The Biggest Factors To Look Forward To At The 2013 Golden Globes
By Joey Magidson
Film Contributor
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Aside from the Academy Awards, no ceremony has as much pomp and circumstance to it each year than the Golden Globe Awards. While the Golden Globes don’t have the same cultural legacy that the Oscars do, the former is definitely an event that affects the latter at times. Most years, the influence on Oscar is there, but it’s minimal. This year, however, we could be looking at a time when Oscar voters are looking to the Globes more than ever before.
The reason for this added interest is the new timeframe for Academy members to vote. Usually there’s more distance between the Globe nominations and the Oscar nominations, which is not the case here. This makes the Globes a show to look forward to more than is usual.
I’m not going to outright list the things to most look forward to with the Golden Globes this year, but there are a lot, and they don’t all have to do with the Oscar race. One can see what the Hollywood Foreign Press does this year and enjoy it independently of what eventually goes down with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. There will be simple pleasures on display for all awards show and movie fans to enjoy.
We have an interesting hosting duo in Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who will undoubtedly have some strong chemistry. People don’t usually pay as much attention to the Golden Globe hosts as they do the Oscars (not counting Ricky Gervais), so Fey and Poehler mostly just have to not mess up in order to get a passing mark. Fey has an especially good fan base, though, so fans of hers will probably like her and Poehler’s repartee.
The Best Picture match-ups name Argo vs. Lincoln vs. Zero Dark Thirty in Drama and Les Miserables vs. Silver Linings Playbook in Comedy/Musical. Whoever wins those races will certainly gain a leg up in the Oscar race. Historically, those who win the Globes tend to lose the Oscar, but The Artist broke that streak last year. In an especially competitive race like this one, a win here could be a huge boost for two flicks, perhaps even setting up the ultimate showdown for the Best Picture Oscar.
Something similar goes for the acting categories. Best Actor in a Drama is expected to mirror the eventual Oscar winner in Daniel Day-Lewis, but the Comedy/Musical category will see Bradley Cooper and Hugh Jackman fight it out, so that could tell us something. Either of those two could possibly emerge as a threat to Day-Lewis, but I wouldn’t count on that being the case.
As for Actress, the main Oscar contenders won’t be going up against each other, as Jessica Chastain is in Drama (and expected to win), while Jennifer Lawrence is in Comedy/Musical (and also expected to win). They’ll have to wait until Oscar night to settle things between them.
Best Supporting Actor is anyone’s ballgame (with perhaps a slight edge to Leonardo DiCaprio due to the Academy’s love of him), while Best Supporting Actress is pretty much Anne Hathaway’s in a walk. In this regard, the Globes are just like the Oscars in my eyes.
The Globes only have Best Screenplay, so there won’t be both an Adapted and Original winner. Still, depending on which script wins (the race seems to be between Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty), a the Oscar categories could still be a bit up in the air.
Throughout the ceremony, the Globes’ underlying implications for the Oscars will emerge. Essentially, unless we see something like Argo or Django Unchained surprise with a Drama win (or with Screenplay), the Academy Awards race will likely stay mostly the same. More so than in years past, we’re looking at the Hollywood Foreign Press to lead the way, assuming the Academy members don’t try to be overtly contrarian. I don’t see that happening, though. They’ll likely look at the Globes and take their winners as a form of advice.
One of the under-the-radar factors that I think makes the Golden Globes extra enjoyable for some is that the voters here tend to have different tastes than Academy voters. As I mentioned, during the past decade or so, the Globes have consistently chosen Best Picture winners that didn’t line up with what the Oscars ultimately did. While that’s become almost a kiss of death to Academy Award hopefuls, it’s a welcome bit of variety for viewers, and I think that’s not acknowledged as much as it should be. Shows with the same winners over and over again can get just plain boring.
Finally, here are my guesses at how the ceremony will go in the film categories this year. In Best Picture – Drama, I’m going with a mild upset pick in Zero Dark Thirty, though I believe it’s a more competitive race than many are expecting. For Best Picture – Comedy or Musical, I’m thinking Les Miserables is a pretty likely winner given its international popularity.
Best Director could very well go to the filmmaker behind the Drama winner, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a mild upset with Ben Affleck winning. Still, I’m a bit of a chicken so I stick with Kathryn Bigelow taking home that particular Globe.
For the Lead Acting categories, I see Chastain and Day-Lewis winning the Drama prizes, with Jackman and Lawrence taking Comedy or Musical. The gentlemen have some competition that could vie for an upset (I don’t see it, though), but the ladies are sitting very pretty right now.
Supporting Actor is a wild guess, but I think Tommy Lee Jones could wind up giving Lincoln a victory. Anyone in that lineup could win, however. On the flip side, Hathaway is pretty much a guarantee for Supporting Actress. That one I don’t believe can go any other way.
For the other categories, I see Tony Kushner and Lincoln winning Screenplay, Adele and Skyfall taking Best Original Song, Cloud Atlas winning Score (which would go to Reinhold Heil, Johnny Klimek, and Tom Tykwer), Amour winning Foreign Language Film and Brave taking Animated Feature.
All in all, the Golden Globe Awards are looking like a good bit of fun this year. I know I’ll be excited to see who wins, beyond the terms of gaining some perspective on the Oscar race.
Tags: Adele, Amour, Amy Poehler, Anne Hathaway, Argo, Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Brave, Cloud Atlas, Daniel Day Lewis, Django Unchained, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Johnny Klimek, Kathryn Bigelow, Leonardo DiCaprio, Les Miserables, Lincoln, Reinhold Heil, Ricky Gervais, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, The Artist, Tina Fey, Tom Tykwer, Tommy Lee Jones, Tony Kushner, Zero Dark Thirty