“Slumdog Millionaire,” actress Kate Winslet and mini-series “John Adams” raked in the accolades at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday.

“Slumdog” won best picture in the drama category at this year’s Globes, held at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, and telecast live on NBC. The film won every category it was nominated in, which included Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Screenplay (by Simon Beaufoy) and Best Original Score (by A.R. Rahman).

It was also a good evening for Kate Winslet, who snagged a Best Performance by an Actress award for her portrayal of a desperate housewife in “Revolutionary Road” and Best Performance by a Supporting Actress for her role in “The Reader.” When she won for “Revolutionary Road,” Winslet thanked both co-star Leonardo DiCaprio and her husband Sam Mendes, who directed the film, in her acceptance speech, calling them “two incredible men who are such special people in my world.”

One of the big surprises included Mickey Rourke’s triumph in the Best Performance by an Actor category for drama, for his role as a down-and-out fighter in “The Wrestler.” Rourke’s career had been considered dead before this performance, now one of the most critically acclaimed of the year.

“It’s strange,” Rourke said in a press conference after winning the award. “I was out of the game for so many years. I really appreciated the second chance to work again.”

It surprised no one, however, to see Heath Ledger’s postmortem win for his role as The Joker in “The Dark Knight.”

“After Heath passed on, you saw a hole ripped in the future of cinema,” said Christopher Nolan, the film’s director, who accepted the award on behalf of Ledger. “But with the extraordinary response to his work that we’ve seen all over the world, I for one start to look a little bit less in that gap in the future and a little bit more at the incredible place in the history of cinema that he built for himself with his talent and his dedication to his artistry.”

In the television categories, the HBO mini-series “John Adams” emerged as the biggest victor of the night, winning Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, and Tom Wilkinson also won for their performances in the biopic.

The NBC comedy “30 Rock” was the other big television winner with three awards, including Best Television Series in a Musical or Comedy, a best actress accolade for Tina Fey, and best actor win for Alec Baldwin. Actor Tracy Morgan spoke for the show as they accepted their award.

“Tiny Fey and I had an agreement that if Barack Obama won, I would speak for the show from now on,” Morgan said. “Welcome to post-racial America. I am the face of post-racial America- deal with it, Cate Blanchett!”

“30 Rock” was the only network winner this year, with all of the other television awards going to cable programs on either HBO or AMC.

In television drama the awards were more mixed. AMC’s “Mad Men” won Best Television Series, but failed to garner wins for either lead actor Jon Hamm or actress January Jones. Anna Paquin won Best Performance by an Actress for her role in the new HBO vampire soap opera “True Blood,” and Gabriel Byrne won for his performance on HBO’s “In Treatment.”

About The Author

Emma Johnson is a Blast Magazine critic whose work has appeared in The Boston Globe

One Response

  1. coffee

    here i thought Mickey Rourke would never show up in public again, and there he was, winning big at the Golden Globes

    Reply

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