The Hollywood Foreign Press certainly likes surprising people, if their picks for winners of the Golden Globes last night were any indication. The capricious collection of international journalists went against the grain in several categories. One thing is for sure: They definitely liked “The Revenant.” Star Leonardo DiCaprio and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu both took home awards for the stark survival epic, which also won for best drama. The night started off with plenty of unexpected victories, including Kate Winslet winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Steve Jobs,” beating out favorites Jane Fonda and Alicia Vikander; and Maura Tierney winning on the TV side for her supporting role in “The Affair.” The surprises even seems to catch the winners off-guard. “Is this really happening?” Winslet asked from the stage. RELATED: PHOTOS: The worst dressed of the Golden Globes
In the movie categories, Matt Damon took home Best Actor in a comedy for “The Martian,” beating out “The Big Short” stars Christian Bale and Steve Carell. “It’s literally been 18 years since I’ve been here doing this,” Damon said during his speech. And Ridley Scott’s film itself beat out the rest of the comedy category competition, despite complaints that it was not really a comedy. And Sylvester Stallone stunned the crowd with a win for his reprisal of Rocky Balboa in “Creed.” In his speech, he thanked his career-defining character for being “the best friend I ever had.” But he failed to thank his director, Ryan Coogler, or co-star, Michael B. Jordan. But the biggest surprise of the night was Brie Larson taking Best Actress, Drama for “Room,” besting odds-on favorite Cate Blanchett. “I’m sorry to anyone I forgot, you’ll get a thank you card,” Larson said in a thoroughly charming acceptance speech. RELATED: Full list of Golden Globes winners
But the biggest surprises were on television. “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” star Rachel Bloom beat out vets like Lily Tomlin and Julia Louis Dreyfus for Best Actress in a comedy series, and Lady Gaga took home a Globe for “American Horror Story.” Amazon’s little-watched “Mozart in the Jungle” won Best Comedy Series, besting “Veep,” “Orange is the New Black” and “Transparent,” and Best Actor for star Gael Garcia Bernal. And freshman hacker drama “Mr. Robot” beat out “Game of Thrones” for best series. RELATED: All the shows worth watching this winter on TV
At least Jon Hamm’s win for the final season of “Mad Men” was expected — and incredibly welcome, and fan favorite Taraji P. Henson brought home a win for “Empire.” And about the only thing that wasn’t a surprise was Jennifer Lawrence winning for “Joy,” since the HFPA can’t not give an award to her. With so many surprises and head-scratching, though, it’s unclear how this year’s Golden Globes wins will impact an already scattershot Awards Season with no clear front-runners. Maybe Thursday’s Oscar nominations announcements will solidify a few of the key races. The most scathing Ricky Gervais jokes “Shut up, you disgusting, pill-popping, sexual deviant scum.”
NBC is the perfect impartial host for the awards, as they’re “the only network with zero nominations. They don’t care, obviously.”
“Caitlyn Jenner has done a lot this year for trans visibility. She didn’t do a lot for women drivers, though.”
“To be fair, ‘the Martian’ was a lot funnier than ‘Pixels.’ But to be fair, so was ‘Schindler’s List.'”
RELATED:PHOTOS: Golden Globes red carpet arrivals 2015 “If you do win tonight, remember that no one cares about that award as much as you do.”
“Neither of our first two presenters have won a Golden Globe. I don’t know what they’re doing here, to be honest.”
On Matt Damon: “He’s the only person Ben Affleck hasn’t been unfaithful to.”
Follow Ned Ehrbar on Twitter: @nedrick
You don’t invite Ricky Gervais to host your awards show — for the fourth time — without expecting him to be at least a little controversial. And this year, Gervais did not disappoint, packing plenty of eyebrow-raising remarks into the first few minutes of his monologue.