Disney/Pixar’s WALL’E and Sony Pictures Classics’ Waltz with Bashir got love from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association during Sunday night’s 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony. WALL’E was named Best Animated Feature, besting Disney’s Bolt and DreamWorks Animation’s Kung-Fu Panda. Bashir from Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman beat out a field of live-action films to take Best Foreign Language Flim.
Accepting the award for WALL’E, director Andrew Stanton thanked his family for ‘Inspiring every emotion I try to capture on screen.’ Folman was also on hand to receive the award for Bashir, dedicating the win to the eight babies born to crew members during the four years the animated documentary was in production. He added that he hoped those children would grow to see the war depicted in the film as some kind of ancient video game that has nothing to do with their lives. His film was up against The Baader Meinhof Complex from Germany, Everlasting Moments from Sweden/Denmark, Gomorrah from Italy and I’ve Loved You So Long (Il Y A Longtemps Que Je T’aime) from France.
The songs ‘Down to Earth’ (music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, with lyrics by Peter Gabriel) from WALL’E and ‘I Thought I Lost You’ (music and lyrics by Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele) from Bolt were both up for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture, but lost to Bruce Springstein’s ‘The Wrestler’ from the film of the same name.
Heath Ledger was posthumously awarded the Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of comic-book villain The Joker in Warner Bros.’ The Dark Knight. Director Christopher Nolan accepted on Ledger’s behalf, noting that the young actor’s untimely death ripped a hole in the future of the entertainment business. ‘He’ll be eternally missed but never forgotten,’ he said in parting.
Among the other big winners was director Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. Released domestically by Fox Searchlight, the sleeper hit was voted Best Motion Picture ‘ Drama, while Boyle accepted the award for Best Director. On the other side of the coin, the Weinstein Co. release Vicky Christina Barcelona from director Woody Allen took Best Motion Picture ‘ Musical or Comedy.
Mickey Rourke won Best Actor – Drama for director Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, while Best Actress ‘ Drama went to Revolutionary Road star Kate Winslet, who also won Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. Their comedic counterparts are Colin Farrell for In Bruges and Sally Hawkins for Happy Go Lucky.
On the television side, AMC’s Mad Men won in the drama category and NBC’s 30 Rock was named top comedy. Creator and star of 30 Rock Tina Fey was also recognized with Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series ‘ Musical or Comedy, while her co-star, Alec Baldwin, took Best Actor in the same category. The HBO miniseries John Adams was also well represented, snagging acting awards for Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson.
Prolific filmmaker Stephen Spielberg took the stage to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement, a juried honor presented by fellow film icon Martin Scorsese. He recalled how the first movie he ever saw was DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth, and how the film’s spectacular train wreck inspired Spielberg to make his first film using his parents’ 8mm home movie camera and a model train set.
To see the complete list of Golden Globes nominees and winners, go to www.goldenglobes.org/nominations.
