To those who say acceptance speeches are the most boring part of any awards show, well, you should have watched Monday’s Golden Globe ceremony, because quite a few of the speeches were a hoot.
Steve Carell, Sandra Oh, Geena Davis and Hugh Laurie, all of whom won for their stellar television work, gave hilarious speeches. Even one of the speeches for multiple award winner, and Oscar front-runner, “Brokeback Mountain” was funny.
Larry McMurtry, who shared a best screenplay win with Diana Ossana for “Brokeback Mountain,” thanked his lawyers, then gave his “most heartfelt” thanks to his typewriter.
“My typewriter is a Hermes 3000,” McMurtry noted, “surely one of the noblest instruments of European genius, and, ladies and gentlemen, can you believe it, it’s kept me for 30 years out of the dry embrace of the computer.”
As expected, Ang Lee won as best director of “Brokeback Mountain,” and the film won three other awards, including best dramatic film. “Walk the Line” won as best musical or comedy film, and garnered awards for Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix. The awards were presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 journalists who are based in Los Angeles but work for overseas publications.
“I just want to give my first thanks to my fellow filmmakers for strengthening my faith in the power of movies to change the way we’re thinking,” Lee said when he won.
Aside from “Brokeback Mountain” and “Walk the Line,” the movie awards were split by various films. Rachel Weisz won a supporting dramatic actress award for “The Constant Gardener,” and George Clooney won a supporting award for “Syriana.” Felicity Huffman, who won an Emmy in 2005 for her “Desperate Housewives” role, won a Globe as best actress in a dramatic film for “Transamerica.”
“I was given the best part of my life and I know that,” Philip Seymour Hoffman said after his surprise win as best dramatic actor in “Capote.” He beat out the man widely perceived as the front-runner for the best-actor Oscar, Heath Ledger.
The Globes are known for rewarding deserving but less obvious TV shows and stars, and Monday’s ceremony was no exception. Four of the “Desperate Housewives” were nominated in the best TV comedy actress category, but Mary-Louise Parker shut the wives out and won for her work on Showtime’s “Weeds.” “Housewives” won later as best comedy series and “Lost” won as best drama series.
Second City veteran Steve Carell won a best TV comedy actor award for his portrayal of an oafish boss on “The Office.” In a speech he said his wife, Nancy Walls (another former Second City performer), wrote for him, she was thanked several times, and Carell himself was scolded in his own speech. Carell frequently paid tribute in the comical speech to “Nancy, my precious wife, who put her career on hold in support of mine and who sometimes wishes I would let her know when I’m going to be home late, so she can schedule her life, which is no less important than mine.” (Later, a “Lost” producer also jokingly thanked Carell’s wife.)
One big miss for the usually adventurous Globes was in the best supporting TV actor category. Jeremy Piven was widely touted to win for his work as the scheming Ari Gold on “Entourage,” but he was robbed when Paul Newman won for “Empire Falls.”
The biggest laugh of the night came from Geena Davis, who won a best TV actress trophy for her work as a female president on “Commander in Chief.” She told an anecdote about a little girl stopping Davis on her way into the auditorium; the girl told the actress that Davis’ show had made her want to be president. The audience collectively said, “Awww.” Davis paused.
“Well, that didn’t actually happen,” she said. “But it could have.” Guffaws followed.
