Beyoncé & Jay-Z + Tom Cruise & Biggest Loser Meryl Streep: Eclectic Golden Globes

Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Pop celebs such as Beyoncé and Jay-Z mingled with movie celebs at the 2009 Golden Globes ceremony. Beyoncé, a.k.a. Beyoncé Knowles, was in the running in the Best Original Song category for the Cadillac Records ditty “Once in a Lifetime,” which she co-composed. The winner, however, was another pop idol, Bruce Springsteen, for The Wrestler‘s title song. Beyoncé had two previous Golden Globe nominations, both for Bill Condon’s 2006 musical Dreamgirls (Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, Best Original Song). Beyoncé and Jay-Z photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Eclectic Golden Globes: From pop celebs Beyoncé & Jaz-Z to veterans Steven Spielberg & Susan Sarandon + Meryl Streep is biggest loser of them all

No matter how (mostly) predictable, the 2009 Golden Globes were undeniably eclectic. Attendees ranged from pop celebs Beyoncé and Jay-Z to Cecil B. DeMille Award recipient Steven Spielberg and fellow movie veterans Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman, Sally Field, and Clint Eastwood. Winners ranged from Kate Winslet – twice – and The Dark Knight co-star Heath Ledger to a Bollywood-ish drama, a Spanish-set comedy, an Israeli animated feature, and a little-known (in the U.S.) British actress.

And let’s not forget that Golden Globe history was made at the Jan. 11 ceremony. That’s when Meryl Streep – the Golden Globes’ record-holder when it comes to nominations – also became the Golden Globes’ biggest loser ever in the acting categories.

See further below the full list of the 2009 Golden Globes’ winners and nominations.

Surprising Kate Winslet double whammy

Undoubtedly, the 2009 Golden Globes’ biggest surprise was Kate Winslet’s double-whammy victory:

• Best Actress – Drama for husband Sam Mendes’ 1950s marital drama Revolutionary Road.
• More expectedly, Best Supporting Actress for Stephen Daldry’s mostly 1950s-set, Holocaust-themed drama The Reader – in which Winslet just happens to play the female lead/title character. (Check out: SAG Awards 2009 winners.)

To date, only three other performers have won two acting awards at the same Golden Globes ceremony:

• 1989: Sigourney Weaver – Best Actress – Drama for Gorillas in the Mist; Best Supporting Actress (Film) for Working Girl.
• 1993: Joan Plowright – Best Supporting Actress (Film) for Enchanted April; Best Supporting Actress (TV) for Stalin.
• 2007: Helen Mirren – Best Actress – Drama for The Queen; Best Actress in a Miniseries/TV Movie for Elizabeth I. (Check out: “What Are the Golden Globes?” & “Queen Elizabeth Double Awards Season Dose.”)

In this year’s Best Actress – Drama category, pundits everywhere had been predicting that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s small roundish trophy would go to either Meryl Streep for John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt (more on Streep and the Golden Globes further below) or Anne Hathaway for Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married (more on Hathaway and the Golden Globes further below).

Oscar winner Kate Winslet?

As things stand, Kate Winslet seems destined to take home the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for The Reader.

That means Penélope Cruz’s Oscar chances for her Anna Magnani-esque turn in Woody Allen’s Barcelona-set, Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical winner Vicky Cristina Barcelona – notwithstanding all the critical praise and critics’ awards that have come her way – have been drastically reduced.

Unless, of course, Academy members opt for Cruz for fear that Winslet will repeat her Golden Globe ceremony performance, as she apparently made a point of thanking every person she has ever met.

