Golden Globes 2023: Banshees of Inisherin and Fabelmans win bigon January 11, 2023 at 4:48 am

The Golden Globe Awards 2023 are under way in Los Angeles, as the ceremony mounts a comeback following two years of controversy.

Nominees including Michelle Yeoh and Eddie Redmayne are in attendance at the Beverley Hilton hotel.

The first two winners of the night were Ke Huy Quan and Angela Bassett – who won best supporting actor and actress.

The Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once lead the film nominations this year.

Abbott Elementary, The White Lotus and The Crown are nominated in the television categories.

The organisation behind the ceremony this year hopes to restore the status of the Globes, as well as its own reputation, after a controversial two years.

There was significant Hollywood fallout to a scathing exposé of the HFPA published innominations in full the LA Times in February 2021, which found there were no black members in the 87-strong voting body, and that relatively few members worked full-time for notable foreign publications.

The newspaper’s investigation also alleged the group often accepted “freebies” from studios and PR agencies who were campaigning for nominations, along with other ethical failings.

The expose led NBC to cancel its broadcast of the 2022 ceremony, which ended up taking place behind closed doors with few stars in attendance.

Meanwhile, the HFPA announced a series of reforms, such as expanding and diversifying the membership, and a ban on accepting promotional items from film and TV studios.

Despite many stars returning to the Globes, some are notable by their absence.

Brendan Fraser, who is nominated for best actor for The Whale, previously said he will not attend the ceremony after accusing former HFPA president Philip Berk of groping him in 2003.

The HFPA found that Mr Berk “inappropriately touched” Fraser, but that it “was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance”.

Another big star skipping the ceremony is Tom Cruise. In 2021 he handed back his three Golden Globes in light of the controversy engulfing the HFPA.

He is not nominated for best actor, but his film Top Gun: Maverick was one of the biggest movies of last year and is nominated for best drama picture.

Scarlett Johansson previously encouraged others in the film industry to “step back” from the organisation, while her Avengers co-star Mark Ruffalo wrote last year that the HFPA’s reforms were “discouraging”.

This year, US comedian Jerrod Carmichael will take on hosting duties. While not a household name in the UK, Carmichael is a well-known figure on the US comedy circuit.

In 2022, he won an Emmy for writing his stand-up special Rothaniel and was nominated for guest hosting Saturday Night Live that same year.

Taking place in early January, most celebrities are usually on good form at the Globes, thanks to the Christmas break they’ve just enjoyed, coupled with plenty of complimentary drinks.

“Traditionally, it was always considered the most fun [of the awards] to be at,” Gervais told the Telegraph earlier this week. “Tables heaped with free booze, [when] other awards are theatre seating and totally dry.

“Of course, what’s better for the audience isn’t always great for the performer. As audiences get drunker, you have to work harder to get their attention. I quickly found that the threat of hearing something awful about themselves made them listen.”

The Banshees of Inisherin, a dark comedy starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, leads the pack at the Globes with eight nominations.

Inventive multiverse comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All at Once, starring Michelle Yeoh, follows with six.

Babylon, Damien Chazelle’s reflection on 1920s Hollywood, has five nominations, as does Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical The Fabelmans.

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic, Guillermo del Toro’s stop-motion animation Pinocchio, and Todd Field’s excellent drama Tár, starring Cate Blanchett as a disgraced orchestra conductor, all have three.

On the television side, school-based comedy Abbott Elementary leads with five nominations, while their are four apiece for The Crown, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Only Murders in the Building, Pam & Tommy and The White Lotus.