http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/14/movies/awardsseason/14glob.html?bl&ex=1200459600&en=32a0d28a5423134e&ei=5087%0ABEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Amid the barest hint of star power at a Golden Globes ceremony derailed by striking screenwriters, “Atonement” captured the award for best drama and “Sweeney Todd” won for best musical or comedy on Sunday.
Daniel Day-Lewis won for best actor in a drama, giving a lift to “There Will Be Blood,” and Javier Bardem took best supporting actor for “No Country for Old Men.” While Johnny Depp walked off with a best-actor award for his lead role in “Sweeney Todd,” the awards were spread so evenly that it was difficult to assign anyone the role of overall winner.
Instead of tablefuls of stars at a rollicking, banquet-style ceremony, this year’s Golden Globes were a stripped-down affair modeled on a news conference. Presenters included Mary Hart of “Entertainment Tonight,” Brooke Anderson of “Showbiz Tonight” on Headline News, Dayna Devon of “Extra” and Jim Moret of “Inside Edition,” and the announcements were carried live on E! Entertainment Television and TV Guide Network. Meanwhile, NBC was slightly out of sync with its telecast of the live proceedings, using a more processed show with the hosts Billy Bush and Nancy O’Dell of “Access Hollywood” to intertwine chatter with announcements that had actually occurred a few minutes before.
The Golden Globes are bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a nonprofit organization of fewer than 100 international entertainment writers. Though not deeply meaningful, the awards function as a much-watched marker on the road to the Oscars, assuming that next month’s Academy Awards ceremony can avoid the sort of meltdown that all but consumed the Globes.
Many of the nominees did not even bother to stay in town. Scott Rudin, a producer of “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood,” flew back to New York at midnight on Saturday. Mr. Day-Lewis took a flight to London on Sunday, while David Cronenberg, director of “Eastern Promises,” planned to be on a flight to Toronto as the winners were announced.
Before the announcements, hundreds of journalists milled about, chatting, and sometimes interviewing one another, partly because even though the big show was canceled, the impulse to cover something, anything, was still there. There was so little in the way of celebrity to work with for the hundreds of entertainment reporters that when Ms. Hart of “Entertainment Tonight” entered the room, she was almost knocked down by the swarm of photographers who stormed toward her.
congrats to the winners. but i tried watch it, but i didn't last 5 minutes. it was so boring with just the winners being announced.
maybe next year things will get back to normal.
-dan
