Will Smith, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Win At Quiet Golden Globes Awards!
FEATURED PHOTO: WILL SMITH WINS BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR FOR ‘KING RICHARD’
TheRoot.com, By Stephanie Holland, Posted January 20th 2022
The Underground Railroad, Will Smith, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez are among winners at non-televised, closed Golden Globe ceremony!
If you didn’t know the 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards were taking place Sunday, we can’t fault you, as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn’t exactly make it easy to find out what was going on.
Amid the organization’s ongoing scandals, the awards were held without any fanfare in a ceremony that wasn’t televised or live-streamed.
Deadline reports, Will Smith won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama for his role as Richard Williams in King Richard. He beat out Mahershala Ali in Swan Song, Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos, Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog and Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth.
Other winners in the drama categories include Best Actress Nicole Kidman for playing Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos and Best Picture The Power of the Dog.
To the surprise of no one West Side Story dominated the musical or comedy categories, winning Best Picture, Best Actress for Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture.
DeBose continues the trend of actresses who play Anita becoming the production’s breakout star. TVLine reports, she is set to host Saturday Night Live’s first new show of 2022 on Jan. 15 with musical guest Roddy Ricch.
Encanto, which if you haven’t seen it, you need to head to Disney+ as soon as you’re done reading this story, took home the prize for Best Motion Picture – Animated.
To highlight the HFPA’s continued efforts to reform its diversity and inclusivity issues, Beyonce, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jennifer Hudson lost to Billie Eilish in the Best Original Song category. Eilish won for “No Time to Die” from the latest James Bond film.
This isn’t a knock against the pop star, it’s just that it’s not even in the top five Bond songs, let alone better than Beyonce and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Over in the TV categories, Succession and Ted Lasso are still winning everything with awards for leading actors Jeremy Strong and Jason Sudeikis respectively.
Though it’s not a surprise to us, it may be a bit of a shock to awards watchers to see Michaela Jaé Rodriguez win for her work as Blanca in Pose’s final season. She was up against Uzo Aduba for In Treatment, Jennifer Aniston in The Morning Show, Christine Baranski in The Good Fight and Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid’s Tale.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the night came in the Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television category, where The Underground Railroad beat perennial winner Mare of Easttown.
Imagine how great it would’ve been for the artists involved with this series to have their moment on live television? Unfortunately, the HFPA can’t get its act together and Christmas was canceled for everyone.
As awards season moves on, there are still questions about whether ceremonies will take place in person or virtually, but what’s not up for debate is that the Golden Globes are no longer the important honor they once were.
Up next, the SAG Award nominations will be announced by Rosario Dawson and Vanessa Hudgens Wednesday, Jan. 12 on Instagram, with the show airing on TBS and TNT Sunday, Feb. 27 at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.
The NAACP Image Awards will air Saturday, Feb. 26 at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT on BET, and The Oscars are Sunday, March 27 on ABC.
