Getty ImagesSurprise wins for actresses Demi Moore and Fernanda Torres at the Globes mean there may be more thrills on the way to the Oscars.
This year’s Golden Globes did what these awards do best. Shocking the major Oscar races, Demi Moore won Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for the body-horror satire Substance, while Fernanda Torres won Best Drama for a Brazilian political film. Movie “I’m Still Here”. Both actresses were fairly low on most Oscar prediction lists and were mentioned as unlikely. However, their unexpected victory, along with the fact that both gave moving and eloquent acceptance speeches, means they are now firmly in the running for nominations.
Let’s be honest about what a glove is. As for the prize, they’re candy and an excuse for a glitzy, star-studded show featuring everyone from Nicole Kidman to Harrison Ford to Zendaya. The Globes were reunited two years ago when the scandal-hit Hollywood Foreign Press Association was acquired by corporate executives and its membership changed. But the 334 Globe voters from international publications and websites do not overlap with the more than 9,000 people who can vote for the Oscars. To win the Globes, it’s important to have momentum and be recognized as a winner, or at least a contender to be taken seriously. That’s why these wins are such good news for Moore and Torres.
Moore’s performance as a TV personality sidelined in favor of a younger replacement (Margaret Qualley) is strong, but an Oscar campaign needs more than that, and she won the kind of comeback narrative award that voters prefer. have been acquired. She cleverly highlighted that in her acceptance speech, starting with the fact that she had never won an acting award in her long career. She talks about her own insecurities and how a producer told her 30 years ago that she was a “popcorn actress” who made money but wasn’t taken seriously. It was a good idea, and it was humility in a good way. And she said this: “When I was feeling down, a creative and outrageous script called “The Substance” came across my desk.” This kind of resurgence puts direct influence in the hands of voters, as when Ke Hui Quan won an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once after decades away from acting. give. And it helps that “Substance”’s themes of Hollywood vanity and the need and high cost of stardom resonate with voters.
Torres is a veteran actress but not a Hollywood star, which made her win all the more surprising, but well-deserved. Her fierce yet understated performance is at the heart of Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, in which she plays a woman whose ex-politician husband is a victim of the disappearance of Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1970s. She plays a woman who is one of the people. Torres’ speech included a moving dedication to her own mother, Fernanda Montenegro. Fernanda Montenegro, who plays her mother in the film, was nominated for a Globe and an Oscar 25 years ago for another Salles film, “Central Station.” And Ms. Torres was one of the few honorees to comment obliquely on world conditions in her speech, bringing the requisite resilience of her character to today. “Something very scary is happening in the world right now, and this film helped me think about how to survive in such difficult times,” she said. It’s a hopeful message delivered with tact that Hollywood is likely to welcome.
Of course, these upsets only served to remind Oscar voters of Moore and Torres (and, in Moore’s case, BAFTA voters, since Moore was on the nominees list). ). The Globes can be a terrible predictor because splitting the major categories into comedy and drama doubles the number of nominees. But Moore and Torres survived the toughest competition. Moore beat out three potential Oscar front-runners: Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Carla Sofia Gascón (Emilia Perez) and Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”). In Torres’ category were Nicole Kidman (Babygirl), Angelina Jolie (Maria) and Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door). All eight of these actresses are currently participating in the Oscar musical chairs game, but a few days ago Moore and Torres weren’t necessarily participants.
Another acting upset, Sebastian Stan’s win for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy for “Different Man,” is unlikely to have a similar impact. The real competition there was in the drama category, pitting Oscar nominee Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) against Timothée Chalamet (Completely Unknown), with Brody winning. Stan’s unexpected victory, in the face of weak competition, is likely to vindicate his career and cost him the award. Glen Powell in “The Hitman” and Gabriel LaBelle in “Saturday Night” seem like moves that fill that category. After all, it’s rare for a Golden Globe to stir up as much excitement over the race as Best Actress. More often than not, they cement Oscar prospects, like Kieran Culkin, who won Best Supporting Actor for Real Pain and appears to hold the key to winning an Oscar.
The most important thing about this year’s Golden Globe Awards may be its timing. Voting for Oscar nominations closes next Sunday, January 12th. That means the Globes have arrived just in time for voters to ponder the new awards landscape.
