Glitz and Glory
'Slumdog,' Hollywood Have Their Day As Awards Season Kicks Into High Gear

By Lisa de Moraes
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 12, 2009

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Jan. 11

After last year's lamest-ever writers'-strike-induced Golden Globes Awards News Conference, even economic catastrophe couldn't squash the excitement of Hollywood A-listers -- their beloved Globes party was back!

Now, more than ever, the huddled masses needed the four-hour-if-you-include-the-red-carpet escape from their unemployment-plagued little lives, to be dazzled by all the tuxedos and five-figure evening gowns, the diamond chandelier (women) and ruby and diamond hoop (men) earrings.

"I think everyone's being fairly conservative -- they didn't buy these diamonds, they borrowed them," Leslie David Baker, a.k.a. Stanley on "The Office," told reporters straining over barriers to talk to celebrities on the red carpet.

"I made this out of my mother's old dress," offered Ricky Gervais about his tuxedo, in keeping with the we-know-people-are-hurting tone of the proceedings.

But, with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. estimating that killing last year's Globes ceremony took $80 million out of the pockets of hoteliers, caterers, makeup artists, hairstylists, paparazzi, limo drivers and Spanxx retailers, it would have been fiscally irresponsible of Hollywood not to party-hearty this year at the silliest of all trophy shows.

"I agree totally," Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Dan Glickman said from the red carpet, noting that watching the Globes was "cheaper than a psychiatrist."

"People need a note of optimism in their lives," he continued. "People need escape. . . . As long as it's done in good taste -- they don't expect dour, ugly people on the red carpet."

The Golden Globes: Yes We Can!

The glam, the glitz, the cleavage -- all here, all broadcast exclusively on NBC, which has kissed and made up with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association -- that compendium of 90-ish foreign hacks who mostly freelance for publications you've never heard of and yet, brilliantly, have created the sine qua non of trophy shows, mostly through liberal application of liquor both before and during the ceremony.

"This recession is affecting everyone -- Victoria Beckham hasn't eaten in three weeks," Sacha Baron Cohen noted before announcing Woody Allen's "Vicky Christina Barcelona" the surprise Globe winner for best motion picture musical or comedy.

"Charlie Sheen has been forced to have sex without paying for it, and even Madonna has had to get rid of one of her personal assistants -- our thoughts go out to you, Guy Ritchie."

"Your mad, pulsating affection for our film is deeply appreciated," said "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle of the movie's four wins at the trophy-spewing ceremony, including best director, best dramatic movie, best screenplay and best original score.

"I told you, do a Holocaust movie -- the awards will come!" presenter Ricky Gervais told Kate Winslet after she finally won a trophy: this one for best supporting actress in a motion picture, for playing a German woman with a hidden past in "The Reader."

"The problem with Holocaust movies -- there's never any gag reel on the DVD."

It was the first of two Globes for Winslet; she was also named best motion picture actress for "Revolutionary Road," in which she was reunited with Leonardo DiCaprio.

"I'm so happy I can stand here and tell you how much I've loved you for 13 years," Winslet sobbed at DiCaprio, seated in the audience.

"The English actress stole my crying bit," Matt Weiner whined when his AMC series "Mad Men" was named the year's best TV drama series. Backstage, Weiner told reporters there has been "no movement" on his negotiations to return to the series -- he wants $10 million a year, and the studio and network are balking. "I have every intention of going back to the show; I'm hoping it works out," he said. "It's my child, so I'm very close to it."

"I want to thank all my dogs -- sometimes when a man is alone, all you got are your dogs. . . . They meant the world to me," Mickey Rourke, star of "The Wrestler," mumbled when he was named the year's best movie actor in a drama.

Perennial trophy winner Jeremy Piven, of HBO's "Entourage," had dragged himself from his mercury-poisoned Broadway deathbed to attend this year's Globes, and then got edged out in the race for best actor in a TV series, miniseries or TV movie by Tom Wilkinson of HBO's "John Adams."

"I'm so unbelievably grateful to be here," Piven told football great-turned-"Access Hollywood" correspondent Tiki Barber on the red carpet before the trophy dispensing got underway. "I don't know if they've ever taken you out of a game -- I could have gone against doctors' orders but I didn't."

"If they told me I couldn't play, I would have jumped back in," Barber responded.

Ouch!

"John Adams" and its network, HBO, dominated the TV wins at the Globes, taking seven of the 11 categories. Apropos of nothing, producer Tom Hanks, speaking to the press backstage after the project was named the season's best miniseries, was asked why he thought Proposition 8, banning gay marriage, had passed in the state of California.

"I hope it is reversed -- I think it's anti-American," Hanks said. It passed, he said, "because in any given election in the state of California, you could put commercials on the air and convince anyone of anything for a while. . . . But we're America, and we're going to do the right thing. I wish you could get married to whoever you want to get married to, because love is love."

"John Adams" leads Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti snagged the best miniseries acting wins. "It seemed like there were thousands of people who saved my ass every minute of every day," Giamatti said of the gig.

"I will cherish this as a reminder of the extraordinary, incredible outpouring of people who demanded their voice be heard in the last election so we can look forward to amazing change in this country," Laura Dern said when she picked up her best supporting actress Globe for playing the most famous Florida secretary of state ever in HBO's "Recount."

Among HBO's other wins: Anna Paquin, picked best TV drama actress as the waitress with a thing for vampires in "True Blood," and Gabriel Byrne as a therapist "In Treatment."

"I'll try and get through as much as my voice and nerves and knees will let me," said "Happy-Go-Lucky" star Sally Hawkins, a relatively unknown British actress and newcomer to Hollywood's trophy circuit, as she stumbled badly in referencing the "exceptionally phenomenal goddesses" she'd beat out for best actress in a motion picture musical or comedy, including odds-on fave Meryl Streep.

In a foregone conclusion, the late Heath Ledger was named best supporting actor in a motion picture for his final performance, "The Dark Knight," and got the traditional dead man's standing ovation.

"In case Heath won," presenter Demi Moore explained, they had prepared a brief scene of his performance, and director Chris Nolan gave the obligatory "awful mixture of sadness but incredible pride, eternally missed, never forgotten" speech.

"Thank you Tina, thank you Tina, thank you Tina," Alec Baldwin said to Tina Fey when he picked up his second Globe in three years for playing a nitwit NBC exec on "30 Rock."

It was the first of three Globes bestowed on the best sitcom no one's watching.

"30 Rock" was also named best comedy series, and though the presenter said Fey would accept, co-star Tracy Morgan took the mike:

"Tina Fey and I agreed if Barack Obama won, I would speak for the show from now on!" enthused Morgan, who is African American.

"Welcome to post-racial America!"

"I've always loved the Hollywood Foreign Press Association -- as a kid I had all the Hollywood Foreign Press Association action figures," Fey said when she finally got her at-bat after being named best sitcom actress.

"I really know how very lucky I am to have the year that I've had this year, and if you ever start to feel too good about yourself, they have this thing called the Internet. You can find a lot of people there who don't like you. I'd like to address some of them now: 'You can suck it.' "

Last year, the Globes got snuffed when the striking Writers Guild of America refused to let its union members work on the show and actors boycotted rather than cross a threatened picket line.

No red carpet, no screaming fans, no acceptance speeches. Instead, six lousy infotainers from celebrity suck-up shows, who took turns ripping open the envelopes, reading the names of winners, and adding stunningly insightful comments like: "It just feels so different," "I never thought I'd be up here in a million years" and "Next year, I hope it is really different."