Matthew Morrison + Tobey Maguire: Golden Globes

Julianne Moore (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Four-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore was in the running for a best supporting actress Golden Globe for her performance in A Single Man, Tom Ford’s drama starring Venice Film Festival best actor winner Colin Firth. In the film, Firth plays a gay college professor in 1960s Los Angeles, where he must deal with the unexpected death of his lover (Matthew Goode). Moore plays a married friend who is attracted to the professor.

Tobey Maguire recently made entertainment headlines following his announcement that he’ll not return for Spider-Man 4. Rumored replacements have ranged from Michael Cera and Chace Crawford to Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron. Maguire was nominated for a best actor (drama) Golden Globe for Brothers, in which he co-stars with Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman. Brothers failed to create much of a stir at the box office, so Maguire’s nomination was kind of a surprise. His Spider-Man credits probably helped.

Glee‘s Matthew Morrison was up for a Golden Globe in the best actor in a television series (musical or comedy). He lost to Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock. Too bad, really. Morrison, who is excellent in Glee, should have won.

Tobey Maguire, Jennifer Meyers (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Matthew Morrison (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Jessica Lange (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Veteran Jessica Lange was one of the nominees in the best actress in a television movie or miniseries category for her performance in Grey Gardens. Lange’s co-star, Drew Barrymore, was the winner. In addition to two Oscars – best supporting actress for Tootsie (1982), best actress for Blue Sky (1994) – Lange has been nominated for 11 Golden Globes. She has won four times, including for best debut: King Kong (1976).

Drew Barrymore had been nominated twice before for Golden Globes. In addition to being the little girl in E.T., Barrymore comes from a line of respected stage and screen personalities: John Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, and Lionel Barrymore. None of the three elder Barrymores ever won a Globe – John died before the first Golden Globes were given out – but Ethel earned a supporting actress Oscar for None But the Lonely Heart (1944) while Lionel won a best actor Academy Award for A Free Soul (1931).

Diane Kruger wasn’t up for a Golden Globe, but her film Inglourious Basterds was. However, she’s in the running for a best supporting actress SAG Award.

Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson, (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Julia Roberts (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Julia Roberts, who had been nominated as best actress (comedy or musical) for Duplicity, handed out the best picture (drama) award. James Cameron’s science-fiction adventure Avatar was the winner. Roberts will be next seen in Garry Marshall’s Valentine’s Day, which features an array of stars, including Taylor Lautner, Shirley MacLaine, Kathy Bates, Topher Grace, Jessica Biel, Patrick Dempsey, Eric Dane, Anne Hathaway, and Queen Latifah. The film opens in the US on Feb. 12.

Following that, Roberts co-stars with James Franco, Javier Bardem, and Billy Crudup in Ryan Murphy’s drama Eat, Pray, Love. In the film, Roberts plays a recently divorced woman who goes on a world tour. Richard Jenkins and Viola Davis are also in the cast.

For many, the highlight of the Golden Globes ceremony was Robert Downey Jr’s speech, in which he pretended not to thank anyone for being there on the podium holding his best actor (comedy or musical) Globe for Sherlock Holmes.

Ricky Gervais, on the other hand, didn’t get very good grades from The Wrap‘s Naomi Serviss. In her piece, “More Like: Leaden Globes,” Serviss lambasted Gervais because he “mercilessly plugged his poorly reviewed, soon-to-be-released-DVD, The Invention of Lying, jabbed at Steve Carrell’s [sic] bad imitation of Gervais’ original character from The Office and was unbearably boring when he could have been explosively funny.”

Best quote from Serviss’ piece: “By the way, thanks heaps to Cameron for letting us know about your ‘need to pee’ as you accepted the statue. What is he, 8?”

Chloe Sevigny (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Chloe Sevigny was the hard-luck story of the evening. Well, sorta. One of the presenters stepped on her dress shortly after the stepped onto the podium. She looked none too pleased, even though she had just won the best supporting actress in a television movie, miniseries, or series, for her role as a Mormon wife (one of Bill Paxton’s three or so) in Big Love. This was Sevigny’s first Golden Globe win, though she’d been nominated before, for the 1999 drama Boys Don’t Cry, in which she plays Hilary Swank’s lover, and for which she also earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination.

Christoph Waltz’s win was as expected as the rainy weather in Los Angeles earlier this evening. His mean, multilingual Nazi in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds has earned him numerous accolades from US film critics, in addition to a best actor Cannes win last spring. In addition to his role in The Green Hornet, Waltz will soon be playing Sigmund Freud in The Talking Cure, to be directed by David Cronenberg from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton. Keira Knightley and Michael Fassbender have been announced as his co-stars.

