"Slumdog," Winslet, Baldwin, Linney, Ledger Are Golden Globe Winners

By Andrew Gans
January 11, 2009

The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards, which span both television and motion picture achievement, were broadcast live on NBC Jan. 11.

Kate Winslet was one of the big winners of the evening, earning Golden Globes for two separate performances: Best Actress — Drama for "Revolutionary Road" and Best Supporting Actress for "The Reader." Mickey Rourke won the Best Actor - Drama award for his work in "The Wrestler." Colin Farrell won the Best Actor - Comedy or Musical Golden Globe Award for his performance as an Irish hit man in "In Bruges," which was penned by The Beauty Queen of Leenane playwright Martin McDonagh, who is currently represented Off-Broadway with The Cripple of Inishmaan.

Top prizes in the film categories went to "Slumdog Millionaire" for Best Motion Picture — Drama, while Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" picked up the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical.

"Slumdog," the film that traces the lives of three orphans from the slums of India, also picked up prizes for Best Screenplay — Motion Picture for writer Simon Beaufoy, for Best Director — Motion Picture for Danny Boyle and for Best Original Score for Bombay Dreams composer A.R. Rahman.

Laura Linney, who was recently on Broadway in the revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, won the Golden Globe for Best Performance By an Actress in a Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television for her performance as Abigail Adams in the HBO Films miniseries, "John Adams." Her co-stars in the HBO presentation — Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson — also received Golden Globes for their work as, respectively, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. The seven-part epic miniseries that explored American history while offering a portrait of one of its founding fathers, John Adams, was also voted Best Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television.

Frequent stage star Alec Baldwin received the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical Golden Globe for his work in the Tina Fey comedy "30 Rock." The series was also named Best Television Series — Comedy or Musical, and its creator and star, Fey, was named Best Actress in a Television Series — Comedy or Musical.

Heath Ledger was posthumously acknowledged for his portrayal of The Joker in "The Dark Knight." The Batman motion picture was Ledger's final film performance.

Steven Spielberg received this year's Cecil B. DeMille Award from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for his "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field."

Presenters for the evening included Pierce Brosnan, Sandra Bullock, Gerard Butler, Sean Combs, Zac Efron, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, Simon Baker, Drew Barrymore, Glenn Close, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cameron Diaz, Aaron Eckhart, Laurence Fishburne, Ricky Gervais, Jake Gyllenhaal, Salma Hayek, The Jonas Brothers, Jessica Lange, Blake Lively, Jennifer Lopez, Hayden Panettiere, Amy Poehler, Seth Rogen and Martin Scorsese.

The annual awards ceremony was produced by Dick Clark Productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Orly Adelson, president of dcp and Barry Adelman executive produced. Chris Donovan was the director, and dcp's Bob Bardo was the executive in charge of production.

Winners of the Golden Globes follow (winners' names are in bold and preceded by an asterisk):

BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Frost/Nixon"
"The Reader"
"Revolutionary Road"
*"Slumdog Millionaire"

ACTOR - DRAMA
Leonardo DiCaprio - "Revolutionary Road"
Frank Langella - "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn - "Milk"
Brad Pitt - "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
*Mickey Rourke - "The Wrestler"

TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA
"Dexter"
"House"
"In Treatment"
*"Mad Men"
"True Blood"

ACTRESS - DRAMA
Anne Hathaway - "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie - "Changeling"
Meryl Streep - "Doubt"
Kristin Scott Thomas - "I've Loved You So Long"
*Kate Winslet - "Revolutionary Road"

BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
"Burn After Reading"
"Happy-Go-Lucky"
"In Bruges"
"Mamma Mia!"
*"Vicky Cristina Barcelona"

ACTOR - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Javier Bardem - "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
*Colin Farrell - "In Bruges"
James Franco - "Pineapple Express"
Brendan Gleeson - "In Bruges"
Dustin Hoffman - "Last Chance Harvey"

