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Actresses Demi Moore and Fernanda Torres’ surprise wins at the Globes mean the road to the Oscars could be full of more thrills to come.
This year’s Golden Globes did what these awards do best: upset a major Oscar race, when Demi Moore won best actress in a musical or comedy for the body horror satire. Fondet Fernanda Torres won in the drama category for the Brazilian political film I’m Still Here. Both actresses were far down on most Oscar prediction lists, mentioned as unlikely possibilities. But their unexpected victories, plus the fact that both gave moving and eloquent acceptance speeches, now puts them firmly in the mix for nominations.
Let’s be frank about what the Globes are. As rewards go, they’re candy, an excuse for a glitzy, star-studded show, where everyone from Nicole Kidman to Harrison Ford and Zendaya show up. The globes were reconstituted two years ago when the scandal-ridden Hollywood Foreign Press Association was bought out by business owners and its membership changed. But the Globe’s 334 voters, drawn from international publications or websites, do not overlap with the more than 9,000 people who can vote for the Oscars. Winning a Globe is above all a question of momentum and being perceived as a winner, or at least as a competitor to be taken seriously. That’s why these wins are such good news for Moore and Torres.
It’s rare for the Golden Globes to shake up a race like Best Actress
Moore’s performance as a TV personality cast aside in favor of a younger replacement (Margaret Qualley) is solid, but an Oscar campaign needs more than that, and it has the kind of narrative rewards of return that voters love. She smartly pointed this out in her acceptance speech, starting with the fact that she had never been awarded for her performance during her long career. She spoke of her own insecurity, how a producer told her 30 years ago that she was “a popcorn actress” who could make money but not be taken seriously, an idea she has internalized – a nice touch of modesty. Then, she said, “When I was at a low point, I got this creative, ready-made, crazy script across my desk called The Substance.” This kind of resurgence plays into the hands of voters, as was the case when Ke Huy Quan won an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once after not acting for decades. And it helps that The Substance’s theme, the necessity and high cost of vanity and Hollywood stardom, resonates with voters.
Torres, a veteran actress but not a Hollywood star, was an even bigger surprise, but her win was well deserved. Her fierce, understated performance is at the heart of Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here, in which she plays a woman whose husband, a former politician, is among the missing victims of Brazil’s military dictatorship in the 1970s. speech included a moving dedication to his own mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who plays his character’s mother in the film and who was nominated for a Globe and an Oscar 25 years ago for another Salles film, Central Station. And Torres was among the few winners whose speech indirectly commented on the state of the world, tying in the resilience his character needed today. “There is something happening in the world right now with so much fear. And it’s a film that helped us think about how to survive in difficult times like this,” she said. It’s a tactfully delivered message of hope that Hollywood is likely to welcome.
Of course, these upsets only put Moore and Torres in the minds of Oscar voters (and for Moore, Bafta voters, as she made the long list). The Globes can be very poor predictors, because splitting the major categories into comedy and drama doubles the number of nominees. But Moore and Torres beat the toughest competition. Moore won over three presumptive Oscar favorites, Mikey Madison (Anora), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez) and Cynthia Erivo (Bad). Torres’ category included Nicole Kidman (Little Girl), Angelina Jolie (Marie) and Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door). These eight actresses are now participating in a game of musical chairs at the Oscars, a game that Moore and Torres weren’t necessarily players in just a few days ago.
Another acting upset, Sebastian Stan’s win as best actor in a musical or comedy for A Different Man, probably won’t have the same impact. The real competition was in the drama category, with Oscar favorites Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) and Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Stranger) going head-to-head and Brody winning. Stan’s surprise victory is likely to be a career validation and reward failure as he faced weak competition. Glen Powell for Hitman and Gabriel Labelle for Saturday Night look like moves to fill this category. After all, it’s rare for the Golden Globes to shake up a race like Best Actress. More often than not, they boost Oscar prospects, as was the case for Kieran Culkin, who won Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain and appears to be a lock to win the Oscar.
Perhaps the most important thing about the Golden Globes this year is the timing. Voting for Oscar nominations ends next Sunday, January 12, meaning the Globes have arrived just in time for voters to ponder the new awards landscape.
