Rags-to-riches tale Slumdog Millionaire hit the jackpot at the Golden Globes on Sunday, winning four of the coveted awards including best film drama to give it a leg up in Hollywood’s race for Oscars.
Slumdog, which tells of a young Indian man looking for love and competing for money on a television game show, also earned awards for director Danny Boyle, screenwriter Simon Beaufoy and composer AR Rahman for best musical score.
Boyle thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which gives out the Golden Globe Awards, for supporting his movie that captures the frenetic pace of life in Mumbai.
”Your mad, pulsating affection for our film is much appreciated, really deeply appreciated,” Boyle said.
In other major honors, director Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona was named best film musical or comedy.
Kate Winslet grabbed two Golden Globes, one for best actress in a drama in her role as a frustrated housewife in Revolutionary Road and the second for best supporting actress playing a German woman with a hidden past in The Reader.
It was only the third time in Golden Globe history that a performer has won two acting awards in one year, according to Tom O’Neil of awards website TheEnvelope.com.
Mickey Rourke was named best actor in a film drama with The Wrestler and Heath Ledger, who died of an accidental drug overdose last year, was named best supporting actor for playing the villain Joker in Batman movie The Dark Knight.
”All of us who worked with Heath accept this with an awful mixture of sadness but incredible pride,” director Christopher Nolan said onstage.
Colin Farrell won best actor in a musical or comedy with his role as a hitman in In Bruges, and Sally Hawkins was best actress in the same group for her work as an optimistic teacher in Happy-Go-Lucky.
Wall-E, a huge summer hit with $523-million at global box offices, took home best animated film, and Israel’s Waltz with Bashir was named best foreign language film.
The Golden Globe Awards are given out by some 90 members of the HFPA. They are closely watched for clues as to which films might vie for Oscars, the world’s top movie awards given in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. – Reuters