BEST DIRECTOR-MOTION PICTURE
*Danny Boyle, "Slumdog Millionaire"
Stephen Daldry, "The Reader"
David Fincher, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Ron Howard, "Frost/Nixon"
Sam Mendes, "Revolutionary Road"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES -COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Christina Applegate - "Samantha Who?"
America Ferrera - "Ugly Betty"
*Tina Fey - "30 Rock"
Debra Messing - "The Starter Wife"
Mary-Louise Parker - "Weeds"

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE-MOTION PICTURE
Alexandre Desplat, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Clint Eastwood, "Changeling"
James Newton Howard, "Defiance"
*A.R. Rahman, "Slumdog Millionaire"
Hanz Zimmer, "Frost/Nixon"

TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
*"30 Rock"
"Californication"
"Entourage"
"The Office"
"Weeds"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Ralph Fiennes, "Bernard and Doris"
*Paul Giamatti, "John Adams"
Kevin Spacey, "Recount"
Kiefer Sutherland, "24: Redemption"
Tom Wilkinson, "Recount"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES -COMEDY OR MUSICAL
*Alec Baldwin - "30 Rock"
Steve Carell - "The Office"
Kevin Connelly - "Entourage"
David Duchovny - "Californication"
Tony Shalhoub - "Monk"

SCREENPLAY - MOTION PICTURE
*Simon Beaufoy - "Slumdog Millionaire"
David Hare - "The Reader"
Peter Morgan - "Frost/Nixon"
Eric Roth - "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
John Patrick Shanley - "Doubt"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Judi Dench, "Cranford"
Catherine Keener, "An American Crime"
*Laura Linney, "John Adams"
Shirley MacLaine, "Coco Chanel"
Susan Sarandon, "Bernard and Doris"

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
"The Baader Meinhof Complex" (Germany)
"Everlasting Moments" (Sweden)
"Gomorrah" (Italy)
"I've Loved You So Long" (France)
*"Waltz with Bashir" (Israel)

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tom Cruise, "Tropic Thunder"
Robert Downey Jr., "Tropic Thunder"
Ray Fiennes, "The Duchess"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Doubt"
*Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"

MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
"A Raisin in the Sun"
"Bernard and Doris"
"Cranford"
*"John Adams"
"Recount"

ACTRESS - COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Rebecca Hall - "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
*Sally Hawkins - "Happy-Go-Lucky"
Frances McDormand - "Burn After Reading"
Meryl Streep - "Mamma Mia!"
Emma Thompson - "Last Chance Harvey"

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
"Bolt"
"Kung Fu Panda"
*"Wall-E"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES-DRAMA
Sally Field, "Brothers and Sisters"
Mariska Hargitay, "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit"
January Jones, "Mad Men"
*Anna Paquin, "True Blood"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES-DRAMA
*Gabriel Byrne, "In Treatment"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"
Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie, "House"
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "The Tudors"

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Eileen Atkins - "Cranford"
*Laura Dern- "Recount"
Melissa George- "In Treatment"
Rachel Griffiths- "Brothers and Sisters"
Dianne Wiest- "In Treatment"

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Neil Patrick Harris, "How I Met Your Mother"
Denis Leary, "Recount"
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage"
Blair Underwood, "In Treatment"
*Tom Wilkinson, "John Adams"

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Down to Earth" from "Wall-E"
"Gran Torino" from "Gran Torino"
"I Thought I Lost You" from "Bolt"
"Once in a Lifetime" from "Cadillac Records"
*"The Wrestler" from "The Wrestler"

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis, "Doubt"
Marisa Tomei, "The Wrestler"
*Kate Winslet, "The Reader"

*

Brooke Shields, Elizabeth Banks, Terrence Howard, Rainn Wilson and Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Jorge Camara announced the nominations for The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards Dec. 11 at The Beverly Hilton. Three films each earned five nominations apiece: "Doubt" and "Frost/Nixon," which are both based on the stage plays of the same name, and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

For more information go to www.goldenglobes.org.