Eye For Film >> News >> Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri wins big at the Golden Globes

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri wins big at the Golden Globes

Guillermo Del Toro is named Best Director

by Jennie Kermode

Double award winner Lady Bird

The Golden Globes were awarded last night at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles.

The first film award was for Best Supporting Actor and was won by Sam Rockwell for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. "This movie is about compassion and I think we need some of that these days," he said, before making an inadvertent tribute to his character by accidentally walking the wrong way off the stage. Best Supporting Actress subsequently went to Allison Janney for I, Tonya.

Guillermo Del Toro was named Best Director for The Shape Of Water - a big victory because it has traditionally been very difficult for films with fantasy themes to win support in mainstream awards no matter how good they are. "Since childhood I’ve been faithful to monsters — I have been saved and absolved by them. Because monsters, I believe, are patron saints of our blissful imperfection," he said on receiving his award.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was named Best Motion Picture - Drama and also took the Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama award for Frances McDormand.

Lady Bird won Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and took the Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy award for Saoirse Ronan.

Gary Oldman secured a British win with his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour - Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama.

James Franco won Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for The Disaster Artist and just about managed to make an acceptance speech, despite Tommy Wiseau trying to steal the microphone.

"It's 2018, marijuana is finally allowed, and sexual harassment finally isn't," said host Seth Meyers, kicking off the ceremony with a list of several men notable by their absence.

The Globes are awarded by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of international journalists based in California. They're generally considered to be the most important awards in the run-up to the Oscars.

This year's event looks rather different from usual due to the large number of women wearing black on the red carpet. It's not a fashion statement but a protest about sexual harassment in the industry. Some men have also joined the protest, though others have noted that men generally wear black suits to the event anyway. When the protest was announced, Rose McGowan, who has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape (an accusation he denied), suggested that Golden Globes attendees should wear clothes by Weinstein's soon-to-be-ex wife Georgina Chapman, who is a leading designer at fashion label Marchesa.

The monocolour scheme hasn't stopped the stars making other kinds of fashion statement. Jessica Chastain has arrived in a long, narrow black velvet dress with lace sides, Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman and Kerry Washington in sparkling black dresses, and Isabelle Huppert in a flowing black gown with a feathered top and a long train - other guests will have to watch where they put their feet. Writer Lena Waithe has a chic black satin suit, Alicia Vikander has a charmingly old fashioned, high necked dress, Allison Janney has a black lace dress with splashes of white and Viola Davis has used simple strings of white beads to offset her strappy black dress.

Perhaps the biggest problem with the protest so far has been that, while it has given women the chance to speak out about harassment, that's all their getting asked about, while the men are getting to talk about their work. Kerry Washington said that women didn't want to boycott the event because that would have meant giving up their seats at the table.

"I will be watching tonight with a very different feeling than I had at this time four years ago. I will watch with optimism, with hope, and with the firm belief that there is a brighter future ahead," said Dylan Farrow, whose allegations against Woody Allen played an important role in kickstarting Hollywood conversations about sexual abuse and harassment.

Those film awards in full:-

Best Motion Picture, Drama