Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, Mickey Rourke, Sally Hawkins, Colin Farrell Big Winners at 2009 Golden Globes

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CHICAGO – The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards were held Sunday night and “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Mad Men,” “John Adams,” and “30 Rock” were the big winners from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). The HFPA spread the wealth around to a variety of talented actors including Heath Ledger, Sally Hawkins, Anna Paquin, Laura Dern, Laura Linney, Alec Baldwin, Paul Giamatti, Tina Fey, Colin Farrell, Mickey Rourke, and Kate Winslet, twice.

Golden Globe Statuette -- NBC Photo: Chris Haston
Golden Globe Statuette
Photo credit: Chris Haston

“Slumdog Millionaire” and “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” won the two Best Picture awards, with the former taking away the most Golden Globes overall with four. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association chose “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” as the best television series on the air, giving the latter the most regular series awards with three. HBO’s “John Adams” tied “Slumdog Millionaire” for the most awards with four. Only “Adams,” “Slumdog,” “The Wrestler,” and “30 Rock” won more than a single award with the prizes being spread around to different films and shows.

One of the more emotional beats of the night came when director Chris Nolan accepted Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger for his amazing work in “The Dark Knight” and incredible speeches were given by Kate Winslet, Sally Hawkins, Tina Fey, Steven Spielberg, Danny Boyle, Colin Farrell, Mickey Rourke, and Tracy Morgan, accepting Best Comedy for “30 Rock”.

HBO destroyed on the TV side of the awards, winning all the major dramatic acting awards, as their “True Blood,” “In Treatment,” “John Adams,” and “Recount” were all given trophies before another network even took home their first prize. When the comedy awards came up, it was a clean sweep for “30 Rock,” winning best actor, actress, and comedy series. The dramatic awards were more spread out with “Mad Men” taking series, but “In Treatment” and “True Blood” winning the acting awards.

Winner Kate Winslet for Best Supporting Actress in
Winner Kate Winslet for Best Supporting Actress in “The Reader” on stage during the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2009
Photo credit: Paul Drinkwater

On the film side, “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” “Revolutionary Road,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Reader,” “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “In Bruges,” and “The Wrestler” were all recipients of major awards, adding fuel to their various Oscar campaigns.

The night opened with Jennifer Lopez presenting the award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture to Kate Winslet in “The Reader,” who beat Amy Adams and Viola Davis in “Doubt,” Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”, and Penelope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”. With a stunning seven nominations in her Golden Globe history, including two this year, Winslet’s win was the first of her amazing career (but not the last of the night). She gave a humble speech and looked absolutely amazing. Winslet is clearly the frontrunner for the equivalent Oscar, another award she has never won.

Sting presented the Best Song award to Bruce Springsteen for his excellent contribution to Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler”. He had one of the best lines of the night when he said, “This is the only time I’m gonna be in competition with Clint Eastwood. Felt pretty good, too.”

Simon Baker of “The Mentalist” and Eva Longoria of “Desperate Housewives” kicked off the awards for TV by giving Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie to Tom Wilkinson for playing Ben Franklin in HBO’s “John Adams,” beating Neil Patrick Harris for “How I Met Your Mother,” Denis Leary for “Recount,” Jeremy Piven for “Entourage,” and Blair Underwood for “In Treatment”. It was Wilkinson’s first win.

Winner Tom Wilkinson, Best Supporting Actor in Mini-Series or TV Movie
Winner Tom Wilkinson, Best Supporting Actor in Mini-Series or TV Movie “John Adams” on stage during the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2009.
Photo credit: Paul Drinkwater

The same presenters gave HBO another prize when they handed Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Movie to Laura Dern for “Recount,” beating Eileen Atkins for “Cranford,” Melissa George for “In Treatment,” Rachel Griffiths for “Brothers & Sisters,” and Dianne Wiest for “In Treatment”. Dern dedicated her award to the people who voted for “change in this country” in the last presidential election.

Hayden Panettiere and Zac Efron gave the TV award for Best Actor in a TV Series - Drama to Gabriel Byrne for his brilliant work on “In Treatment”. Byrne, who could not attend, beat Jon Hamm from “Mad Men,” Hugh Laurie from “House,” Jonathan Rhys Meyers for “The Tudors,” and Michael C. Hall for “Dexter”.

The equivalent actress award went to Anna Paquin in “True Blood”. The first-year series star beat Sally Field in “Brothers & Sisters,” January Jones in “Mad Men,” Kyra Sedgwick in “The Closer,” and Mariska Hargitay in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”. If you’re keeping track, all four acting awards for dramatic television went to HBO and for four different series or movies. It was an amazing night for the network that was just getting started.

The Jonas Brothers gave “WALL-E” the award for Best Animated Feature Film, beating “Bolt” and “Kung Fu Panda”. The winner for Best Motion Picture or Mini-Series Made for Television continued the run for HBO and created the first multiple award winner as “John Adams” beat “Raisin in the Sun,” “Bernard and Dorris,” “Cranford,” and “Recount”.

Anna Paquin, Winner of Best Actress: TV Series Drama for
Anna Paquin, Winner of Best Actress: TV Series Drama for “True Blood” on stage during the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2009.
Photo credit: Paul Drinkwater

Johnny Depp gave Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy to Sally Hawkins for “Happy-Go-Lucky,” beating out Meryl Streep for “Mamma Mia!,” Emma Thompson for “Last Chance Harvey,” Rebecca Hall for “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” and Frances McDormand for “Burn After Reading”. The delightful Hawkins was clearly surprised and stunned at her win and gave arguably the most charming speech of the night.

Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture went, as expected, to Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight,” beating Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder,” Ralph Fiennes in “The Duchess,” and Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”. Director Christopher Nolan accepted the award, which was greeted with an almost-immediate standing ovation.

