Richard Linklater‘s “Boyhood” and the Showtime drama “The Affair” both won big at the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, with “Boyhood” winning in the Best Motion Picture — Drama category, and “The Affair” scoring the win for Best Television Series — Drama.
“Boyhood” also scored Linklater an award for Best Director — Motion Picture. Meanwhile, “The Affair” star Ruth Wilson beat out competition that included Claire Danes and Julianna Margulies for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series — Drama.
Other notable wins included an award for FX’s anthology series “Fargo” and its star, “Billy Bob Thornton,” and “Jane The Virgin” star Gina Rodriguez, who won The CW its first ever Golden Globe award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical.
The ceremony started out with cohosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler riffing on the Sony cyberattack that rocked the company late last year, dropping a number of punchlines about the embarrassing emails that were leaked and “The Interview,” the movie that reportedly sparked the cyberattack.
They also took aim at the other headline-dominating topic at the moment, the sexual assault scandal that has plagued Bill Cosby in recent months.
“Welcome, you bunch of despicable, spoiled, minimally talented brats,” the monologue began, a nod to an email about Angelina Jolie that found its way to the internet as the result of the leak.
With regard to the James Franco-Seth Rogen comedy that reportedly sparked the cyberattack, the pair joked, “North Korea referred to ‘The Interview” as absolutely intolerable and a wanton act of terror … even more amazing, not the worst review the movie got.”
The pair also took aim at Cosby’s woes, with the pair offering dueling Cosby impressions as they spoofed what the comic’s response to the allegations against him might sound like.
J.K. Simmons took the first trophy for his supporting role in “Whiplash.” “Downton Abbey” actress Joanne Froggatt was next to win an award.
The maiden run of the FX Anthology series “Fargo” also made a strong showing in the opening minutes of the ceremony, with the show winning Best Miniseries and Billy Bob Thornton scoring a trophy for his portrayal of Lorne Malvo.
Thornton kept his acceptance speech extraordinarily short, saying that one can get in trouble for saying anything these days, “So I’m just going to say thank you.”
The specter of the Sony hack attack was raised once again during a skit in which Margaret Cho portrayed a North Korean general/contributor to Movies Wow! magazine. Cho stood silent and stonefaced as her picture was taken with Meryl Streep, purportedly as an effort to appease North Korea and prevent another leak. Cho later appeared on stage as the general, expressing her displeasure with the ceremony so far in a heavy accent and declaring before marching off the stage, “Also, I think that ‘Orange Is the New Black’ should be in the drama category — it’s funny, but not ha-ha funny.”
Presenting the Cecil B. DeMille Award to George Clooney, his former “ER” costar Julianna Margulies and “Ocean’s Eleven” costar Don Cheadle ribbed the recipient, engaging in a mock contest to determine who knew him best. After Margulies asked Cheadle if Clooney had ever invited him to tour a disaster with him, Cheadle shot back that, yes, he had been to the set of Clooney’s film “Monuments Men.”
During his acceptance speech, Clooney engaged in a bit of self-deprecating humor, saying that it had been unbelievable watching Margulies grow and mature over the years — and that “it’s probably been fun for them to watch me not grow and not mature over the same time.”
Clooney used the speech as an opportunity to discuss the massive marches in the wake of the terror attack in France that left 17 dead, saying those who marched “were Christians and Jews and Muslims. They were leaders of countries all over the world, and they didn’t march in protest. They marched in support of the idea that we will not walk in fear. We won’t do it. So je suis Charlie.”
Clooney also paid tribute to his new wife Amal, saying, “Amal, whatever alchemy it is that brought us together, I couldn’t be more proud to be your husband.”
Accepting for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical for “Birdman,” Michael Keaton also became emotional while discussing his son Sean.