Global domination in an Aussie accent: in the room at the Golden Globes
The ballroom at the Beverly Hilton was crammed with A-listers – it was like celebrity Christmas. And Australia’s golden girls finished the night on top.
The ballroom at the Beverly Hilton was packed.
With one more nominee per category and two new awards, it felt like every A-lister in Hollywood was crammed around the tiny tables. The Moet & Chandon champagne was flowing; the Fellow Travellers table, led by stars Jonathan Bailey and Matt Bomer, cheers-ed enthusiastically at the end of the show.
The stars were out in full force. Taylor Swift was there, leaping to a standing ovation for best friend Emma Stone winning Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy (beating Barbie’s Margot Robbie).
Oprah was there, as were Selena Gomez, Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg. It was like celebrity Christmas.
And no matter your A-list status, if you were unlucky enough with the lines in the bathroom, or at the bar, and didn’t make it back to your seat during commercial breaks, you had to wait by the staircase until the live broadcast ended again.
We saw DiCaprio hovering by the stairs with Fleabag’s Hot Priest, Andrew Scott, for four awards until security finally waved them to their table.
Things got off to a shaky start, with host Jo Koy’s monologue going over like a box-office bomb, but some big wins, including Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon, Kieran Culkin for Succession and Ayo Edebiri for The Bear, earned rapturous standing ovations.
You can tell a lot about the shape of an awards season based on the reaction to certain wins – and even nominations – in the room. Gladstone, the first Native American Golden Globe winner, received two standing ovations and thunderous applause.
May December’s breakout star, Charles Melton, was belle of the ball, as stars including Rachel Brosnahan crowded around to congratulate him every commercial break. He might have lost Best Supporting Actor to Robert Downey Jr, but Hollywood has fallen for the Riverdale star in a major way.
The biggest cinema story of 2023 – Barbie v Oppenheimer – was reflected in the award wins. The latter took home five major gongs, including Best Picture, Director, Score, Actor and Supporting Actor.
But Barbie took out the Cinematic Achievement, a newly minted award collected by star and producer Robbie, resplendent in Barbie pink, alongside director Greta Gerwig.
Self-proclaimed “Best Supporting Barbie”, Hari Nef, seated opposite me, whooped with delight. Nef ran over to share a seat with Robbie when the Best Picture award was announced, just in case the cast could rush the stage, but, sadly, Barbie lost out to Poor Things for musical or comedy.
In the bar, the film’s Australian screenwriter, Tony McNamara, beamed with pride, as he was congratulated by playwright Jeremy O Harris.
But the real winners were Australians. Our accent was complimented, by Elizabeth Banks, as a “whimsical mix of high and low class” during her presentation and imitated, by Stone, who admitted in her Best Actress acceptance speech she loved “getting to horrify” her Poor Things screenwriter and three-time collaborator McNamara with her Australian accent. (“Tiny!” she grinned.)
And then the real thing was heard, from winners Sarah Snook and Elizabeth Debicki. Our golden girls, victorious.
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