16/01/2007

As expected, Dame Helen Mirren was crowned queen of the 64th Golden Globes awards ceremony yesterday in Los Angeles, winning acting prizes for playing Elizabeth I in the TV series of the same name and Elizabeth II in Stephen Frears’ successful The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile] (see focus).

The road from Venice glory to the Oscars seems totally safe now for Mirren, who surprisingly had never won a Golden Globe (nor an Oscar) before.

The UK/French production The Queen also won a Golden Globe for Best Screeenplay, another prestigious win for Peter Morgan, who has been celebrated throughout 2006 as much as Mirren for his artistic contribution to The Queen.

However, Frears’ missed out on the Best Director Golden Globe, which went to Martin Scorsese, while the Best Film-Drama went to Babel. The Last King of Scotland [+see also:
trailer
film profile], another UK production (co-scripted by Peter Morgan), offered the Best Acting Award to Forest Whitaker. The film, in which Whitaker plays Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, has grossed over £861,000 since its release through 20th Century Fox in the UK last Friday.

As for British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who has conquered the world with Borat (over $100m worldwide), he beat Johnny Depp for the Best Actor in a musical or comedy and said jokingly in his acceptance speech: “Thank you to every American who has not sued me so far”.