70th Annual Golden Globe Awards

Written by Kirk Baird

Even as Lincoln’s 12 Academy Award nominations made the Civil War drama the prohibitive favourite for the Feb. 24 Oscars, Sunday night’s 70th Annual Golden Globe presentation might have shaken things up.

The Iran hostage drama Argo took the Golden Globe for best motion picture as well a trophy for the film’s director, Ben Affleck, who was not nominated for an Oscar. Lincoln and director Steven Spielberg were Golden Globe nominees in both categories.

Lincoln’s Tony Kushner also lost in the best screenplay category to Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Lincoln co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field lost the best supporting actor and actress categories, respectively, to Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) and Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), and Lincoln composer John Williams lost best original score to Life of Pi’s Mychael Danna.

Daniel Day-Lewis, as expected, won the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama for his powerful and moving performance as Lincoln.

Overall, Lincoln was nominated for 7 Golden Globes but won only one.

While Spielberg’s film stumbled at the awards show, the lavish musical Les Miserables triumphed. In addition to Hathaway’s expected win, the adaptation of the stage musical based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 French historical novel won for best musical or comedy and best actor in a comedy or musical (Hugh Jackman).

Jessica Chastain won the best actress in a drama for Zero Dark Thirty. And Jennifer Lawrence won the best actress in a comedy or musical for Silver Linings Playbook.

Rounding out the film winners as voted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Brave won for best animated feature, Amour won best foreign language film, and Adele’s “Skyfall” won for best original song in a film.  

For television, Showtime’s espionage drama Homeland was the big winner, winning best television series drama, best performance by an actress in a TV series drama (Claire Danes), and best performance by an actor in a TV series drama (Damian Lewis). HBO’s new series Girls took trophies for best television series comedy or musical, and best performance by an actress in a TV series comedy or musical (Lena Dunham), while Don Cheadle from Showtime’s House of Lies won best performance by an actor in a TV series comedy or musical.

Best miniseries or motion picture made for television went to HBO’s comedy-drama Game Change, about the 2008 GOP presidential campaign, and to the film’s star Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin for best performance by an actress in a miniseries or motion picture made for television, and to co-star Ed Harris as John McCain for best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a series, miniseries or motion picture made for television.

Kevin Costner won the best performance by an actor in a miniseries or motion picture made for television Golden Globe for Hatfields & McCoys. And Maggie Smith won for best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a series, miniseries or motion picture made for television for Downton Abbey: Season 2.