LOS ANGELES | Dark drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and mother-daughter comedy “Lady Bird” were the top winners at the Golden Globe awards on Sunday on a night marked by barbed comments about sexual harassment in Hollywood and passionate odes to those breaking their silence on the issue.
Gary Oldman was named best drama movie actor for his role as British wartime leader in Focus Features “Darkest Hour” and Frances McDormand took home the award for drama actress for her role as an angry mother in Fox Searchlight’s “Three Billboards.”
In comedies, the Golden Globes went to indie studio A24’s “Lady Bird” actress Saoirse Ronan and James Franco for his cult movie homage “The Disaster Artist,” also from A24.
Mexican director Guillermo del Toro won best director for magical fantasy “The Shape of Water.”
Dystopian saga “The Handmaid’s Tale” and drama “Big Little Lies” won the top television honors.
“The Handmaid’s Tale,” from streaming platform Hulu and based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of the same name, won best TV drama and best actress for its lead star Elisabeth Moss, who dedicated her win to the veteran author.
“Margaret, this is for you and all women that came before you and after you that were brave enough to speak out against injustice and intolerance,” Moss said.
HBO’s “Big Little Lies,” about the lives of a group of women living in an affluent California coastal town, swept the best limited series/TV movie category and its stars Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgard and Laura Dern won for acting.
Kidman, who plays a victim of domestic violence in the show and Dern — both of whom helped spearhead the Time’s Up campaign along with Witherspoon — made pointed speeches as they accepted their awards.
“This character that I play represents something that is the center of our conversation right now, abuse. I do believe and hope we can elicit change through the stories that we tell,” Kidman said.
But the night was dominated not by who took home prizes, but by jokes and speeches about the sexual misconduct scandal that has roiled Hollywood.
“Happy New Year Hollywood! It’s 2018. Marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn‘t,” quipped Globes host Seth Meyers, to wild applause from the A-list audience in Beverly Hills.
Multiple allegations against actors, filmmakers and Hollywood agents since October 2017 have led to many of the accused being fired, forced to step down, or dropped from creative projects.
The evening began with the normally colorful red carpet transformed into a sea of black gowns as actresses showed solidarity with victims of sexual harassment inside and outside the entertainment industry.
The primetime encore of the 75th Golden Globe Awards will air on Monday, 8 January, 7:00PM, first and exclusive on Blue Ant Entertainment.
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