Best Foreign Language Film went to Israel’s “Waltz With Bashir,” beating Germany’s “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” “Everlasting Moments” from Sweden/Denmark, Italy’s “Gomorra,” and France’s “I’ve Loved You So Long”.

Back to the TV award, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Aaron Eckhart gave Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television to Laura Linney to “John Adams,” making it three awards for the film. She beat Judi Dench in “Cranford,” Catherine Keener in “An American Crime,” Shirley MacLaine in “Coco Chanel,” and Susan Sarandon in “Bernard and Doris”. Six TV awards into the evening and HBO was the only network that had won a single prize.

Alec Baldwin, winner Best Actor in TV Series Musical or Comedy
Alec Baldwin, winner Best Actor in TV Series Musical or Comedy 30 Rock on stage during the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2009.
Photo credit: Paul Drinkwater

Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen gave the first big award of the night to “Slumdog Millionaire,” giving Simon Beaufoy the award for Best Screenplay, beating “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Doubt,” “Frost/Nixon,” and “The Reader”.

Bouncing back and forth between film and television, the next award was Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, which went to Alec Baldwin in “30 Rock”. Baldwin predictably beat Steve Carell from “The Office,” Kevin Connolly from “Entourage,” David Duchovny in “Californication,” and Tony Shalhoub from “Monk”.

Terence Howard and Megan Fox gave the award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Movie to, as widely expected by this point, Paul Giamatti in “John Adams,” making it a clean sweep for the mini-series, winning a stunning four awards. Giamatti beat Kiefer Sutherland in “24: Redemption,” Tom Wilkinson and Kevin Spacey in “Recount,” and Ralph Fiennes in “Bernard and Doris”. It was the great Giamatti’s first win at the Golden Globes.

“30 Rock” won the prize for Best TV Comedy again, beating “Californication,” “Entourage,” “The Office,” and “Weeds”.

“Slumdog Millionaire” would take home its second prize of the night when Kate Beckinsale and Sean Combs gave A.R. Rahman the trophy for Best Score. Rahman beat the much more widely known composers, Alexandre Desplat for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Clint Eastwood for “Changeling,” James Newton Howard for “Defiance,” and Hans Zimmer for “Frost/Nixon”.

Danny Boyle, winner Best Director of Motion Picture
Danny Boyle, winner Best Director of Motion Picture Slumdog Millionaire on stage during the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2009.
Photo credit: Paul Drinkwater

David Duchovny and Kane Krakowski gave Best Actress in a TV Comedy to, predictably, Tina Fey in “30 Rock”. Fey beat Christina Applegate for “Samantha Who?,” America Ferrera for “Ugly Betty,” Debra Messing for “The Starter Wife,” and Mary Louise Parker for “Weeds”. “30 Rock” had swept the comedy awards, winning best actor, actress, and series, all choices hard to argue with although it might have been nice to spread the wealth a bit. Fey gave a great speech, taking jabs at the people who had criticized her online.

Steven Spielberg accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement from Martin Scorsese, an old friend and, as Spielberg said, “inspiration”. As the clip reel of Spielberg’s work made crystal clear, if anyone deserves a lifetime achievement award it is Steven Spielberg.

Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson presented best director to Danny Boyle for “Slumdog Millionaire,” beating Stephen Daldry for “The Reader,” David Fincher for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Ron Howard for “Frost/Nixon,” and Sam Mendes for “Revolutionary Road”.

The most surprising win of the night, by far, came when Sandra Bullock gave Best Actor in a Comedy to Colin Farrell for “In Bruges”. The very gracious and surprised Farrell beat his co-star in the film, Brendan Gleeson, Dustin Hoffman for “Last Chance Harvey,” James Franco for “Pineapple Express,” and Javier Bardem in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”.

Sacha Baron Cohen cracked about the end of Madonna’s marriage before giving Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy to Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” beating “Burn After Reading,” “In Bruges,” “Mamma Mia!,” and “Happy-Go-Lucky”. Sadly, Woody didn’t appear to accept the award himself.

Mickey Rourke, winner Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama
Mickey Rourke, winner Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama The Wrestler on stage during the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 11, 2009.
Photo credit: Paul Drinkwater

Mark Wahlberg and Cameron Diaz presented Kate Winslet with her second award of the night for “Revolutionary Road,” beating Anne Hathaway for “Rachel Getting Married,” Angelina Jolie for “Changeling,” Kristin Scott Thomas for “I’ve Loved You So Long,” and Meryl Streep for “Doubt”. The clearly stunned Winslet was speechless, repeating “thank you so much” and crying. It took seven nominations for Kate Winslet to win two awards in one night.

After what was clearly now just a technical error in favor of Anne Hathaway earlier this week, most expected her to win, making the Winslet announcement that much more surprising.

Blake Lively and Rainn Wilson presented the award for Best Television Series - Drama to “Mad Men,” beating “Dexter,” “House,” “In Treatment,” and “True Blood”. A predictable but deserving win.

Susan Sarandon appeared to present Best Actor in a Drama, which went to Mickey Rourke for “The Wrestler”. Rourke beat out Sean Penn in “Milk,” Leonardo DiCaprio in “Revolutionary Road,” Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon,” and Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. Rourke was humbled and happy to win. He thanked, among others, Axl Rose, Bruce Springsteen, and his dogs. Someone give this man an Oscar.

Not surprisingly, “Slumdog Millionaire” closed the night with a win for Best Drama, presented by Tom Cruise. The excellent film beat “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Frost/Nixon,” “The Reader,” and “Revolutionary Road”.

StarSee the full list of 2009 Golden Globe winners in list form.
StarRead about Anne Hathaway’s early, accidental Golden Globe snafu.
StarRead more Golden Globes articles on HollywoodChicago.com.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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