Golden Globes 2003: The Show Goes On–and On

Whooooosh!

The 60th Annual Golden Globes, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, moved at a frighteningly quick pace, with Miramax Films and HBO emerging as the show’s biggest winners, splitting most of the awards between them.

In the film categories, the major studios were completely shut out. Miramax’s eight wins must make co-chairman Harvey Weinstein feel warm and toasty inside. He was thanked profusely by many a winner, including the producers of The Hours and Chicago, which won the top film awards.

HBO, on the other hand, took most of the television acting awards, as well as best comedy (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and best TV miniseries or movie (The Gathering Storm).

F/X’s The Shield surprised many with its win for best TV drama as well as its star Michael Chiklis winning for best actor in a drama series, while the only major network to make it to the list was NBC with Friends‘ Jennifer Aniston‘s win for best actress in a TV comedy series.

As for the televised broadcast, just as show host and executive producer Dick Clark professed, the Golden Globes were the biggest party of the year as throngs of A-listers showed up in the audience enjoying food and drinks. Poor Dick tried to keep up as best he could, but he showed his age during the long evening’s festivities, stumbling over his words and making generalized statements.

For us viewers, the show could have used a little excitement, even if it meant an extra minute or two. Luckily, a few choice speeches and some surprise wins made the evening fairly enjoyable. Let’s take a look at some of the evening’s highlights from start to finish.

Things got going quickly enough as the first winner was announced. Meryl Streep, taking the best supporting actress in a motion picture for her turn as celebrated New Yorker columnist Susan Orlean in Adaptation, seemed genuinely surprised. Receiving some heartfelt applause–and adjusting herself in her dress–she quipped, “Oh my God, I’ve been nominated like 789 times, I thought I could just settle in for a long winter’s nap. It seems like it’s been since the Paleolithic era I’ve won anything.”

Best supporting actor in a motion picture went to her co-star Chris Cooper for his dentally challenged character. The actor thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for “[giving] millions and millions of stringy haired, toothless people everywhere hope.”

Jennifer Aniston hobbled up to the stage with a broken toe to receive her award. “I can’t believe this. I just got here,” she said, a tad out of breath, while Tony Shalhoub‘s win for best actor in TV comedy series for USA’s Monk was one of the surprises for the evening, beating out favorites such as Friends‘ Matt LeBlanc. Shalhoub had to say something funny. “I cannot tell you how much I wanted to be nominated in the dramatic actor category–you know, for film.”

But if anyone was expected to give a hilarious speech, it would have to be Curb Your Enthusiam‘s Larry David–and he didn’t disappoint.

Winning the award for best TV series, comedy or musical, David eloquently stated, “This is a sad day for the Golden Globes. This is, however, quite a good day for Larry David. I suspect the wife will be a little forthcoming tonight. This is what I have to do for sex, win an award. Thanks, Hollywood Foreign Press, for what I hope will be a memorable evening.”

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David added, “And of course, I’d like to thank my parents, for telling me that if you have the opportunity to annoy someone, you should. Little did they know, I’d be doing it on such a massive scale.”

First-time Globe winner Michael Chiklis took the whole thing pretty well. “A year and half ago, I was like Tom Hanks in Castaway,” he said.

When the series went on to win best TV drama, executive producer Shawn Ryan said what most of us were already thinking: “Who are we and what are we doing here?” Ryan did manage to thank his “amazing crew” but told them “call time is 7 a.m., so let’s show up and keep doing the good work.”

Presenter Brendan Fraser flubbed with the best of them while trying to introduce a bit about the Hollywood Foreign Press. He started by saying, “Please join in saluting me” and then played it up with the audience as they did, indeed, applaud him. Too bad the HFPA spokeswoman’s speech that followed by wasn’t as interesting.

Another cute little aside came from presenter Jamie Lee Curtis, who introduced the nominees for best supporting actor in a TV series, movie or miniseries: “Ladies, look what I got in my gift bag,” she said, referring to her hunky co-presenter Paul Walker (The Fast and the Furious). Walker looked pleasantly embarrassed.

