The Balancing Act Recaps the 2024 Golden Globes

Credits: Joe Shlabotnik and Flickr

The best in film and television were honored once again Sunday night for the 81st annual Golden Globes Award Show. Comedian Jo Koy hosted the evening at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Succession were the big winners on the night. Here is a recap of some of the big wins at the 2024 Golden Globes Award Show.

Best Picture – Drama

Oppenheimer took home the most coveted prize of the night, Best Picture – Drama. Emma Thomas, producer for Oppenheimer, gave the acceptance speech. Thomas has been a producer on every Christopher Nolan film since 1998’s “Following.” Nolan and Thomas met at University College London. The two filmmakers ditched Warner Bros. for Universal after 20 years because of the way Warner Bros was operating during the pandemic. Warner Bros. produced “Barbie” this past summer and released the film the same day as Nolan’s Oppenheimer!

Cillian Murphy also took home the Golden Globe for best performance by a male actor in a motion picture – drama – for his role as J. Robert Oppenheimer.

#Oppenheimer wins the award for Best Motion Picture – Drama at the 2024 #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/iQ6iZ4NKEG

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 8, 2024

Best Television Series – Drama

Succession went home with the Golden Globe for Best Television Series – drama. Jesse Armstrong, the creator of the hit series, called the show a “team effort” and thanked his fellow producers, writers, directors, cast, and crew. Succession wrapped its final season this past year and finished with three wins in the category, tying Mad Man and The X-Files for the most all time. 

“We decided this was the right time to end the show and that was very bittersweet, particularly for me, because I finally bought some shoes that are appropriate for awards — and this might be the last time I ever get to wear them,” he added. “It is bittersweet, but things like this make it rather sweeter, so thank you very much indeed.”

Succession cast members Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, and Matthew Macfadyen won Golden Globes earlier in the show. 

Best Actress in Motion Picture – Drama

Lily Gladstone won the Golden Globe for best performance by a female actor in a motion picture – drama – for Killers of the Flowers Moon. Gladstone was the first Indigenous actor to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress. 

“This is a historic win, it doesn’t belong to just me,” she continued. “This is for every little rez kid … every little native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves in our own words with tremendous allies and tremendous trust….”

Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical

The Bear won the Golden Globe for best television series – comedy or musical. Lionel Boyce, who plays Marcus in the hit series, accepted the award. Boyce gave a shoutout to “the entire restaurant community” in the acceptance speech. 

“We play these characters for a couple of hours a day, for a couple of months out of the year, but this is y’all’s reality, the highs, and the lows, so thank you for embracing us while we tell the story.”

The Bear beat many notable shows for the award including Abbott Elementary, Barry, Jury Duty, Only Murders in the Building, and Ted Lasso. Other members of the series including Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri won Golden Globes during the show. 

Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award

The biggest movie of the year, Barbie, won the Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement. This award was one of two new categories at this year’s award show. 

Margot Robbie, who played the iconic Barbie, dedicated the win to all the fans “who dressed up and went to the greatest place on Earth: the movie theaters.” 

Greta Gerwig, the director and co-writer said “Thank you to everybody. All the Barbies and Kens are in front of and behind the screen. It was the greatest, most joyful show of craftsmanship and passion I’ve ever seen.” Gerwig also gave a shoutout to her writing partner Noah Baumbach. 

Barbie brought in a whopping $1.442 billion at the box office. 

Best Original Song

Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas took home the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie. 

“Thank you to my brother Finneas, you are the reason I am who I am,” “What Was I Made For” singer-songwriter Billie Eilish said alongside her brother, who co-wrote the song with her. “I want to thank Greta [Gerwig] and Noah [Baumbach] for making this incredible film. I want to thank Margot [Robbie] for being the Margot we know and love. It was exactly a year ago, almost, that we were shown the movie,” she continued. “I was very, very miserable and depressed at the time, and writing that song kind of saved me a little bit.”

The 81st annual Golden Globes was another spectacular night for Hollywood. To see a full list of all the winners on the night, click here.