On Sunday night, the beginning of the 2025 awards season commenced with the 82nd annual Golden Globe Awards. Unsurprisingly, the show was filled with major cinematic achievements and disappointments, with snubs and exciting wins all at once.
Before the real show started, the red carpet began it’s whispers of what was to come for the evening. Ariana and Cynthia have officially strayed away from the pink and green, Zendaya is maybe engaged and flaunting the rock on her left hand, and Cesily Collette Taylor (young Nessa Rose in the 2024 Wicked adaptation) wowed the reporters. Emma Stone debuted a new pixie cut, most likely for another Lanthimos collaboration. Alongside the stars of the evening, the winners from the Timothée Chalamet and Glen Powell look-alike competitions joined their doppelgangers on the carpet.
Inside, the real party begins with host Nikki Glaser kicking off the evening with a quick Ozempic and “holding space” joke. While anything would be better than the sexist anti-Barbie jokes of Jo Koy from the 81st Globes, Glaser delivered an unproblematic (aside from one Diddy joke, always unnecessary) and relatively humorous hosting gig, which led most of the focus to be on the nominees and winners themselves.
Much to Film Twitter’s dismay, Emilia Peréz, the most nominated film of the evening began its winnings early with Zoe Saldaña, winning supporting female actor in a motion picture. The controversy that surrounds the film largely lies between Selena Gomez stans on Twitter defending her Spanish and the discourse around why exactly this film is being venerated by critics and within awards circles. It is a French movie, made by French filmmakers, shot in France, yet the songs are sung in Spanish and the film centers around the Mexican cartel, meant to take place in Mexico City. Alongside Saldaña’s win, the film took home awards for Best Motion Picture (Non-English), Best Original Song, and Best Comedy/ Musical Motion Picture.
Similar to the events of the 2024 Emmy Awards, FX’s Shōgun swept the television categories, with awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series, Best Actor in a Drama Television Series, Best Female Actor in a Television Series, as well as Best Drama Television Series. Baby Reindeer also followed their trend from the Emmys, winning the majority of the limited series awards for the night.
In light of exciting wins, it was a major night for prosthetics, with wins for lead actors Colin Farrell, Sebastian Stan and Demi Moore. Officially solidifying the interesting intersection of films that explore our relationship with our appearance, specifically within the realm of performing alongside the destructive beauty standards that surround us. Both Moore and Stan gave incredibly moving and powerful speeches. Moore, receiving the script for The Substance around the time she contemplated ending her acting efforts, closed her speech with, “In those moments when we don’t think we’re smart enough or pretty enough, or skinny enough or successful enough, or basically just not enough. I had a woman say to me, ‘Just know, you will never be enough. But you can know the value of your worth if you just put down the measuring stick.”
The Brutalist also received three awards, including Best Film Director, Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture, and Best Drama Motion Picture. Director Brady Corbet addressed the “odds that were stacked against it,” thanking every person who made the movie possible, from Kodak to the cast and crew, and those in his personal life. While the film may be one of the best of the year, many in the United States wouldn’t know, as the film is playing in select theaters, barely leaving New York or Los Angeles.
The major snub of the night was undoubtedly Anora. The film sat at the top of lists across the critics’ boards and was unofficially crowned universally the “film of the year”, still, the film was nominated for five different awards, losing to some shocking wins, such as Emilia Pérez for Best Comedy Motion Picture, and a win that positively shocked others, Conclave for Best Screenplay for a Motion Picture.
The Golden Globes are never a totally obvious road to the upcoming Oscars, however, with this ceremony being the one to kickstart the major awards season, cinema fans notice the potential pipeline from Golden Globe winner to future Oscar winner. “Hollywood’s Party of the Year,” as the show has called itself, certainly gave moments that will flood the timeline. Aside from the awards themselves, post ceremony the real after party is online, with fans thirsting over Andrew Garfield putting on his reading glasses on camera, writing think pieces about Kylie Jenner and Timothée Chalamet (still), and wondering “Is Zendaya actually betrothed” and much much more. With the surprising and exciting wins of last night, on and off the carpet, it is evident that we are in for a very interesting awards season.
Written By Ana Marks
Illustration By Nico Diaz