Tom Cruise and Kate Winslet. Tom Cruise was a surprise Golden Globe nominee for Ben Stiller’s comedy Tropic Thunder. Kate Winslet, for her part, was a surprise Golden Globe double winner for Revolutionary Road (Best Actress – Drama) and The Reader (Best Supporting Actress). Tom Cruise and Kate Winslet photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Predictable wins

Kate Winslet double win or no, as stated further up the 2009 Golden Globes ceremony was mostly predictable. For instance:

• British filmmaker Danny Boyle’s Mumbai-set awards season favorite Slumdog Millionaire was hardly a shocking Best Motion Picture Drama pick – while also topping the Best Director, Best Screenplay (Britisher Simon Beaufoy), and Best Original Score (Indian A.R. Rahman) categories.
• Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman’s Lebanon-Israel War-set animated documentary Waltz with Bashir was the equally expected Best Foreign Language Film winner.
• And Australian-born Heath Ledger, who died nearly a year ago at age 28, was the shoo-in Best Supporting Actor winner for The Dark Knight. (More on Ledger and the Golden Globes further below.)

‘Little-known’ British actress beats Meryl Streep

One international talent that did surprise – at least to some extent – was British actress Sally Hawkins.

The star of Mike Leigh’s “small,” relatively little-seen British comedy-drama Happy-Go-Lucky and the Best Actress winner at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, Hawkins was named the Golden Globes’ Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical, beating Hollywood icon Meryl Streep for Phyllida Lloyd’s international blockbuster Mamma Mia!.

Admittedly, Hawkins has been a critical favorite this awards season in the U.S. – she topped New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and the National Society of Film Critics – and she’s a likely Oscar contender. In other words, the 2009 Golden Globes’ prognosticators shouldn’t have been too shocked by her victory.

Well, except for the fact that HFPA voters tend to love movie stars. Hawkins’ recent Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical predecessors were: Renée Zellweger (2002), Diane Keaton (2003), Annette Bening (2004), Reese Witherspoon (2005), Meryl Streep (2006), and Marion Cotillard (2007).

Golden Globes’ biggest loser in acting categories

And now we get to Meryl Streep.

Having failed to beat Kate Winslet and Sally Hawkins at this year’s ceremony, Meryl Streep is now officially the biggest loser – in the acting categories – in the Golden Globes’ history. Meryl Streep wins: 6. Meryl Streep losses: 18. A record. The Golden Globes’ previous biggest actor-loser had been Jack Lemmon: 4 wins, 17 losses.

Overall, Streep is tied with composer John Williams, the winner of four Golden Globes and an 18-time loser.

Besides Meryl Streep, also going home empty-handed this year were double loser Clint Eastwood (he’d been in the running in the Best Original Score and Best Song categories) and, figuratively speaking, the following movies: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, and Milk. Directed by Gus Van Sant, the last title had received only one single nomination – Sean Penn, who lost to Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) in the Best Actor – Drama category.

Anne Hathaway. Could the Golden Globes’ powers-that-be have known that Anne Hathaway was going to be this year’s Best Actress – Drama winner? No. What’s more, Kate Winslet won. Fairly or unfairly, every now and then the Golden Globes become mired in controversy, most notably when Pia Zadora was named New Star of the Year at the 1982 ceremony – even though her movie, Butterfly, had yet to open in the Los Angeles area. Not long before the awards, Zadora’s filthy-rich husband Meshulam Riklis had flown HFPA members to his Las Vegas casino. Mere coincidence? Anne Hathaway photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Anne Hathaway & Golden Globes’ snafu

As we all know, Kate Winslet topped the 2009 Golden Globes’ Best Actress – Drama category for Revolutionary Road.

So, what about Anne Hathaway’s “winner’s star”?

Earlier this month, rumors abounded that the Rachel Getting Married star would definitely be this year’s Best Actress – Drama Golden Globe winner after a technical snafu resulted in her name getting a “winner’s star” next to it on the Golden Globes’ site on the very day she shared the Best Actress Critics’ Choice Award with Meryl Streep (for Doubt).

At the time, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association issued the following statement:

“In the process of preparing for Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards, a technician working on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s website made a mistake and a name of a nominee was randomly marked as a winner. The mistake was immediately corrected.

“The ballots are tabulated by the accounting firm of Ernst & Young LLP. Only four executives of the accounting firm know the identity of the winners before the envelopes are opened and recipients are announced during the live telecast. No one else, including the members of the HFPA, knows who the winners are prior to the live announcement.”

