Traditionally, the Golden Globes and the Oscars have a bit of a rivalry. The Golden Globes, which is known to be the more relaxed of the two (dinner and drinks included!), is seen as a sneak peek of what’s to come at the February Oscar ceremony for many. On the other hand, the Oscars see the Golden Globes as stealing some of their thunder.
But this year, the differences between the two shows seem to be outweighing the similarities.
The Golden Globe Awards — which took place last Sunday — lived up to its reputation as the loosey goosey awards show, with its hosts, presenters and award recipients filling the night with smart, sometimes biting humor about their colleagues.
“When it comes to torture, I trust a lady who spent three years married to James Cameron,” co-host Amy Poehler joked about Zero Dark Thirty director Kathryn Bigelow, getting what was one of the night’s biggest laughs.
Saturday Night Live alumni Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig had the audience in stitches when they presented awards for best actress in a musical or comedy, pretending to have no idea what any of the movies were about.
But on to the winners and loser. … When the Oscars announced their nominations on Thursday, many were surprised to see Argo director Ben Affleck left off the best director list. But Affleck got some redemption on Sunday night, when his film was awarded best film in the drama category at the Globes, and he himself won for best director.
While the Globe and Oscar directing fields tend to match up, this time only Lincoln director Steven Spielberg and Life of Pi director Ang Lee had nominations for both.
Like Affleck, Bigelow, and Quentin Tarantino (for Django Unchained) also only received Globe nods.
Taking up one of the best director nominee spaces at the Oscars is Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke for French film Amour, which actually won the best Globe for best Foreign-language film. (It is nominated for best picture at the Oscars.)
It seems as though the Hollywood Foreign Press (HFPA) — those who vote on the Globes — may have failed at their mission to be Oscar trendsetters . (Note: their final votes were locked in the day before the Oscar nominations came out, so the Affleck situation was purely a lucky coincidence for him.)
But if the HFPA’s secondary goal was to pull off one hell of a fun show… they definitely succeeded there.
Now it’s on to the Oscars to see if they can share some of that lighthearted merriment. We’re thinking that with irreverent Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane hosting, they’re at least giving it a shot.
The Oscars will take place on February 24. A full-list of Golden Globes winners is available here.
