From the opening monologue to the night’s big winners to the celebrity couple that set tongues wagging, here’s what you need to know
By Helena Andrews-Dyer, Sonia Rao, Emily Yahr, Shane O’Neill and Jada Yuan
January 8, 2024
From left, “Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos, with actors Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)
The presenting couple we didn’t know we needed
The Golden Globes, held Sunday night at the Beverly Hilton, marked the first major awards show since the end of the Hollywood strikes, and A-listers showed up in droves. Host Jo Koy spent a good chunk of his opening monologue praising nominee Meryl Streep. Angela Bassett presented the first award. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon handed best director to Christopher Nolan, who began his speech by expressing gratitude for star Robert Downey Jr., who won earlier in the night.
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The television wins kept it in the family: HBO’s “Succession” landed best drama series, in addition to wins for cast members Kieran Culkin, Matthew Macfadyen and Sarah Snook. FX’s “The Bear” triumphed in comedy, as did stars Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White. Actors Ali Wong and Steven Yeun won for Netflix’s “Beef,” which was deemed best limited series.
‘Succession,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ dominate the Golden Globes
TV and movie hits like “Succession,” “The Bear” and “Oppenheimer” collected multiple trophies at the 81st Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 7. (Video: Allie Caren/The Washington Post)
Over in film, “Poor Things” followed Emma Stone’s acting win by landing best comedy — sorry, “Barbie”! — while “Oppenheimer” was a more predictable victory in drama after Downey’s and Nolan’s victories. Buzzy Oscar probables Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) each won, too, but there were still some surprises among the film categories. “The Holdovers” star Da’Vine Joy Randolph beat the likes of Jodie Foster and Julianne Moore for best female actor in a supporting role, while “Anatomy of a Fall” bested “Barbie,” “Poor Things” and other front-runners for best screenplay. The French thriller, directed and co-written by Justine Triet, also won best international feature.
Jo Koy’s rough monologue
Hosting any awards show is a thankless task — and a virtual guarantee that you will be roasted on social media — so it’s not surprising that the Globes couldn’t find a host until about two weeks before the show. Comedian Jo Koy expressed gratitude for landing the gig, but then quickly threw his writers under the bus when some of his jokes didn’t land.
“I got the gig 10 days ago, you want a perfect monologue? Shut up!” Koy said, after a mixed response to a jab about “Barbie.” (“The key moment in ‘Barbie’ is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite and flat feet — or what casting directors call ‘characters actors.’”)
“You’re kidding me right?” Koy continued. “I wrote some of these, and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”
On social media, the audience was not impressed by his digs about weight-loss drug Ozempic (“’The Color Purple’ is also what happens to your butt when you take Ozempic”), or Koy’s comparison about how “Oppenheimer” was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book while “Barbie” was based on “a plastic doll with big boobies.” Koy blamed his writers again when he said that Imelda Staunton’s portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II was so good in “The Crown” that “Prince Harry called her and asked for money.”
‘Oppenheimer’ is primed for a big awards season
Cillian Murphy accepts the award for best performance by a male actor in a motion picture drama for his role in “Oppenheimer.” (Sonja Flemming/AP)
With wins for director Christopher Nolan, composer Ludwig Göransson and actors Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., “Oppenheimer” was all but assured to win best drama — and it did, of course. The epic film about the creation of the atomic bomb might have been bested at the box office by its “Barbenheimer” counterpart, “Barbie,” but fared far better at the Globes (where Barbie only won in music and box-office categories). This was Nolan’s first Globe triumph, despite having been nominated several times before. Could this be his year to win an Oscar?
‘Beef’ had a great night
“Beef” — about a road rage incident that changes two people’s lives — was one of those Netflix shows that everyone was talking about for a few weeks back in the spring. But the buzz carried through Globes voting, as Steven Yeun and Ali Wong won best male and female actor, respectively, in a limited series, anthology series or a motion picture made for TV.
“You know, our show is actually based on a real road-rage incident that actually happened to me, so I would be remiss not to thank that driver,” creator Lee Sung Jin said as he accepted the prize for best limited series, anthology or motion picture made for TV. “Sir, I hope you honk and yell and inspire others for years to come.”
‘Succession’ took a victory lap
From left, Matthew Macfadyen, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin scored awards in what was a big night for “Succession, “which also won best TV drama. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)
For its final season, “Succession” took home three out of four acting awards and the prize for best television series, drama. But the best part of those wins (even better than seeing Cousin Greg, a.k.a. Nicholas Braun, towering a full head above series creator Jesse Armstrong) was the showdown in the acting categories, which played out like an extra episode of “Succession.” Sarah Snook got to take the lead female actor prize without having to compete against any of the men in her life, which seems like a fitting end for Shiv Roy. Matthew Macfadyen defeated Alexander Skarsgard and Alan Ruck in male actor in a supporting role, just as Tom came out on top in the series.