In his acceptance speech, Waltz thanked Tarantino for his “gravitational pull,” and went on making several analogies between the making of Inglourious Basterds and celestial bodies and constellations. The 53-year-old Vienna-born actor has appeared in nearly 100 features and TV productions since 1977, but only now has he become an international name.

Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio presented Martin Scorsese with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement. During his acceptance speech, Scorsese thanked filmmakers who had come before him, from Akira Kurosawa and Ingmar Bergman to DeMille himself. He then proceeded to explain who DeMille was, and compared his desire to make movies to DeMille’s – though he did admit that GoodFellas and The Greatest Show on Earth don’t have that much in common.

Scorsese also thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their contributions to film preservation, including the restoration of classics such as Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory and Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd. More recently, Scorsese himself has been passionately involved in the restoration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 color drama/musical The Red Shoes, one of a number of post-World War II British movies to find favor among American critics and audiences. Michael Powell was the husband of Scorsese frequent collaborator, editor Thelma Schoonmaker.

Scorsese’s next effort, Shutter Island, starring DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Michelle Williams, Mark Ruffalo, and Max von Sydow, will premiere at the Berlin Film Festival next month. The mystery thriller opens in the US on Feb. 19.

Mo’Nique, Nicole Kidman (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Much like Christoph Waltz’s, Mo’Nique’s best supporting actress Golden Globe win for playing Gabourey Sidibe’s mean mother in Precious was totally expected. Drew Barrymore, who won a Globe for best actress in a TV movie or miniseries for Grey Gardens, said in her acceptance speech that Mo’Nique’s statements were both inspirational and a tough act to follow. Mo’Nique dedicated her award to sexual abuse victims, and was one of many who publicly expressed their love for their respective companions, husbands, wives, and other significant others.

Wearing a skullcap, Michael C. Hall was present to accept his award for best actor in a TV series (drama) for Dexter. Hall has undergone cancer treatment; according to the reports, the cancer is in full remission. Robert Downey Jr, for his part, thanked numerous people who helped him out during difficult times in the past.

Downey’s Sherlock Holmes has been a major hit this winter. Only James Cameron’s Avatar has done better business in the last several weeks. Downey’s will next be seen in Iron Man 2, one of the most anticipated sequels to come out this year.

James Cameron, who received his best director Golden Globe from neighbor Mel Gibson, said he expected his former wife Kathryn Bigelow to be the winner. Bigelow probably expected that herself, and so did most everyone else. Just on Friday night, Bigelow came out victorious at the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s Critics’ Choice Awards, and she has been winning best director awards just about everywhere you look. But her film, the Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker, grossed less than $15 million at the US box office. Avatar has grossed nearly $500 million.

In the picture above, Cameron is accepting the best picture (drama) Golden Globe for Avatar. By then, there was no longer any suspense as to what movie was going to win the evening’s top award. Julia Roberts, who had been nominated in the best actress (comedy or musical) category for the box office disappointment Duplicity, announced the winner.

Best original score and original song presenter Cher (below, with Christina Aguilera), mangled the name of best score winner Michael Giacchino (for Up), calling him “Michael Giancino,” while Felicity Huffman, of both Desperate Housewives and Transamerica, made a funny mess of her Hollywood Foreign Press Association announcement. “This was not at all how it was gonna go,” she exclaimed at one point, before telling the audience and the millions of television viewers that the HFPA has donated “$10 million to film-related charities.”

Something else that seemed a little messed up was the introduction of screen legend Sophia Loren to the tune of “Three Coins in the Fountain,” the theme song from a 1954 romantic comedy-drama of the same title. Though set in Rome, Three Coins in the Fountain doesn’t feature Loren anywhere.

Christoph Waltz received his best supporting actor Golden Globe (for his Nazi in Inglourious Basterds) from Halle Berry. Waltz has been a favorite for the Academy Awards since early December, when he began getting numerous mentions from critics’ groups. Previously, Waltz had won the best actor award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. He’ll next be seen in The Green Hornet, directed by Michel Gondry, and starring Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz. Edward Furlong is also making his comeback in that one.

The new television series Glee was the expected winner in the comedy category. The cast includes Matthew Morrison, Jayma Mays, Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Idina Menzel, Heather Morris, and Amber Riley. Mad Men was the best series (drama). 30 Rock star, Alec Baldwin, won the best actor (comedy or musical) award. Baldwin, however, wasn’t at the ceremony.

Mickey Rourke was there to hand out the best actress (drama) award, which went to Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. Kate Winslet gave out the best actor (drama) award to Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart.

“Before Sunday night’s Golden Globes ceremony, host Ricky Gervais was promising a gloves-off performance,” writes Brian Logan in The Guardian. ‘There were about five things [the producers] didn’t like in rehearsal,’ he boasted. ‘I said I wouldn’t do them – but I’m going to. It’s live. They can’t stop me.’ By his words so must we judge him. Was this the no-holds-barred comic performance he told us to expect?”

