It’s that time of year again: awards season is officially upon us! Kicking it off, this year’s Golden Globe Awards have come and gone in both the US and Ireland — and what a lineup we had to start the season. Of course, the winners had already been revealed to us in Ireland ahead of time, both via social media and through news coverage here and in the US. Irish talent has surely made a name for itself over the years, and this year is no different, as we certainly didn’t go home empty-handed. Here are the highlights…
The biggest winner of the night was Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, taking home four of the major awards: ‘Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy’, ‘Best Director for a Motion Picture’ for Anderson, ‘Best Original Screenplay for a Motion Picture’, and ‘Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture’ for Teyana Taylor. Unfortunately, it was Leo’s 12th Golden Globe loss for his role in the film. The film depicts a present-day alternate reality under political stress and revolution, focusing on a group called the French 75, a far-left organisation that includes members such as DiCaprio’s character, “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun, and Teyana Taylor’s character, Perfidia Beverly Hills.
The winners of ‘Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture’ were Brazilian actor Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent (Drama) and Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme (Musical or Comedy), loosely based on the life of 1950s table tennis champion Marty Reisman. Stellan Skarsgård took home his second Golden Globe for ‘Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture’ for Sentimental Value. His first win came six years ago, in 2020, for ‘Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries, or Motion Picture Made for Television’ for Chernobyl.
‘Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture’ went to our very own Jessie Buckley for her role as Agnes Shakespeare in Hamnet. I watched it at the weekend and can attest that Jessie’s win is incredibly well deserved; her performance was outstanding and heartbreaking. It offered a glimpse into what was happening behind the scenes as William Shakespeare composed his famous works. The other female actor to take home a Golden Globe in this category was Rose Byrne, who won in the Musical or Comedy division for If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You. She brought her brother George as her date, as her husband, actor Bobby Cannavale, was busy at a lizard convention in New Jersey in preparation for the family buying a bearded dragon. Teyana Taylor also won ‘Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture’ for her performance in One Battle After Another.
The Netflix series Adolescence was awarded ‘Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television’, as well as ‘Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television’ and ‘Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role on Television’, which went to Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper, respectively. Owen Cooper is also the youngest person to win this particular award, at sixteen years old. In his acceptance speech, Owen described his apprehension at the beginning of his acting journey: “What started out as what I thought I might be OK at — I might be awful at, I never knew — so I took a risk and went to drama classes. I was the only boy there; it was embarrassing, but I got through it.” It’s a good thing he stuck with those classes, because we have a rising star on our hands.
That’s all the excitement of the Golden Globes over for another year, but fear not — we have the Grammys on 1 February, the BAFTA Film Awards on 22 February, the Screen Actors Guild Awards on 1 March (airing on Netflix), and the Academy Awards, likely airing on Monday, 16 March in Ireland.