Cillian Murphy takes home Best Actor award at the Golden Globes

Film And TV
08 Jan 24

Cillian Murphy

Oppenheimer and Succession have been crowned the big winners at this year's Golden Globes - with Barbie's box office domination celebrated too.

Cork actor Cillian Murphy has taken home his first Golden Globe award for best actor in a drama for his role in Christopher Nolan's biopic Oppenheimer, which tells the story of JJ Oppenheimer, the nuclear physicist who developed the atomic bomb.

The 2024 ceremony took place Beverly Hills California and saw Nolan's biopic take home five awards in total, including Robert Downey Jr for best supporting actor, Nolan for best director and best drama motion picture.

Irish talent at the Globes:

Murphy fended off a ballot loaded with Irish talent including Andrew Scott for his role in All of Us Strangers and Barry Keoghan for his work in the erotic thriller Saltburn.

Murphy joked about the number of Irish nominees at the Golden Globes in his acceptance speech saying- "To all my fellow nominees, whether you're Irish or not, you're all legends, I salute you," Murphy said.

The Peaky Blinder star also paid homage to his director saying: "I knew the first time I walked on Christopher Nolan's set that it was different.

"I could tell by the level of rigour, focus, dedication, and the complete lack of seating options for actors," he joked, "that I was in the hands of a visionary director."

A disappointing night for Barbie:

A surprise result, Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, a wild feminist fantasy produced by Dublin’s Element Pictures, beat out bookie's favourite Barbie to best comedy or musical film. Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney, veterans of the Irish film industry, are among the winning producers. Poor Things also won top prize at the Venice Film Festival in September.

Oppenheimer's unlikely cinematic rival, Barbie, won slightly less than projected, taking home only two gongs from the ceremony after being nominated for seven; the inaugural award for cinematic and box office achievement, and best original song for Billie Eilish's 'What Was I Made For?'.

Barbie beat out of a field of seven other nominees for the cinematic and box office achievement award including Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and and it's same day release opposition Oppenheimer .

In the best original song category, Barbie had a whopping three best original song nominations.

Historic Moments:

Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone was named best drama actress, making her the first indigenous person to win the award, something she described as "historic".Lily Gladstone was named best drama actress, making her the first indigenous person to win the award, something she described as "historic".

The actress began her acceptance speech by speaking Algonquian language Blackfeet. The actress comes from a Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northern Montana.

"I just spoke a bit of Blackfeet language, the beautiful community nation that raised me, encouraged me to keep doing this," she told the audience.

"I'm here with my mum, who, even though she's not Blackfeet, worked tirelessly to get Blackfeet into our classroom.

"This award is a historic one. I'm so grateful I can speak even a little bit of my language, because in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English, and then their sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera."

In Scorsese's film, Gladstone plays Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman whose family members are brutally murdered as part of a plot by white settlers to move in on their land and take their fortune, all in order to gain access to the oil resource on the land.

Succession and TV awards:

Succession was the big winner in the TV categories, winning four gongs following the fourth and final season of the drama about a media mogul and his children who battle for control of his company.

The Globes also honoured television with breakout cooking drama/comedy The Bear and sitcom Beef, with both picking up three awards each.

The Golden Globes are often considered to be a gauge of what is to come in Hollywood's biggest awards night, The Oscars, which will announces its nominees on January 23rd 2024.

A list of winners can be found below:

The 81st Golden Globes winners
Best Motion Picture – Drama: Oppenheimer.

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Poor Things.

Best Director: Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama: Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama: Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Emma Stone – Poor Things.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy: Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers.

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers.

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture: Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer

Best Motion Picture – Animated: The Boy and the Heron.

Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language: Anatomy of a Fall.

Cinematic and Box Office Achievement: Barbie.

Best Screenplay: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari – Anatomy of a Fall.

Best Original Score: Ludwig Göransson – Oppenheimer.

Best Original Song: What Was I Made For? (Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell) – Barbie.

Best Television Series – Drama: Succession.

Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy: The Bear.

Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Beef.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama: Kieran Culkin – Succession.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Drama: Sarah Snook – Succession.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy: Jeremy Allen White – The Bear.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy: Ayo Edebiri – The Bear.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Steven Yeun – Beef.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Ali Wong – Beef.

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor in a Series, Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Matthew Macfadyen – Succession.

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress in a Series, Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Elizabeth Debicki – The Crown.

Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television: Ricky Gervais – Ricky Gervais: Armageddon.