Final week, the Critics Alternative Awards helped ease all of us on the awards circuit right into a Golden Globes weekend that also felt like being shot out a cannon. However whereas the occasion itself is a locus for all kinds of annual occasions, the stakes have been even greater this yr, with the ceremony shifting from the primary weekend of the yr to a weekend conveniently proper earlier than Oscars nomination voting opens.
Saturday alone hosted a strong slate that included the Unbiased Spirit Awards Nominee Brunch, the BAFTA Tea Social gathering, and the AARP Motion pictures for Grownups Awards, plus a number of pre-Golden Globes events. The celebrities had been displaying up and displaying out nicely earlier than they arrived on the crimson carpet on the Beverly Hilton on Sunday.
Whereas Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After One other” continues to be the out and out favourite to win the Finest Image Oscar, particularly after it received Finest Director, Finest Screenplay, and Finest Movement Image – Musical or Comedy on the Golden Globes, its rival “Hamnet” got here out of the weekend as the larger winner.
After being feted on the AFI Awards, the movie’s solid and crew have been available for one among Friday night time’s largest occasions, Donna Langley and Common Leisure’s Celebratory Toast, which frequently turns into extra expansive than simply an awards occasion, inviting stars from their upcoming 2026 releases, like “Disclosure Day” actor Colman Domingo, in addition to their TV reveals, like “All Her Fault” actors Sarah Snook and Michael Peña.
Having made it onto 14 of the BAFTA longlists, the Tea Social gathering felt like a victory lap for “Hamnet” as nicely, because the crew caught up with friends from throughout the pond. The movie is a British co-production, and so the BAFTAs appear to be the most certainly place Chloé Zhao’s movie might accumulate one other Finest Image win over “One Battle After One other.” That will be just like how “Conclave,” one other Focus Options launch, trumped “Anora” on the similar ceremony final yr.
A lot of those that attended the BAFTA Tea Social gathering, like “Sentimental Worth” stars Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, or “Sinners” star Delroy Lindo, went straight from there to the AARP Motion pictures for Grownups Awards, which is able to air on PBS on February 22. However, spoiler alert: ”Hamnet” received Finest Image there, too.
When Sharon Stone introduced the award to Zhao, plus her stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, it was probably the most poignant second of the night time, with the Oscar nominee in tears speaking about how watching the movie not solely have you ever to really feel the impression of loss, however “wake you as much as the understanding of what you have got.”
Afterwards, as an additional celebration of the award it simply received and its Golden Globes nominations the following day, there was a Saturday night time “Hamnet” reception on the historic Castillo del Lago mansion within the Hollywood Hills. The venue, which has been owned by everybody from Bugsy Siegel to Madonna, will not be well-trodden awards season territory like different iconic Los Angeles locales, from Chateau Marmont to Sundown Tower Lodge, so the get together ended up netting turnout, even simply from attendees who have been curious to stroll inside. (Sadly, Mescal did get caught within the elevator at one level within the night time.)
However what was most attention-grabbing in regards to the “Hamnet” get together on Saturday was what number of Golden Globes members have been in attendance. It made it very clear going into the Sunday ceremony that “Hamnet” would finally win Finest Movement Image – Drama, notably the award that closed out the present.
Common Leisure’s Golden Globes after get together on the Maybourne Lodge in Beverly Hills didn’t find yourself being a late night time rager, given the exhausting weekend, but it surely did ship off the Focus Options movies specifically in good spirits as they into the ultimate stretch of Oscar nominations voting.
Only a week or two in the past, some prognosticators have been starting to jot down off Zhao and her movie, believing some unattributed get together chatter amongst filmmakers that she not had probability of a Finest Director nomination, however the “Hamnet” helmer spent final week receiving PGA and DGA Awards nominations, along with her two stars being acknowledged by the Actor Awards nominations. This was all preceded by the movie successful a number of viewers awards at main fall movie festivals, together with the celebrated Individuals’s Alternative Award at TIFF.
It’s simple to overthink issues and threat not predicting a transparent frontrunner like “One Battle After One other” for no matter cause, however contemplate this: the final two movies to win Finest Screenplay, Finest Director, and one of many Finest Image awards on the Golden Globes have been “La La Land” and “The Social Community.”
So, sure, there may be nonetheless precedent for Zhao’s “Hamnet” to tug off a Finest Image Oscar win akin to “Moonlight” or “The King’s Speech.” One main precedent it would break? Its win could be the very first time a Focus Options movie received Hollywood’s high honor.
