La La Land bags most awards at Golden Globes, Ryan-Emma best actors
'La La Land' steamrolled through a Jimmy Fallon-hosted Golden Globes that mixed the expected, Champagne-sipping Hollywood celebration with often-voiced concern over president-elect Donald Trump.
Meryl Streep, the Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree, supplied Sunday evening's most striking rebuke to Trump. Streep, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention, called the president-elect's mocking of a disabled reporter the year's performance that most "stunned her."
Arguing for the multinational makeup of Hollywood, Streep listed off the far-flung homes of stars from Dev Patel to Ryan Gosling.
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners and if you kick them all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts," Streep said to loud applause.
Damien Chazelle's Los Angeles musical 'La La Land,' which came in with a leading seven nominations, was winning everything it was nominated for. Chazelle won both best director and best screenplay. Gosling won best actor in a comedy or musical, Emma Stone took home the trophy for best actress in a comedy of musical, and it took best score (Justin Hurwitz) and best song for 'City of Stars.'
"I'm in in daze now, officially," said Chazelle accepting his award for directing.
In one of the evening's more emotional acceptance speeches, Gosling dedicated his award to the late brother of his partner, Eva Mendes.
"While I was singing and dancing and playing piano and having one of the best experiences I've ever had on a film, my lady was raising our daughter, pregnant with our second and trying to help her brother fight his battle with cancer," said Gosling, referring to Juan Carlos Mendes.
The Beverly Hilton Hotel ceremony got off to a rocky start, as the broken teleprompter initially froze Fallon. "Cut to Justin Timberlake, please," implored a desperately improvising Fallon. It was the second fiasco for Globes producer Dick Clark Productions, which presented the infamous Mariah Carey flub on New Year's Eve.
The 'Tonight Show' host started the show with a cold open ode to 'La La Land' in a lavish sketch more typical of the Academy Awards than the Globes. Fallon did a version of the film's opening dance scene, with starry cameos from Timberlake, previous Globes host Tina Fey, Amy Adams and the white Ford Bronco of 'The People v. O.J. Simpson.'
In a more truncated monologue, Fallon's sharpest barbs weren't directed at the stars in the room (as was the style of frequent host Ricky Gervais) but president-elect Trump. He compared Trump to the belligerent teenage king Joffrey of 'Games of Thrones.' His first line (at least once the teleprompter was up) was introducing the Globes as "one of the few places left where America still honors the popular vote."
That, though, isn't quite true. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a collection of 85 members, has its own methods of selecting winners. Best supporting actress winner Viola Davis, the co-star of Denzel Washington's August Wilson adaptation 'Fences,' alluded to the group's reputation for being wined and dined.
"I took all the pictures, went to luncheon," said Davis, to knowing chuckles through the ballroom, as she clutched her award. "But it's right on time."
Davis also theatrically introduced the night's Cecil B. DeMille honoree, Meryl Streep. The actress "in screaming and lamentation this week"
While Davis' march to an Oscar seems virtually assured, other picks were more idiosyncratic.
The British actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson took best supporting actor for his performance in Tom Ford's 'Nocturnal Animals.' It was a surprise that Taylor-Johnson was even nominated, so his win over favorites Mahersala Ali from 'Moonlight' and Jeff Bridges from 'Hell or High Water' was a shock.
There were expected winners, like 'The People v. O.J. Simpson' taking best miniseries, as well as an award for Sarah Paulson. But other winners were less prepared. Donald Glover looked visibly surprised when his FX series 'Atlanta' won best comedy series over heavyweights like 'Veep' and 'Transparent.'
"I really want to thank Atlanta and all the black folks in Atlanta," said Glover. "I couldn't be here without Atlanta."
Hugh Laurie, star of 'The Night Manager,' looked even more surprised when he won best supporting actor in a limited series or TV film over the likes of John Travolta ('The People v. O.J. Simpson') and John Lithgow ('The Crown').
Laurie was one of the few early winners to pepper his acceptance speech with comments about Trump. "I accept this award on behalf of psychopathic billionaires everywhere," he said. 'The Night Manager' won two more awards, including best actor for Tom Hiddleston.
Paul Verhoeven's 'Elle' won best foreign language film. Disney's 'Zootopia' took best animated feature. Other winners included Tracee Ellis Ross ('Black-ish') and Billy Bob Thornton ('Goliath').
After recent terrorist truck attacks in Europe and Friday's airport shooting in Florida, security was heavier than ever at the Globes. Long lines of police SUVs and officers on foot created a tight seal around the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
