech, Arquette apologized: "I'm the only nerd with a piece of paper."
"Bottom line is we're all flawed in this world. No one's perfect," said Linklater, accepting his directing Globe. "I want to dedicate this to parents that are evolving everywhere and families that are just passing through this world and doing their best."
The night seemed to be setting up for the top two Oscar contenders — "Boyhood" and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Birdman" — to lead the Globes' twin categories of drama and comedy. But in a major surprise, Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" swooped in to win best picture, comedy or musical. He listed a mock thank you to the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press, the collection of mostly freelance foreign journalists who put on the Globes, naming "Yorum and Dagmar and Yukiko and Mounawar."
The elegantly crafted backstage romp "Birdman" nevertheless won best actor in a comedy or musical for its lead, Michael Keaton, who plays a former superhero star mounting a serious play on Broadway, and best screenplay.
Reflecting on his life, Keaton's voice broke up as he thanked his son, whom he called his best friend. "Shoot," said Keaton. "Two things I said I wasn't going to do: cry and give air quotes."
Kicking off the show, hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler wasted no time in skewering Hollywood's most sensitive subjects: the hacking of Sony Pictures over "The Interview," the sexual assault allegations against Cosby and television's rise as a cultural rival to movies.
In an opening blistering with zingers, the duo welcomed Hollywood's "despicable, spoiled, minimally talented brats" to the Globes to celebrate "all the movies that North Korea was OK with." They several times visited with a North Korean Army officer, played by Margaret Cho, who voiced her displeasure with all aspects of the show.
"Je Suis Charlie" reverberated through the ceremony, from signs held aloft on the red carpet by the likes of Helen Mirren to the speeches of Cecil B. DeMille winner George Clooney, who evoked the name of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo that was recently attacked by terrorists. HFPA President Theo Kingma drew a standing ovation for pledging support to free speech "from North Korea to Paris."
Clooney, a young lifetime achievement honoree at 53, had been among Hollywood's most vocal about preserving free speech after hackers threatened violence over "The Interview." Referring to the embarrassing emails leaked by the hackers, Clooney called the night "a good chance for us to meet face to face and apologize for all those snarky things we said to each other."
Clooney also spoke emotionally about his new wife, Amal Clooney: "It's a humbling thing when you find somebody to love."
In one of the evening's most hotly contested categories, best actor in a drama, Eddie Redmayne emerged victorious over Benedict Cumberbatch ("The Imitation Game"), Steve Carell ("Foxcatcher"), David Oyelowo ("Selma") and Jake Gyllenhaal ("Nightcrawler") for his performance as Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything."
Amy Adams surprised in taking best actress in a comedy or musical for her performance in "Big Eyes." ''I didn't even reapply lip gloss," said an unprepared Adams.
The first award of the night went to J.K. Simmons for best supporting actor for his performance as a domineering jazz teacher in the acclaimed indie "Whiplash." He thanked his confident co-star, Miles Teller, whom he called: "A young actor of such maturity and brilliance that he inspired me every day to want to scream at him and hit him in the face."
The ceremony had an orchestrated but carefree spirit, filled with the usual high dose of glamour (Moore especially turned heads the red carpet), celebrity cameos (Prince!) and even the drink-swilling return of an old Globes villain, the former host Ricky Gervais.
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(L-R) Recording artist Taylor Swift, musician Este Haim, actress Jaime King, producer Harvey Weinstein and recording artist Lorde attend The Weinstein Company's 2015 Golden Globe Awards.
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Actor Kelsey Grammer and Kayte Walsh attend the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards cocktail party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
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Actress Lena Dunham attends HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
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Peter Schlessel, Focus Features CEO, Hannah Bagshawe and Golden Globe Eddie Redmayne seen at the Universal, NBC, Focus Features, E! Entertainment Golden Globes After Party Sponsored by Chrysler and Hilton on Sunday, Jan 11, 2014, in Beverly Hills.
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Model Alessandra Ambrosio attends the 2015 InStyle And Warner Bros. 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards Post-Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
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Peter Schlessel, Focus Features CEO, Felicity Jones, Golden Globe winner Johan Johansson and Jeff Shell, Chairman, Universal Filmed Entertainment seen at the Universal, NBC, Focus Features, E! Entertainment Golden Globes After Party Sponsored by Chrysler and Hilton on Sunday, Jan 11, 2014, in Beverly Hills. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Focus Features/AP Images)
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Jason Schwartzman, and from left, Tony Revolori, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody are seen at FOX's 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards Party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2015, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
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Victoria Secrets model Behati Prinsloo and Adam Levine seen at the Universal, NBC, Focus Features, E! Entertainment Golden Globes After Party Sponsored by Chrysler and Hilton on Sunday, Jan 11, 2014, in Beverly Hills.
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Eddie Redmayne seen at the Universal, NBC, Focus Features, E! Entertainment Golden Globes After Party Sponsored by Chrysler and Hilton on Sunday, Jan 11, 2014, in Beverly Hills.
