Slumdog Millionaire owns 66th Golden Globes

There was little surprise but plenty of self-congratulatory cheer as Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire walked off with four awards (the most of any movie this year) at the 66th Golden Globes ceremony, including best film drama.

The triumph is likely to be considered confirmation that Slumdog has opened a lead ahead of this year’s Oscars, even though the Globes—the notoriously indulgent glamor parade put on every year by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association—are far from a foolproof barometer of awards sentiment. Even so, the Slumdog triumph seemed to befit the mood of the ceremony, which was light and breezily defiant of the current economic climate.

Other than best film, Slumdog also took home best director, best screenplay and best original score. Though he wasn’t nominated, the film’s young star, Dev Patel, seemed to be on the edge of tears after every award the movie received, and NBC’s dutiful cameras were always there to adore him.

Kate Winslet was the night’s other major success, consummating a long season of buildup with awards for best actress and best supporting actress in Revolutionary Road and The Reader, respectively. Given her exposure this year, Winslet’s dual victory can’t exactly be called a surprise, but there had been questions about which award would ultimately be hers.

Among the night’s few (pleasant) surprises included Colin Farrell’s win for best actor in a comedy for In Bruges and Vicki Cristina Bareclona’s win for best comedy film. (Farrell had quite an evening, including a hilariously gauche riff on his well-documented history of drug use.) Less of a surprise were Mickey Rourke’s victory for best actor in a drama and Sally Hawkins’ best comedic actress win for Happy-Go-Lucky, both expected but warmly received with sweet acceptable speeches. WALL-E won best animated film.

In a predictably somber moment, Christopher Nolan accepted the best supporting actor award for Heath Ledger's famous turn as The Joker in The Dark Knight, which was met with a standing ovation.



On the television side of the evening, 30 Rock and Mad Men took top honors for comedy and drama series. (Tracy Morgan, accepting for 30 Rock, had the evening’s most noted acceptance speech, above.) Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin both won top comedy acting awards for their roles on 30 Rock, while HBO had big drama wins for Gabriel Byrne and Anna Paquin, stars of the network’s freshman series In Treatment and True Blood. HBO also cleaned up in the miniseries and supporting actor categories, with wins for John Adams, Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson and Laura Dern.

Steven Spielberg received the Cecil B. DeMille Award, presented by Martin Scorsese, a reverent honor of the director’s enormous influence.

Catch a full list of the nominees and winners here.

Related links:
News: Independent Spirit Awards topped by tight budgets
News: Ballast, The Visitor, Synecdoche earn Gotham nominations
Ctrl-V: Oscar Buzz: Who's ahead in this year's key races?

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