Golden Globes presenters

Below is a partial list of presenters at the 2009 Golden Globes. Further below are a series of images from this year’s ceremony and further down is the list of winners and nominees.

Zac Efron. Jessica Lange. Sigourney Weaver. Emma Thompson. Susan Sarandon. Dustin Hoffman.

Chris Pine. Jake Gyllenhaal. Eva Mendes. Jane Krakowski. Glenn Close. Sandra Bullock. Demi Moore.

Amy Adams and husband Darren Le Gallo. A Best Supporting Actress nominee for Doubt, Amy Adams lost to Kate Winslet for – her lead role in – The Reader. Last year, Adams was a Best Actress – Comedy or Musical nominee for Enchanted. She lost to Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose. Amy Adams and husband Darren Le Gallo photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Anna Paquin. A two-time Golden Globe loser in the Best Supporting Actress categories (Motion Picture, The Piano, 1993; Television, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, 2007), former child actress Anna Paquin was named this year’s Best Actress in a Drama Series for True Blood. Anna Paquin photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Steven Spielberg. After missing out on his Cecil B. DeMille Award at last year’s non-ceremony, Steven Spielberg finally got a chance to hold his statuette at this year’s star-studded party. Among the Jaws and Schindler’s List filmmaker’s predecessors are: Judy Garland, Gregory Peck, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Laurence Olivier, Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Stanwyck, Doris Day, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Redford, and Shirley MacLaine. Steven Spielberg photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Susan Sarandon and Amy Adams. Enchanted co-stars Susan Sarandon and Amy Adams were both nominated for the 2009 Golden Globes. As mentioned above, Adams was a Best Supporting Actress contender for Doubt. Sarandon was in the running for Bob Balaban’s TV movie Bernard and Doris. Susan Sarandon and Amy Adams photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Clint Eastwood and Glenn Close. A three-time Best Director Golden Globe winner (Bird, 1988; Unforgiven, 1992; Million Dollar Baby, 2004), Clint Eastwood was a Golden Globe double loser (in the music categories) at this year’s ceremony. A two-time Golden Globe winner (in the TV categories: for the movie The Lion in Winter, 2004; for the drama series Damages, 2007), Glenn Close was neither a winner nor a loser, but a presenter. Clint Eastwood and Glenn Close photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (plus Dustin Hoffman in the background). Hollywood superstars and power couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were both shortlisted for this year’s Golden Globes in the Motion Picture categories: Pitt for David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; Jolie for Clint Eastwood’s Changeling. Neither one won. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise (and Jay-Z? If so, minus Beyoncé). Hollywood superstars Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road) and Tom Cruise (Tropic Thunder) were both in the running for this year’s Golden Globes. But Heath Ledger was the only winner associated with a blockbuster, The Dark Knight. The film’s director, Christopher Nolan, told the crowd, “After Heath passed, you saw a hole ripped in the future of cinema.” Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Cruise (and Jay-Z?) photo: © HFPA / Hollywood Foreign Press Association / 66th Golden Globe® Awards.

Golden Globes: Winners and nominations

Motion Pictures

Best Motion Picture Drama
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Frost/Nixon.
The Reader.
Revolutionary Road.
* Slumdog Millionaire.

Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Burn After Reading.
In Bruges.
Happy-Go-Lucky.
Mamma Mia!.
* Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Best Foreign Language Film
The Baader Meinhof Complex, Germany.
Everlasting Moments, Sweden/Denmark.
Gomorrah, Italy.
I’ve Loved You So Long, France.
* Waltz with Bashir, Israel.

Best Director
* Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire.
Steven Daldry – The Reader.
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon.
Sam Mendes – Revolutionary Road.

Best Actress – Drama
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married.
Angelina Jolie, Changeling.
Meryl Streep, Doubt.
Kristin Scott Thomas, I’ve Loved You So Long.
* Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road.

Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
Rebecca Hall – Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
* Sally Hawkins – Happy-Go-Lucky.
Frances McDormand – Burn After Reading.
Meryl Streep – Mamma Mia!.
Emma Thompson – Last Chance Harvey.