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Anthony McCarten, Lisa Bruce and Eric Fellner seen at the Universal, NBC, Focus Features, E! Entertainment Golden Globes After Party Sponsored by Chrysler and Hilton on Sunday, Jan 11, 2014, in Beverly Hills. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Invision for Focus Features/AP Images)
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Actress Nina Dobrev attends the 2015 InStyle And Warner Bros. 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards Post-Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
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Oprah Winfrey and actor David Oyelowo attends the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards cocktail party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.
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Model Camila Alves, actors Jennifer Aniston, Justin Theroux and Matthew McConaughey attend HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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(L-R) Musician Taylor Swift, singer Lorde and actress/singer Selena Gomez attend HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party.
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Actor Matt Bomer attends HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party.
Actress Katie Holmes attends The Weinstein Company & Netflix's 2015 Golden Globes After Party presented by FIJI Water, Lexus, Laura Mercier and Marie Claire at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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Actress Sarah Hyland attends the 2015 InStyle And Warner Bros. 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards Post-Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.
(L-R) Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, actor Will Arnett and actor Ricky Gervais attend The Weinstein Company & Netflix's 2015 Golden Globes After Party.
Actress Natasha Lyonne attends The Weinstein Company & Netflix's 2015 Golden Globes After Party.
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Director/actress Lena Dunham (L) and actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus attend HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party.
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Actress Dakota Johnson attends HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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Actors Jeremy Renner (L) and Gabrielle Union attend HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party.
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Actress Jennifer Aniston (L) and model Camila Alves attend HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party.
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Singer/actress Selena Gomez attends HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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(L-R) Actress Jessica Lange, filmmaker Ryan Murphy and actress Sarah Paulson attend HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards After Party.
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Darren Le Gallo, left, and Amy Adams, winner of the award for best performance by an actress in a motion picture - comedy or musical for "Big Eyes", kiss at The Weinstein Company and Netflix Golden Globes afterparty.
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Naomi Watts and Michael Keaton are seen at FOX's 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards Party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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Model Camila Alves, actors Jennifer Aniston, Justin Theroux and Matthew McConaughey attend HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards after-party.
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Actress Julianne Moore attends HBO's Official Golden Globe Awards after-party.
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Michael Keaton, and from left, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Steve Gilula, President, Fox Searchlight, are seen at FOX's 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards party.
Actress Amy Adams (L) and actor Christoph Waltz attend The Weinstein Company & Netflix's 2015 Golden Globes After Party.
Designer Georgina Chapman (L) and entertainer Jennifer Lopez attend The Weinstein Company & Netflix's 2015 Golden Globes After Party.
Designer Georgina Chapman (L) and model Naomi Campbell attend The Weinstein Company & Netflix's 2015 Golden Globes After Party.
(L-R) Actors Larenz Tate, 50 Cent, and Jake Gyllenhaal attend The Weinstein Company & Netflix's 2015 Golden Globes After Party.
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Singer Rita Ora and model Cara Delevingne attend The Weinstein Company's 2015 Golden Globe Awards After Party.
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BEVERLY HILLS, CA - JANUARY 11: Writer/director Dean DeBlois (L) and producer Bonnie Arnold, winners of Best Animated Feature Film for 'How to Train Your Dragon 2,' attend The Weinstein Company's 2015 Golden Globe Awards After Party with Moet & Chandon at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Moet & Chandon)
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Oprah Winfrey and actor David Oyelowo attends the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards cocktail party.
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Actors Jessica Chastain (L) and Amy Adams attends the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards cocktail party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel.
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Calista Flockhart (C) and Harrison Ford (R) attend the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards cocktail party.
The DreamWorks sequel "How to Train Your Dragon 2" took best animated film over the favorite, "The Lego Movie." The Russian entry "Leviathan" took best foreign language film.
As the only major awards show to honor both movies and TV, the Globes have also benefited from television's rise. Fey and Poehler alluded to that by leading the crowd in a call-and-response cheer, chanting "Movies ... Awesome! TV ... Better!"
Amazon, crashing the party like Netflix did before it, celebrated its first — and second — Golden Globe for the sexual identity comedy "Transparent," winning best TV series, musical or comedy. The show's star, Jeffery Tambor, landed best actor in the category, dedicating his award to the transgender community.
AMC's adaptation of the Coen brothers' acclaimed 1996 film, "Fargo," came in the leading TV contender with five nominations and promptly won best miniseries or movie, as well as best actor, miniseries or movie, for Billy Bob Thornton.
"You can say anything in the world and get in trouble. I know this for a fact," said Thornton. "So I'm just going to say thank you."
Led by Fey and Poehler, the Globes have been on a terrific upswing in recent years. Last year's awards drew 20.9 million viewers, the most since 2004. Whether this year would be as successful — despite a best picture field with only one in 10 films grossing more than $100 million: the unrewarded Disney musical "Into the Woods" — had to wait until ratings are released on Monday.
But accepting the Globe for best original song for "Glory" in the civil rights drama "Selma," the rapper Common raised the status of the Globes even higher: "I want to thank God and the Hollywood Foreign Press," he said.
