'Three Billboards' wins big as Golden Globes power through sex scandal

LOS ANGELES - Reuters

Dark drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” was the big winner with four Golden Globes awards on Jan. 7 on a night marked by scathing jokes about sexual harassment and passionate odes to those breaking their silence.

Mother-daughter comedy “Lady Bird” was named best comedy film and the indie A24 movie’s star Saoirse Ronan won for comedy actress.

Gary Oldman was named best drama movie actor for his role as British wartime leader Winston Churchill in Focus Features’ “Darkest Hour” and Frances McDormand took home the award for drama actress for her role as an angry mother seeking vengeance in Fox Searchlight’s “Three Billboards.”

James Franco won the comedy actor award for his cult movie homage “The Disaster Artist,” also from A24. Mexican director Guillermo del Toro won best director for magical fantasy “The Shape of Water.”

However, the night was dominated not by who took home prizes but by jokes and speeches about the sexual misconduct scandal that has rocked Hollywood.

“Happy New Year Hollywood! It’s 2018. Marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn‘t,” quipped Globes host Seth Meyers in his opening remarks, bringing wild applause from the A-list audience in Beverly Hills.

Multiple allegations against actors, filmmakers and Hollywood agents since October 2017 have led to many of the accused being fired, forced to step down, or dropped from creative projects.

Referring to the male nominees gathered in Beverly Hills for the top television and movie awards, Meyers said: “This is the first time in three months it won’t be terrifying to hear your name read out loud.”

The evening began with the normally colorful red carpet transformed into a sea of black gowns as every actress showed solidarity with victims of sexual harassment inside and outside the entertainment industry. Many have given their own harrowing accounts.

Women kept up the theme inside the Beverly Hilton ballroom.

“This year, we became the story,” Oprah Winfrey said in a rousing speech while accepting the annual lifetime achievement award.

McDormand said she was proud to be a woman in the industry. “It’s great to be here and be part of the tectonic shift in our industry’s power structure,” she said.

Laura Dern, a supporting actress winner for “Big Little Lies,” said: “May we teach our children that speaking out without retribution is our culture’s new north star.”

The HBO TV series was one of several female-driven winners.

The Golden Globes ceremony, the first of the major awards shows in the run-up to the Oscars in March, marked the first big test for how Hollywood would handle the scandal.

Fatih Akın's 'In the Fade' wins Golden Globe for foreign film 

"In the Fade," a German film that tackles terrorism from multiple, and multicultural, perspectives won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film.

"How'd that happen?" said a stunned Fatih Akın as he accepted the award. "Thank you for elevating this movie even though it's in a foreign language."

Akın is a German-born filmmaker of Turkish descent whose film tells the tale of a woman, played by Diane Kruger, whose son and Turkish husband are killed in a bomb attack.

"I'm a German filmmaker, I live in Germany, I was born in Germany," Akın said later backstage, "but my heart is in Turkey."

The film alludes to a series of actual killings that shook Germany six years ago, when it came to light that police had spent more time investigating the possible mob connections of migrant victims than the tell-tale signs of the far-right plot eventually uncovered.

Kruger, a native German acting in her first German film, won best actress for the performance at last year's Cannes Film Festival for playing the devastated mother.

Kruger said the role forever changed the way she looks at terrorism.

"I got to witness what those families go through," she said backstage at the Globes. "I know they have a name and a life to live."

Akın said he was stunned that by looking inward he has been accepted on the international stage - and hoped the victory would help sell more tickets in Germany, where "In the Fade" hasn't fared well.

"This is the most personal film I did," he said, "and it brought me here."

List of Golden Globe winners

Best film, drama: "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best film, musical or comedy: "Lady Bird"

Best director:  Guillermo del Toro, "The Shape of Water"      

Best actor, drama: Gary Oldman, "Darkest Hour"

Best actress, drama: Frances McDormand, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best actor, musical or comedy: James Franco, "The Disaster Artist"

Best actress, musical or comedy: Saoirse Ronan, "Lady Bird"

Best supporting actor: Sam Rockwell, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best supporting actress: Allison Janney, "I, Tonya"

Best screenplay: Martin McDonagh, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"

Best foreign language film: "In the Fade"

Best animated feature: "Coco"

Best original score: Alexandre Desplat, "The Shape of Water"

Best original song: Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, "This Is Me" from "The Greatest Showman"

Best drama series: "The Handmaid's Tale"

Best drama actor: Sterling K. Brown, "This is Us"

Best drama actress: Elisabeth Moss, "The Handmaid's Tale"

Best musical or comedy series: "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"

Best musical or comedy actor: Aziz Ansari, "Master of None"

Best musical or comedy actress: Rachel Brosnahan, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"

Best limited series or TV movie: "Big Little Lies"

Best limited series or TV movie actor: Ewan McGregor, "Fargo"

Best limited series or TV movie actress: Nicole Kidman, "Big Little Lies"

Best supporting actor in a series, limited series or TV movie: Alexander Skarsgard, "Big Little Lies"

Best supporting actress in a series, limited series or TV movie: Laura Dern, "Big Little Lies"