Change comes to the Golden Globes, 2 years after an internal overhaul

Historically regarded (and derided) as a fluffy, disjointed ceremony, the Golden Globes have spent the past few years trying to course-correct. 

A new owner arrived in 2023, and subsequently barred the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) from the annual gala’s voting process, following allegations of corruption and a general perception that it was out of step. 

The intended result was a less shallow, more international Golden Globes that, in the words of pop culture reporter Kevin Fallon, don’t just hand out “trophies to the most famous person in the room.”

It’s a vision that Sunday’s show might have brought a step closer.

Fallon, who is both editor of The Daily Beast’s Obsessed and co-president of the TV branch of the Critics Choice Association, says there’s now “a real weight and gravitas to the award that didn’t exist before.”

It was the second gala since the HFPA was disbanded, but the first that seemed to show the effect of all the changes behind the scenes.

Case in point, it was a huge night for The Brutalist, the three-and-half-hour story about an immigrant architect, and Emilia Pérez, the genre-bending Spanish-language crime-story musical about a transgender woman in love. 

Rachel Ho, a Toronto film critic and Globe voter since 2022, says things have tightened up since the HFPA was disbanded. The old voting body had been sharply criticized for accepting lavish gifts — including a full European vacation from the production company behind 2020’s critically ignored Emily in Paris, which got a Globe nomination.

Now, says Ho, the types of items voters are allowed to receive is strictly controlled. Only things directly related to the movies and shows in question are allowed, and then only if they relate to a category in which the production is eligible.

That meant, for example, when the production company behind Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio wanted to send coffee table books highlighting the film’s imagery and visual effects to her critics’ group, the offer was nixed —  they weren’t voting on cinematography awards. 

The new organizers “are really strict about these types of things in terms of what gifts we’re allowed to receive, what type of relationship that we as journalists have with different publicists who contact us,” she said.

But there was another course correction. Before 2022, the Golden Globes didn’t have a single Black member eligible to vote. Now, the field has widened, ballooning from roughly 85 total members under the HFPA to over 330 today, 11 per cent of which are Black, say organizers. According to the Globes’ website, 47 per cent are female, ranging from 85 countries and 60 per cent are racially and ethnically diverse.

That change is “reflected in the films that get nominated and in the films that actually win,” Ho said.

More Black representation

Ho herself was sought out as an international voting member after the HFPA scandal, set off largely after a 2021 L.A. Times investigation, which outlined the lack of Black-led stories in a year somewhat defined by them: Da 5 Bloods, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Judas and the Black Messiah were all left off the nominations list.

This years’ nominations saw more representation for Black creators: Colman Domingo’s performance in Sing Sing, Zendaya’s turn in Challengers and RaMell Ross’s much-lauded Nickel Boys all scored nominations.

While few Black artists (Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Pérez being a notable exception) ended up taking home a trophy, Ho says there was a wider trend — Sunday showed a slate of foreign or smaller productions besting the middle-of-the-road fare the Globes typically awarded, “because we’re not solely looking at Hollywood as the be-all-and-end-all of what should win an award.”

There was Demi Moore nabbing her first Globe for The Substance and, in her speech, noting how awards shows had always derided her as “popcorn actress” undeserving of recognition. There was Fernanda Torres winning the hotly contested best actress award against the likes of Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslet. There was Kieran Culkin taking home best supporting actor for A Real Pain and Sebastian Stan’s best actor win for A Different Man — both underseen 2024 releases slowly picking up wider attention.

And of course there were Emilia Pérez and The Brutalist’s barnstormer performances, the latter of which prompted a thank you from director Brady Corbet to the Globes “for giving our film further visibility with such a recognition.”

Fallon says that “thank you” makes more sense now than ever, given the Globes’ somewhat solid reputation as a bellwether. Situated right at the outset of the awards season, they exist as something of an audition for potential winners; how wins and speeches go over with crowds sticks in voters’ minds come Oscars time. 

“We can sort of read more than usual into the fact that someone like Fernando Torres wins, that someone like Demi Moore wins for The Substance — and the fact that those are going to be taken more seriously by the Oscars,” he said.