Logan doesn’t quite think so, complaining that Gervais’ “trademark self­regard [is] wearing very thin. And so too here, where egotistical material about The Office – and, worse, his penis – made a duff start. When will he learn that his spoof self-absorption is as obnoxious as the real thing?”

The Hollywood Reporter, for its part, called Gervais’ performance “toothless,” despite remarks such as “one thing that can’t be bought is a Golden Globe. Officially. I’m not going to do this again, anyway.” Gervais then added that if you were to buy a Globe, the man to contact would be Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Brian Logan adds that Gervais did “pull some punches,” e.g., “joking about Mel Gibson’s drinking is one thing – but off the leash, Gervais would surely make hay with Gibson’s anti-Semitism too.” Julianna Margulies, for her part, didn’t make any cracks about drinking or anti-Semitism, opting instead to thank CBS for believing in the “ten o’clock drama.” Margulies won the best actress in a television series (drama) Golden Globe for The Good Wife.

Sandra Bullock (Golden Globe Awards / © HFPA)

Sandra Bullock spoke English and German during her somewhat long-winded acceptance speech. (The orchestra actually dared to remind the top box office star in the United States to wrap things up quick.) This year, Bullock received two Golden Globe nominations, both for major box office hits: The Blind Side, a drama in which she goes blonde, and The Proposal, a comedy in which she co-stars with Ryan Reynolds. She won for the former; she lost to Meryl Streep (for Julie & Julia) in the latter category. Both Bullock and Streep can now be considered the two top Oscar contenders come next March – even though the nominations haven’t even been announced.

As usual, movies that did (or are still doing) well at the North American box office did quite well at the Golden Globes, too. The blockbuster Avatar wasn’t even nominated for best screenplay and none of its actors were nominated in the various categories, but the film still managed to win the best picture prize. The blockbuster comedy The Hangover didn’t get a matching best director or best screenplay nomination, and none of its actors were nominated, but it went on to win the best picture (comedy or musical) Globe.

At this year’s ceremony, the only movie that hasn’t become a major box office hit to win Golden Globes was Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart, which earned Jeff Bridges a best actor (drama) Globe and a best song (“The Weary Kind”) Globe for composers T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham. The Hurt Locker, which has won numerous critics awards across the United States, didn’t win a single Golden Globe. Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq War drama grossed only $12.6 million at the domestic box office.

Best Actress (drama) winner Sandra Bullock got teary-eyed while listening to Meryl Streep’s speech, in which the best actress (comedy or musical) winner remembered her mother’s optimistic nature. Bullock later gave her own emotional speech, and got to speak both German and English while at it. Her performance in The Blind Side has earned her some good reviews, and the film itself has become a major box office hit. So much so that Bullock was voted the top box office star in the United States in 2009. Her other releases last year were the hit The Proposal, with Ryan Reynolds, and the box office disappointment All About Steve, with Bradley Cooper.

Vera Farmiga was in the running in the best supporting actress category for Up in the Air. Jason Reitman’s comedy-drama starring George Clooney won a single award, for best screenplay. Farmiga will next be seen in Henry’s Crime, a comedy directed by Malcolm Venville, and written by Sacha Gervasi and David N. White. Keanu Reeves and James Caan co-star.

During his Golden Globe presentation, Neil Patrick Harris made some joke linking comedies to high foreheads. I didn’t quite get it. Seemed like many in the audience didn’t get it, either, but I could be wrong. Jane Krakowski was his co-presenter. With him on the red carpet is his companion, David Burtka, who’s appeared in a few episodes of Harris’ sitcom How I Met Your Mother.

George Clooney took some time away from his “Hope for Haiti” telethon to show up at the Golden Globes ceremony held Sunday, Jan. 17, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Clooney was up for a best actor (drama) Globe for his role as a corporate-downsizing expert who spends much of his time either in airports or onboard planes in the comedy-drama Up in the Air. His co-stars in the film are Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. His co-star on the red carpet was Italian model and TV personality Elisabetta Canalis.

“Quentin, I’m still waiting for them to say your name. I’m really confused, now,” said best screenplay co-winner Jason Reitman. Reitman, his Up in the Air co-writer Sheldon Turner, and Quentin Tarantino (for Inglourious Basterds) had been in the running in the Golden Globes’ single screenplay category. The Oscars, however, have two. So, Reitman will likely not be confused come Oscar time, as his and Turner’s screenplay is an adaptation of a novel; Tarantino’s is an original.

Also, in his acceptance speech, Reitman thanked his father, director Ivan Reitman, and his star George Clooney, whom he called “one of the greatest men I’ve ever met in my life.”