The most shocking moment, though, was when Kieran Culkin won male actor in a leading role against his TV father Brian Cox and TV brother Jeremy Strong. It had been a power move when Culkin entered his name in lead rather than supporting, but it was also a completely unhinged Roman Roy move — and it totally worked. Even in the world of the Globes, there are two truths: 1) Kendall Roy will be outmaneuvered, and 2) no matter how many “Succession” actors are nominated in a category, someone from “Succession” will win.
‘Barbie’ got the new award
“Barbie” won the first Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement. Or maybe more significantly: Taylor Swift did not. The category was created this year to honor films based on both their artistic and financial successes. It’s a sort of kissing cousin to the Oscar introduced in 2018 for “outstanding achievement in popular film.” Swifties were hoping “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” might prevail, especially considering that it already has become the highest-grossing concert film of all time. But it proved no match for the commercial and cultural behemoth that was Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”
One of the only moments of scripted banter that worked? A segment that reminded everyone that we should be grateful for writers — courtesy of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” co-stars Daniel Kaluuya, Hailee Steinfeld and Shameik Moore, who presented best screenplay.
“To demonstrate the importance of writers and writing, we asked that this segment be written not by writers, but by studio executives,” Kaluuya said, pausing to clear his throat: “What is up, Shameik?”
“Not much, Daniel. How are you, Hailee?” Moore replied.
“I am relatable. I am enjoy the Golden Globs,” Steinfeld said cheerfully.
“We are here with my fellow actors for the awards show that we are having together to present the category of the writing,” Kaluuya said.
“Screenplays are for writing and to make actors say words for the audience,” Steinfeld said, and the joke went on just long enough.
Lily Gladstone’s acceptance speech
Lily Gladstone won best performance by a female actor in a motion picture drama for her role in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.” She began her acceptance speech in the Blackfeet language, before lamenting in English that she didn’t speak the Blackfeet language with greater fluency. Gladstone also called out the Hollywood practice of faking Native language in movies by running the recordings of actors delivering their lines in English backward. “This is for every little rez kid,” she said at the end of her speech, dedicating her win to “every little Native kid out there who has a dream.”
Ayo Edebiri’s shout-out to assistants
Ayo Edebiri won best performance by a female actor in a television series musical or comedy for “The Bear.” (Rich Polk/Golden Globes 2024/Getty Images)
Celebrity speeches can be pretty predictable, but “The Bear” star offered a twist while onstage accepting the award for performance by a female actor in a television series (musical or comedy).
“There are so many people I probably forgot to thank. Oh my God, all of my agents and managers … assistants! To the people who answer my emails,” Ayo Edebiri said to a huge cheer from the audience. Taylor Swift nodded vigorously in agreement. “Y’all are real ones. Thank you for answering my crazy, crazy emails. I’m really, really grateful.”
References to the HFPA, which no longer exists
“I would like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press” has been a standby line in Golden Globe acceptance speeches for 80 years. But the thing is, the HFPA, the nonprofit organization that used to administer the Golden Globes, no longer exists. After years of turmoil, the awards show was sold to Dick Clark Productions last June. A provision of the sale was that the HFPA would be dissolved. Now the awards are voted on by a diverse body of nearly 300 journalists from around the world.
But thanking the HFPA (which, again, does not exist anymore) is like a nervous tick. At Sunday night’s awards, Edebiri began her speech by saying she was “so grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press.” And composer Ludwig Göransson made sure to say “thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association” in his acceptance speech for best original score. Guys, there’s no one there to thank.
The presenting couple we didn’t know we needed
Let singer Andra Day and composer Jon Batiste present all the awards, please. The duo had the most chemistry of all the night’s presenters, who too often seemed dragged down by stiff teleprompter dialogue. (Here’s looking at you, Ben and Matt.) Day kicked it off with a riff on why awards shows go into overtime that was much funnier than it had a right to be. “It’s these category names,” said Day.
Batiste laid on his syrupy New Orleans accent, “Oh my goodness, them thangs be so long, bruh.” Day countered by rewriting best original score in awards-show-speak to “best performance by a musical note prepared by a musician to illicit feelings.” Batiste’s laugh seemed genuine. And the pair only got funnier rattling off the nominees and bantering back forth about video game music. Batiste even hit the crowd with the old-school Super Mario Bros. tune. “Yeah, that’s fire,” he said. The two were on fire.
Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet
Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet only recently started making their romance extremely public after months of tabloid rumors, and it’s safe to say that the Globes were thrilled to welcome them in the audience.
