Oppenheimer and Succession have been crowned the big winners at this year’s Golden Globes – with Barbie’s box office domination celebrated too.
In the film categories, Emma Stone‘s Poor Things, Paul Giamatti’s The Holdovers, and the French thriller Anatomy Of A Fall were also successful, while comedy-dramas Beef and The Bear took home big prizes in the TV categories.
This year’s Golden Globes ceremony introduced the first award for cinematic achievement – and with Barbie grossing more than $1.4bn worldwide, there could only be one winner (despite tough competition from Taylor Swift). Star and producer Margot Robbie, dressed in Barbie pink, dedicated the gong to “every single person on the planet who dressed up and went to the greatest place on earth – the movie theatres”.
But the night belonged to Oppenheimer – with five gongs including best dramatic film, best actor for Cillian Murphy and best director for Christopher Nolan – and the final season of Succession, which took home four. The critically acclaimed show’s prizes included acting trophies for Keiran Culkin, Sarah Snook and Matthew Macfadyen, as well as best TV drama series.
Irish actor Murphy was red-nosed as he accepted his award for playing “father of the atomic bomb” J Robert Oppenheimer, arriving on stage and saying: “Oh boy, do I have lipstick all over my nose? I’m just going to leave it.”
He went on to say that working on a Nolan set was “different” and paid tribute to his co-stars and fellow nominees, which included Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan and All Of Us Strangers’ Andrew Scott, saying: “If you’re Irish or not, you’re all legends and I salute you.”
Oppenheimer stars Robert Downey Jr and Cillian Murphy with their Golden Globes – two of five in total for the film
Oppenheimer’s Robert Downey Jr described the film as “a God damn masterpiece” as he was named best supporting actor, and the film also took home the prize for best original score. And for British filmmaker Nolan, the best director prize was his first win after six nominations.
Succession stars Culkin and Macfadyen were among the early winners in the TV categories, with the former beating his co-stars Brian Cox and Jeremy Strong to be named best actor in a TV drama series for his portrayal of Roman Roy, the youngest son of Cox’s billionaire media boss Logan Roy.
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Taylor Swift was among the A-listers in attendance. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
“I was nominated for a Golden Globe like 20 years ago and when that moment passed, I sort of remember thinking I’m never going to be back in this room again,” Culkin said in his acceptance speech. “But thanks to Succession I’ve been in here a couple of times, I accepted I would never be on the stage so this is a nice moment.” He then joked to fellow nominee Pedro Pascal, star of The Last Of Us, saying of the prize: “Sorry, mine.”
Macfadyen was named best supporting actor for “playing the weird and wonderful human grease stain that is Tom Wambsgans”, while Snook said the show had changed her life as she accepted he prize.
Elizabeth Debicki was honoured for her portrayal of Princess Diana in The Crown
Royal drama The Crown also picked up an acting award courtesy of Australian star Elizabeth Debicki, who was honoured for her portrayal of Princess Diana in the sixth and final series. She thanked her “pretend children” who play Prince William and Prince Harry on the show.
There was also triumph for Beef stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who were named best actor and best actress in a limited series, and The Bear stars Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri, who took home the same gongs in the musical/ comedy series category.
Emma Stone was named best actress in a musical or comedy for her peformance in Poor Things
Elsewhere, director Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things was named best musical or comedy film, while star Stone took home the prize for best actress in the musical/comedy category for her portrayal of Bella Baxter, a young woman brought back to life by a surgeon.
The category saw Margot Robbie nominated for her starring role in Barbie, Jennifer Lawrence for No Hard Feelings, Fantasia Barrino for The Colour Purple, Alma Poysti for Fallen Leaves, and Natalie Portman for May December.
Other film acting awards went to The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Killers Of The Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone, who became the first indigenous person to be named best actress in what she described as a “historic” moment a she began her speech speaking in the Blackfoot language.
“This is for every little urban kid, every little native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves in our own words with tremendous allies and tremendous trust,” she said.
In the best song category, which featured three tracks from Barbie, it was Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For? that triumphed.
“It was exactly a year ago almost that we were shown the movie and I was very, very miserable and depressed at the time, and writing that song kind of saved me a little bit,” Eilish said on stage. “A year later and here we are, it’s really surreal.”
The stand-up comedy performance award, another new prize for 2024, went to former Globes host Ricky Gervais, who was not there to collect the gong.
Stars including Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Bradley Cooper – who walked the red carpet with his mum Gloria Campano – were among the stars in attendance at this year’s ceremony, which marked the start of the 2024 awards season.
