Globes show Texas, Richard Linklater some love
Boyhood has grown up into an award-winner.
Austin director Richard Linklater’s Texas-set tale of adolescence amid parental dysfunction won the top prize at the 72nd annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Sunday night as Best Motion Picture, Drama.
In addition, Linklater was honored as Best Director and co-star Patricia Arquette won Best Supporting Actress, Drama.
This makes Boyhood a favorite going into the Academy Awards on Feb. 22.
Otherwise, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which oversees the Golden Globes, spread the love around. Linklater wasn’t the only Texas director who went home with a little gold.
The fanciful The Grand Budapest Hotel, directed by Houston-born Wes Anderson, nabbed the statue for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.
As expected, Michael Keaton was named Best Actor, Musical or Comedy, for his memorable performance in Birdman. In the Best Actress, Drama sweepstakes, Julianne Moore — in the film Still Alice, which hasn’t yet rolled out nationally — bested Reese Witherspoon, Felicity Jones, Rosamund Pike, and Jennifer Aniston.
Some of the other notable winners of the night included Eddie Redmayne (Best Actor, Drama, The Theory of Everything), J.K. Simmons (Best Supporting Actor, Drama, Whiplash), and Amy Adams (Best Actress, Musical or Comedy, Big Eyes).
In the animated film division, How To Train Your Dragon 2 surprisingly won out over The Lego Movie and Big Hero 6.
A few of the season’s most high-profile nominees, including Foxcatcher, Selma, and Into the Woods, didn’t get much glory Sunday.
There were more surprises on the TV side.
Showtime’s new series The Affair beat out veterans Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, and The Good Wife for best TV series, while the show’s Ruth Wilson won for Best Actress in a TV Series Drama over Claire Danes, Julianna Margulies, Robin Wright and Viola Davis.
Gina Rodriguez, star of the relatively unknown series Jane the Virgin on The CW, turned heads when she won over the much better known Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Edie Falco, Lena Dunham, and Taylor Schilling to win Best Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy. She also turned in one of the night’s most heartfelt speeches.
But Amazon founder Jeff Bezos might have had the biggest smile of the night. His online retail firm turned streaming network walked away with Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy, for Transparent, the series starring Jeffrey Tambor as a transgendered woman.
Beating out the likes of Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, HBO’s Girls and Silicon Valley, and Jane the Virgin is a good way to get some attention for the new series.
The icing on the online cake: Tambor was also honored for Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy.
Hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, returning for their third consecutive run, started off with a comedic bang. As expected, they lampooned everything from the allegations against Bill Cosby to the hack against Sony Studios that the U.S. government says was the handiwork of North Koreans.
“Tonight we celebrate all the great television shows that we know and love, as well as all the movies that North Korea was OK with,” said Fey.
While having Margaret Cho play an unsmiling North Korean journalist posing for a shot with Meryl Streep was amusing at first, Cho’s later bit at the podium wasn’t as fresh.
Fey and Poehler aren’t returning next year, and they’re going to be a hard act to follow.
World events made their presence felt outside the realm of comedy.
Rapper/actor Common, who won an award for original song for Glory from the civil-rights era film Selma, gave one of the evening’s most compelling speeches as he tied in the movie’s subject matter with today’s headlines.
“I realized I am the hopeful black woman who was denied her right to vote,” Common said. “I am the caring white supporter killed on the front lines of freedom. I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand, but instead was given a bullet. I am the two fallen police officers murdered in the line of duty. Selma has awakened my humanity.”
Those who were killed in the terrorist attacks against the cartoonists at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo were saluted by Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Theo Kingma and presenting actor Jared Leto, who said, “To our brothers, sisters, friends and families in France, our thoughts, our prayers, our hearts are with you tonight. Je suis Charlie.”
But perhaps Billy Bob Thornton, picking up an award for the series Fargo, summed up a certain general weariness when he said that these days you can “get in a lot of trouble no matter what you say, I know this for a fact.” So he just said “Thank you.”
The Associated Press and New York Times contributed to this report.
Cary Darling, 817 390-7571
Twitter: @carydar
This story was originally published January 11, 2015 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Globes show Texas, Richard Linklater some love."