Early Globes reward political films like ‘Syriana’

By Bob Tourtellotte

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) – Movies and TV shows
with a political edge including Middle East oil drama “Syriana”
swept through early Golden Globe Awards on Monday, winning
honors for the likes of George Clooney, Geena Davis and Rachel
Weisz.

Clooney won the Golden Globe for best supporting actor in a
film drama playing a veteran CIA agent in Middle East oil
drama, “Syriana,” and Britain’s Weisz was named best supporting
actress in a film drama for her portrayal of a social activist
in Africa in thriller “The Constant Gardener.”

Palestinian film “Paradise Now,” which looks at what drives
suicide bombers to take their own lives and kill others, was
named best foreign language film.”

Davis took home the Golden Globe playing a female U.S.
president in her new television show, “Commander In Chief.”

“This is early, I haven’t had a drink yet,” Clooney joked
when he took the stage to accept his award, the first award of
the night.

The actor turned serious, however, when he acknowledged the
writer/director Stephen Gaghan, as well as Warner Independent
Pictures for releasing such a politically charged film.

“These are tough questions to ask, and I’m very proud that
the studios are willing to ask these questions,” he said about
“Syriana’s” take on the Middle East and the politics of oil.

Reese Witherspoon won best actress in a musical or comedy
for her portrayal of singer June Carter in “Walk the Line,” and
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana won best screenplay for gay
love story “Brokeback Mountain,” a favorite for best drama.

McMurtry, the author of western classic “Lonesome Dove,”
thanked his typewriter, a Hermes 3000 which he said “has kept
me out of the dry embrace of the computer for 30 years.”

The Globes are billed as being a big Hollywood party,
unlike other award shows such as the Oscars, and Davis had one
of the lighter moments onstage when she noted a young girl had
tugged at her dress before the program and told her that
“Commander In Chief” inspired her to be president.

HOLLYWOOD PARTY

As the crowed let out a collective “ahh,” Davis smiled.
“Well, that didn’t actually happen,” she said. “But it could
have. … And were that to be the case, then all of this would
be worth it.”

Golden Globe winners are chosen annually by about 85
members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and are
widely watched as a measure of which movies will later vie for
Oscars, the top U.S. film honors voted on by some 6,000 members
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Golden Globe winners often go on to win Oscars, and the
stars turned out for Monday’s show in tuxedos, gowns and fine
jewelry to wow viewers in some 172 countries around the world.

Joining Davis among TV winners in that arena, British actor
Hugh Laurie won the award for best actor in a TV drama playing
a hard-edged doctor in medical drama “House.”

“Empire Falls,” about life in a small town, won the Golden
Globe for best mini-series or TV movie, and Paul Newman earned
supporting actor honors for the same program. Sandra Oh was
best supporting actress for hospital TV show “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Steve Carell was named best actor in a TV comedy playing an
insensitive boss in “The Office,” and in a surprise Mary Louise
Parker took home the Golden Globe award for her role as a pot
selling suburban mom in cable TV program “Weeds.”

“Desperate Housewives” was named best TV comedy series.

But movies grab much of the spotlight at the Golden Globes
because Hollywood is smack in the middle of its annual Oscar
sweepstakes, and the night’s top honor will go to best films.

Among film dramas, romance “Brokeback” about two lonely
cowboys who fall in love, was the early favorite to win, having
come into the show with a leading seven nominations.

“Brokeback” faces competition from George Clooney’s “Good
Night, and Good Luck,” which details newsman Edward R. Murrow’s
on-the-air battle against McCarthyism in the 1950s. Also
nominated are thriller “The Constant Gardener,” Woody Allen’s
twisting tale of fate, “Match Point,” and “A History of
Violence,” about a man trying to escape his past.

The best film musical or comedy is expected to be a close
battle among the five nominees, musicals “Walk the Line,” and
“The Producers,” and comedies “Pride & Prejudice,” “Mrs.
Henderson Presents” and “The Squid and the Whale.”