Portrayals of real-life musicians dominated at the 2019 Golden Globes as “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Green Book” won top honours, while the films’ stars also picked up awards for their acclaimed performances.
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” about the late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, bested another movie surrounded by music, the favourite “A Star is Born,” to win best picture, drama and best actor in a drama for Rami Malek.
“Green Book,” which follows a tour between pianist Don Shirley and Tony Vallelonga, won best picture (musical or comedy) and best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali.
Though music is at the centre of both “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “A Star Is Born,” the films competed in the drama categories instead of musical/comedy, submitted that way by its studios.
“A Star Is Born” walked into Sunday’s Globes as a favourite with five nominations, but only ended up winning one award: best original song for “Shallow,” co-written by Lady Gaga.
She and Cooper lost in their respective acting categories. Cooper also lost in the directing and producing categories.
Gaga shared the win with Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt.
“As a woman in music it is really hard to be taken seriously as a musician and as a songwriter,” Gaga said onstage, adding that her co-writers “lifted me up, they supported me.”
The award was presented by Taylor Swift and Idris Elba at the Beverly Hilton.
It was Gaga’s second Globe win: In 2016, she won best actress in a miniseries or motion picture made for television for her role in FX’s “American Horror Story: Hotel.”
“Shallow,” performed by Gaga and Bradley Cooper, has earned four Grammy nominations, including song and record of the year. The track also reached platinum status and became a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The song, shortlisted for best original song at the 2019 Academy Awards, beat out some heavy-hitters at the Globes, including Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “All the Stars” from “Black Panther”; Dolly Parton and Linda Perry’s “Girl in the Movies” from “Dumplin”’; Annie Lennox’s “Requiem for a Private War” from “A Private War;” and Troye Sivan and Jonsi’s “Revelation” from “Boy Erased.”
Justin Hurwitz picked up his third Golden Globe when he won best original score for “First Man” on Sunday. Hurwitz, an Oscar- and Grammy-winner, beat out Alexandre Desplat (“Isle of Dogs”), Marc Shaiman (“Mary Poppins Returns”), Ludwig Goransson (“Black Panther”) and Marco Beltrami (“A Quiet Place”).