*Photo: New York Post via Getty images
On January 10th, The 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards Ceremony took place. The event had many highlights including first wins for actors and studios alike.
A very brief history of the awards, The Golden Globes were first established in January 1944 and founded by LA journalists. They were distributed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and still are to this day. The first award given was to producer and director of the film The Greatest Show On Earth, Cecil B. Demille in 1951. The award itself was then named after him.
Many famous celebrities have hosted and won awards at this annual event. Some notable hosts were Ricky Gervais, Andy Samberg, and Tina Fey. This year, they were hosted by Jerrod Carmichael, the first African American host. A total of 29 awards were given out the awards night. Here are some of the highlights…
Austin Butler Acceptance Speech
First of the top nominees was Austin Butler in the Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture category for his powerful performance as Elvis in the film of the same name. This was his first major award win and he goes on to honor and thank many close friends in the industry such as Brad Pitt, Quinten Tarrentino, and Denzel Washington. He honors fellow nominees and expresses his joy to be among them. He thanked his director Baz Luhrmann for allowing him to “take risks”.And he thanked close friends and family who were involved in the production; his “dance partner”, Tom Hanks. The Presley sisters, his sister and dad, and finally, he praised and thanked his mother and Elvis Presley himself. The win came as no surprise, he gave a truly powerful, emotional, and electric performance as the King of Rock and Roll himself.
Zendaya Wins Again! But Is Absent From Event
Next, Zendaya Coleman was awarded the Best Actress in a Drama Series award for her performance as Rue Bennett in the HBO Max series Euphoria. She also won the same award at the 2022 Emmy’s. Although Zendaya was not present for the awards night, she posted on instagram in quote,
“I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to be there tonight, but I just wanted to say thank you to @goldenglobes for this incredible honor, To my fellow nominees, it is a privilege to be named beside you, I admire you all deeply, thank you to my Euphoria family, without you, none of this is possible. Lastly, thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who has allowed Rue into theirs. I think everyone knows how much she means to me, but the fact that she can mean something to someone else is a gift. I’m honestly at a loss for words as I type this, all I can say is thank you thank you thank you. Goodnight♥️”
The Spider-Man star explained she was busy the same week of the awards, most likely working on post production of Dune: Part 2 (which is set to release later this year in November). Again, it is no surprise for this actress to win the award. A specific scene from the second season of Euphoria involving her and her co-star Nika King who starred as Rue’s mom in a heated and emotional argument shocked critics with tears! The scene was so intense, the show creator and director Sam Levinson admitted he needed to step away after the shooting was complete. The show has been renewed for Season 3 and Zendaya is alongside Dune, set to star in another movie this year called Challengers.
Marvel’s First Major Award
In 2022, a total of four Marvel movies were released. While one of them (Morbius) was rated one of the worst major superhero films made to date, another made history by earning Marvel their first Golden Globe and Angela Bassett her second one. Bassett won the Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, released in November.
In her acceptance speech, Angela recalled her history with the Golden Globes along with many quotes and life lessons she has learned since her first Golden Globe win. She praised her mother, her family, and thanked and repeated in quote “grateful” for the people that have given her the opportunities she has had such as the Marvel/Disney community such as her director Ryan Coogler, the Marvel President Kevin Fiege, and producer Louis D’Esposito. And finally, she spoke about the late Chadwick Boseman and his legacy that he formed through the Black Panther, she said how he was a close friend and that he provides lessons we can learn from his legacy along with how the Marvel fans have truly embraced his and his co-stars characters.
This win was predicted by many critics and fans alike given that the only other Marvel film to be even nominated for such an award as a Golden Globe or Oscar was Black Panther which was released back in 2018. A major factor for her win is in a specific scene where Angela Bassett as the queen Romanda gave an extremely powerful speech in the Wakanda throne room which left audience members speechless by the end of it.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has also been nominated for the upcoming Oscars in several categories, in which one of them the same award Angela Bassett won at the Golden Globes.
Remember That One Kid From Indiana Jones 2?
Perhaps the most emotional and inspired speaker of the night was Ke Huy Quan when he won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Quan spoke to his life story and his upbringing, recalling the lesson from his childhood “Never forget who you are.”. He began his film career as a child actor, playing Short Round “Shorty” in Indiana Jones: The Temple of Doom. Although he never reprised his role again in the franchise, he began working on foreign films but never again did he come back to Hollywood to star. Ke tells everyone in attendance that the creators of Everything Everywhere All At Once (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) truly gave him his big chance again and he honored his mentors and the people who gave him the shot. Steven Spielberg was among the names as the director of his first film he starred in. Finally, he expressed his love for his wife who was sitting in attendance and thanked her for all the support in the years. Ke Huy Quan is not set to star in any immediate films until 2024, but he was again nominated for the same award for this year's Oscars.
Eddie Murphy Takes The Big One
The most honored award winner was Eddie Murphy who won the prized Cecil B. Demille award for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment”. Although this is hardly Murphy’s first Golden Globe win, it was his first time winning this specific award, given it is the most praised one of the event. He humbly accepted the award and recalled his many years in the business (46 years). He thanked a large handful of family members, fellow friends, and producers for helping him succeed in Hollywood. On the note of success he ended the speech by sharing a few words of “wisdom”.
He explained the three step blueprint of success:
“Pay your taxes. Mind your business. And keep Will Smith’s wife’s name outta your f**king mouth!”
This was the first joke made by a celebrity at an awards night about the 2022 Oscar incident involving Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage. It was refreshing for everyone in attendance and watching at home to see Murphy’s sense of humor shine. Given the fact that Eddie Murphy is known in the Film Industry as one of if not the biggest comedian in business.
The beloved voice-actor of Donkey in Shrek recently came out saying he is retiring from acting and returning to stand-up comedy. Despite rumors, he will not be returning to his role in the upcoming 4th Beverly Hills Cop film.
The 80th annual Golden Globes ceremony was an eventful night, full of funny, tearful, and memorable moments. This was the first show since 2019 and the recent global pandemic. We wish to see these stars return for the Oscars which will be held next month and as we know, most of them have been nominated once again for a win along with the films they starred in.
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