Best Actor – Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road.
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon.
Sean Penn, Milk.
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
* Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.

Best Actor – Musical or Comedy
Javier Bardem – Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
* Colin Farrell – In Bruges.
James Franco – Pineapple Express.
Brendan Gleeson – In Bruges.
Dustin Hoffman – Last Chance Harvey.

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – Doubt.
Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Viola Davis – Doubt.
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler.
* Kate Winslet – The Reader.

Best Supporting Actor
Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder.
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder.
Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess.
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt.
* Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight.

Best Screenplay
* Simon Beaufoy – Slumdog Millionaire.
David Hare – The Reader.
Peter Morgan – Frost/Nixon.
Eric Roth – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
John Patrick Shanley – Doubt.

Best Original Score
Alexandre Desplat – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Clint Eastwood – Changeling.
John Newton Howard – Defiance.
* A.R. Rahman – Slumdog Millionaire.
Hans Zimmer – Frost/Nixon.

Best Animated Film
Bolt.
Kung Fu Panda.
* WALL-E.

Best Original Song
“Down to Earth” – WALL-E – Music: Peter Gabriel & Thomas Newman; Lyrics: Peter Gabriel.
“Gran Torino” – Gran Torino – Music: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens; Lyrics: Kyle Eastwood & Michael Stevens.
“I Thought I Lost You” – Bolt – Music & Lyrics: Miley Cyrus & Jeffrey Steele.
“Once in a Lifetime” – Cadillac Records – Music & Lyrics: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street.
* “The Wrestler” – The Wrestler – Music & Lyrics: Bruce Springsteen.

Cecil B. DeMille Award: Steven Spielberg.

Television

Best Miniseries/TV Movie
A Raisin in the Sun.
Bernard and Doris.
Cranford.
* John Adams.
Recount.

Best Actress in a Miniseries/TV Movie
Judi Dench – Cranford.
Catherine Keener – An American Crime.
* Laura Linney – John Adams.
Shirley MacLaine – Coco Chanel.
Susan Sarandon – Bernard and Doris.

Best Actor in a Miniseries/TV Movie
Ralph Fiennes – Bernard and Doris.
* Paul Giamatti – John Adams.
Kevin Spacey – Recount.
Kiefer Sutherland – 24: Redemption.
Tom Wilkinson – Recount.

Best Series Drama
Dexter.
House.
In Treatment.
* Mad Men.
True Blood.

Best Series Comedy or Musical
* 30 Rock.
Californication.
Entourage.
The Office.
Weeds.

Best Actress – Drama Series
Sally Field, Brothers and Sisters.
Mariska Hargitay, Law and Order: Special Victims.
January Jones, Mad Men.
* Anna Paquin, True Blood.
Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer.

Best Actor – Drama Series
* Gabriel Byrne – In Treatment.
Michael Hall – Dexter.
Jon Hamm – Mad Men.
Hugh Laurie – House.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers – The Tudors.

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical Series
Christina Applegate – Samantha Who?.
America Ferrera – Ugly Betty.
* Tina Fey – 30 Rock.
Debra Messing – The Starter Wife.
Mary-Louise Parker – Weeds.

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical Series
* Alec Baldwin – 30 Rock.
Steve Carell – The Office.
Kevin Connolly – Entourage.
David Duchovny – Californication.
Tony Shalhoub – Monk.

Best Supporting Actress (TV)
Eileen Atkins – Cranford.
* Laura Dern – Recount.
Melissa George – In Treatment.
Rachel Griffiths – Brothers and Sisters.
Dianne Wiest – In Treatment.

Best Supporting Actor (TV)
Neil Patrick Harris – How I Met Your Mother.
Denis Leary – Recount.
Jeremy Piven – Entourage.
Blair Underwood – In Treatment.
* Tom Wilkinson – John Adams.

Golden Globes website.

“Beyoncé & Jay-Z + Tom Cruise & Biggest Loser Meryl Streep: Eclectic Golden Globes” last updated in March 2019.