The Observer
News 09.01.22 13relieved they don’t have to go through
that any more.”
The awards are run by the
Hollywood Foreign Press Association
(HFPA), which was last year called to
account for its ethical failings, and for
failure to refl ect the wider fi lm world.
These claims, echoed by stars such as
Scarlett Johansson and Tom Cruise,
led to boycotts from most of the lead-
ing public relations fi rms with which
the HFPA was once hand-in-satin-
glove. None of the industry maga-
zines is promoting the event this year,
NBC has pulled out of a broadcast
arrangement and A-list stars have
refused to attend.
“The Globes have been the big loser
of the season,” said Jeremy Kay, US
editor of Screen Daily. “For months,
the HFPA has been furiously issuing
press releases to show it is undergo-
ing fundamental structural change to
course-correct, bring in new mem-
bership and ingratiate itself with
Hollywood, but it’s been given the
cold shoulder. The Globes nomina-
tions passed by with little fanfare and
it is hard to see tonight’s ceremony
registering anything like the level of
interest it has enjoyed over the years.
Its influence on the Oscar season
seems negligible.”
It is possible, though, that this
reversal of fortunes has had the acci-
dental effect of modernising the
Globes and making them more suited
to our sombre, mid-pandemic era.Critic Robbie Collin suggested last
week in the Telegraph that their low-
key look would be more apt: short on
pizazz, short on self-congratulation,
and, most importantly he seems to
feel, just plain short.
Yet the annual awards season is
a key component of the marketing
machine in Los Angeles, and organis-
ers of the Critics Choice awards were
hoping to benefi t from the Globes’
loss of status this time around.
The Critics Choice ceremony was
also due to take place this month,
but a fresh surge in Omicron cases
has seen it postponed. So perhaps it
is now the Baftas, held in London on
13 March , that has the best chance of
attracting attention before the Oscars
on 27 March.
The British academy has already
undergone its own hefty shake-
up and self-examination, following
recent accusations that female direc-
tors and black artists were under-rep-
resented. It will also inevitably gain
kudos this spring from the num-
ber of British actors winning plau-
dits. Among them are Olivia Colman,
for The Lost Daughter , Benedict
Cumberbatch, for Jane Campion’s
The Power of the Dog , and Kenneth
Branagh, for Belfast, starring Jamie
Dornan and Ciarán Hinds. Each is
in the running for a string of prizes,
potentially culminating in golden
statuettes at the ceremony that still
outshines them all.Golden moments:
from left, Phoebe
Waller-Bridge,
Lady Gaga,
Snoop Dogg,
Olivia Colman
and presenter
Ricky Gervais.
Rex, Getty,
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