'Sideways' and 'The Aviator' take top honours at the Golden Globes
Last Updated: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 | 11:48 AM ET
CBC Arts
Sideways took the prize for the best motion-picture comedy. It entered the evening with a total of seven nods, making it this year's most-nominated film.
Payne, who is married to Canada's Sandra Oh, one of the film's stars, also shared the trophy for best screenplay with Jim Taylor on Sunday.
Annette Bening with the award she won or best actress in a musical or comedy for her work in Being Julia, at the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday. (AP photo)
The Aviator was given the other jewel in the Golden Globe crown, the prize for best motion-picture drama.
Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Hughes, took the award for best actor in a dramatic motion picture for playing the title character.
The 62nd annual Golden Globe Awards were broadcast live from the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel on NBC and simulcast in Canada on CTV.
Jamie Foxx accepts the Golden Globe award for best actor in a musical or comedy for his work in Ray on Sunday. (AP photo)
Given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Golden Globe Awards honour excellence in film and television.
Among the night's other winners was Annette Bening, who took home the best-actress award for a film comedy for her turn in the Canadian picture Being Julia, about an aging British stage actress in the 1930s. Veteran Canadian producer Robert Lantos was on the list of people that Bening thanked during her speech.
Earlier in the evening, Montreal-born William Shatner, star of TV's Boston Legal, was given the prize for supporting work by a TV actor for playing lawyer Denny Crane.
William Shatner won a Golden Globe for best supporting actor in a series, mini-series or television movie for his work on Boston Legal. (AP photo)
Hefting the award in his hand, the one-time starship captain grew reflective, saying simply, "William Shatner."
Toronto's Howard Shore, a one-time member of the band Lighthouse, won for composing the score for The Aviator. In his acceptance speech, Shore said it was interesting to work on a period picture that bridged the silent and sound film eras.
The show had no host, but did feature a slew of celebrity presenters such as Al Pacino, Jim Carrey, Halle Berry, Renée Zellweger, Samuel L. Jackson and Topher Grace.
Former U.S. president Bill Clinton appeared in a video to salute Hollywood for its response to the Dec. 26 tsunami in South Asia.
Saturday Night Live alumnus Will Ferrell provided one of the evening's few funny moments, emerging on stage wearing a pirate-style eyepatch to present the prize for best-actress in a comic film.
"Rest assured the boating accident was not as bad as reported," he deadpanned.
Desperate Housewives walked away with the best TV comedy award, while Nip/Tuck was named the winner of the drama equivalent.
Best motion-picture director honours went to veteran filmmaker Clint Eastwood for his boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, in which he stars alongside Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman. Eastwood said he did not expect to win.
"I thought I was done when they gave me one of the 10 best tuxes out in the line," he rasped.
Swank also won for her turn in the film, taking film-drama honours for a female performer.
Jamie Foxx, the star of Ray, won the acting prize for a male performer in a comedy or musical.
After thanking the late Ray Charles, the subject of the movie, Foxx tipped his hat to Taylor Hackford for being a white director with the courage to make a "beautiful black film."
The Mike Nichols film Closer swept the supporting-performer categories for film, with trophies going to Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.
In addition, Robin Williams was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which recognizes one person's outstanding contribution to entertainment.
Looking at the trophy, Williams thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the "nippley thing." He then held the award to his chest as if it were a metallic breast. "Quick, Janet Jackson," he said.
He then launched into a rapid-fire speech that ended with him dedicating his award to his friend, Christopher Reeve, who died this past year.
Alejandro Amenábar's The Sea Inside was chosen as the best foreign-language film.
The Golden Globe telecast is the first big awards show of the year in the U.S.
Since the winners of the Golden Globes get extra publicity in the run-up to the Academy Awards, the show is considered a reliable bellwether for predicting who will emerge on top at Oscar time.
The Golden Globes were the subject of Vikram Jayanti's 2003 documentary The Golden Globes: Hollywood's Dirty Little Secret, which portrayed the Golden Globes as meaningless except as a means to boost one's chances of getting an Academy Award or an Emmy.
Critics of the Golden Globes often point to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's small membership as proof of the show's questionable value.
The organization is made up of 96 journalists who mostly work part-time for little-known foreign media outlets.
By contrast, industry professionals – almost 6,000 of them – pick the Oscar winners.
According to the Golden Globes website, four HFPA members file reports for outlets in Canada: Dagmar Dunlevy, Andre Guimond, John Hiscock and Noemia Young.
