At the 74th Golden Globes Awards show, it was La La Land‘s night, from the incredible show-opening homage to the film’s opening number through the film’s record-setting seven wins.
The musical earned best picture, best director (Damien Chazelle), best actor (Ryan Gosling), best actress (Emma Stone), best screenplay (Chazelle), best original score and best original song (“City of Stars”).
The clean sweep (7 awards for 7 nominations) exceeded the expectations of even its biggest proponents.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which determines Globe nominees and winners, is a group of 90 L.A.-based foreign journalists, whereas the Academy is a group of roughly 7,000 people who actually work on movies.
This year’s Globes may have more impact than in previous years. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) pushed back its voting schedule–nominations will be announced January 24, and so the Globes ceremony fell in the middle of Oscar voting, and therefore could potentially influence Academy members.
Scott Feinstein, the estimable awards analyst of the Hollywood Reporter observes: “La La Land claiming so much of the spotlight deprived other films of a chance to showcase their own talent to Oscar voters.”
Its screenplay win was not anticipated. Does it mean La La Land will win the best original screenplay Oscar as well? Probably no.
Kenneth Lonergan‘s Manchester script stands a slightly better shot, since the Academy tends to undervalue written contributions to musicals.
While Lonergan never got to take the stage at the Globes, Chazelle, however, was up on stage twice, to pick up best screenplay and best director.
Lionsgate should benefit immensely from Fallon’s homage to their musical. It’s the best free publicity and effective promotion for their charming picture.
At 31, Chazelle may become the youngest best director winner in Oscar’s 90 year history.
Many viewers complained that the show played like a long, long valentine to La La Land, which landed seven awards — more than any other film in history.
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