Curtis announced Donald Sutherland as the winner for his performance in HBO’s Path to War. Noting that there were eight names on the nominees list, Sutherland said, “To the other nominees in this octet, I was given this because I am older than you are. It’s only fair.”

Oddly, the Golden Globes chose only to show clips from nominated TV shows, not films. Maybe Dick Clark‘s biased toward TV, maybe it was a time issue, but just a small hint, Globe producers: Movie clips make the show better.

A loud and boisterous Sharon Stone, ecstatic beyond all comprehension, virtually screamed Richard Gere‘s name as best actor in motion picture, musical or comedy for his tap-dancing performance in Chicago. Said Gere, “I’d like to thank the HFPA–a deeply eccentric group of people, as we know.” His speech then went on, and on, and on. For someone who says he doesn’t like to talk much, just give the guy his first major award and watch him go.

Chicago‘s sweet thang Renee Zellweger snagged the best actress in a motion picture, comedy or musical, winning the award for a second time (the first being for Nurse Betty). She quickly gushed, “I can’t believe this, but not as much as my brother, who used to scream ‘Shut up!’ and slam the door when I tried to sing Paul McCartney.”

Poor Edie Falco won the best actress in a TV drama award for the second time for playing Carmela in The Sopranos, but couldn’t talk because of laryngitis–even though she really tried.

Winning best supporting actress, TV series, miniseries or TV movie for the first time, Kim Cattrall from Sex and the City quipped, “You’ve had no idea how many men I’ve had to sleep with to get this award.” Then she rejoiced, thanking her fellow castmates. “Men may come and go but women stay!”

Hands down, U2’s Bono wins the award for the evening’s best line. Taking home the best original song, “The Hands the Built America” from Gangs of New York, the singer exclaimed, “That’s really “f**king brilliant!” You go, Bono! Curse on live television.

The Cecil B. DeMille award recipient, Gene Hackman, got his rightful due. With a whopping 91 films under his belt, Hackman looked poised and proud as Michael Caine and Robin Williams presented some of the clips from the actor’s illustrious career. It could easily be said that at least two thirds of the audience standing up to honor him have been in a film with him. And, God bless him, Hackman kept his speech very short and to the point. He’s a class act.

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As the show wound down and launched into its biggest winners, Martin Scorsese won best director for his labor of love, Gangs of New York. Poignantly, he said, “‘Dreams can come true’ may be a cliché but maybe that’s because clichés are true.” Believe it or not, this Globe is Scorsese‘s first major award win ever.

Best foreign language film went to Pedro Almodovar‘s Talk To Her. The Spanish director read his thank you’s from a crib sheet and as the music started to drown him out, he told the audience one final thing, “Instead of ‘Do Not Disturb,’ the doors of my hotel are now crying out ‘Peace!’ We need more peace in the world.” Whatever.

Jack Nicholson won for best actor in a motion picture, drama for his performance as a retiree in About Schmidt and of course, good old Jack had a few choice quips to spark laughter among the audience. “I’m surprised to be winning this when I thought I was making a comedy….Dermot Mulroney‘s haircut alone should have told you it was a comedy.”

Coming as no surprise considering its previous wins, Chicago took home the award for best motion picture, comedy or musical. As he accepted the award, producer Marty Richards thanked everyone and his brother until the orchestra tried to play him offstage–but he wasn’t done yet. The music stopped, he went on, the music started again (get off the stage already), and a still-talking Richards rolled his eyes as the show cut to a commercial.

Best motion picture, drama was awarded to Stephen Daldry‘s intense The Hours. The film’s ebullient producer Scott Rudin asked for the film’s three main actress–Julianne Moore, Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep–to come up on stage with him. Streep nearly tripped on the stairs going up–but no one seemed to notice.

Kidman, who won best actress in a motion picture, drama for her turn as Virginia Woolf in The Hours, summed up the evening nicely, attesting to the fact that this year featured a number of great parts for women in both movies and television. Addressing screenwriters, she said, “Please keep writing for us–because we are really interesting.” Amen to that.

And so–about 15 minutes earlier than last year, and just in time for the 11 o’clock news–we bid adieu to another Golden Globe evening.