It’s a wet day in Los Angeles but a golden night for several Jewish filmmakers and performers at the 80th Golden Globes. Here is a list of the Jewish winners and moments:
Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner won Golden Globes as co-producers of “The Fabelmans,” which won Best Motion Picture (Drama).
It was Kushner’s first Golden Globe win after previously being nominated for Best Screenplay for “Munich” and “Lincoln.”
In addition to Best Picture, Spielberg took home a Golden Globe for Best Director, his ninth Golden Globe of his career. He previously swept Golden Globes categories for Best Picture and Best Director for “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” Spielberg also won Golden Globes for Best Picture with “E.T.,” “The Adventures of Tintin” and “West Side Story.”
“The Fabelmans” is a semi-autobiographical film based on some of Spielberg’s earliest ventures into filmmaking.
“I’ve been hiding from this story since I was 17 years old,” Spielberg said in his acceptance speech for Best Director. “I put a lot of things in my way of this story. I told this story in parts and parcels all through my career. ‘E.T.’ has a lot to do with this story. ‘Close Encounters’ has a lot to do with the story, but I never had the courage to hit this story head on until… Tony Kushner, when we were working on ‘Munich’, which is a long time ago, sat me down and said, start telling me about all these stories I’ve heard about your life. And we started a conversation and the conversation lasted all through ‘Munich,’ all through ‘Lincoln,’ all through ‘West Side Story.’ And my wife Kate was always saying, ‘you have to tell this story.’ And during Covid, I didn’t know if any of us were going to have the chance to tell any of our stories again in March, April, May of 2020. So we sat down to tell a story, which is I think everything I’ve done up to this point has made me ready to finally be honest about the fact that it’s not easy to be a kid. The fact that everybody sees me as a success story, and everybody sees all of us the way they perceive us— based on how they get the information. But nobody really knows who we are until we’re courageous enough to tell everyone who we are. And I spent a lot of time trying to figure out when I could tell that story. And I figured out when I turned about 74 years old, I said, ‘you better do it now.’”
Spielberg received a special shout out during the first award of the evening. The award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture went to actor Ke Huy Quan for his role as Waymond Wang in “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” Quan first broke into Hollywood in 1984 with roles in “Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom” as Short Round and “The Goonies” as Data—both films with Spielberg involvement. But since 1992, he has only been in three films.
“I was raised to never forget where I came from and to always remember who gave me my first opportunity,” Quan said in his acceptance speech. “I am so happy to see Steven Spielberg here tonight, Steven, thank you! When I started my career as a child actor in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” I felt so very lucky to have been chosen. As I grew older, I started to wonder if that was it. If that was just luck. Through so many years, I was afraid that I had nothing more to offer, that no matter what I did, I would never surpass what I achieved as a kid. Thankfully, more than 30 years later, two guys thought of me. They remembered that kid and they gave me an opportunity to try again,”
Comedian Jerrod Carmichael, the ceremony’s host, kept the laughs going throughout the evening. He even referenced the Jewish community in a quip that garnered some of the biggest laughs of the night.
“I want to take out a second to shout out Steven Spielberg, who is here,” Carmichael said. “It’s an honor sir. Congrats on ‘The Fabelmans.’ I actually saw it with Kanye and it changed everything for him. That’s how good you are. You changed Kanye West’s mind.” The crowd at the Beverly Hilton burst into laughter, and Spielberg comically put his hands together in gratitude and looked upward.
Composer Justin Hurwitz won his fourth Golden Globe, this time for Best Original Score for the film “Babylon.” Hurwitz previously won for Best Original Score for “First Man” and “La La Land,” as well as Best Original Song for the song “City of Stars” from “La La Land.” He has won every time he has been nominated, each directed by Damien Chazelle.
Hurwitz, too, took the inspirational route in his acceptance speech.
“I’m very grateful that I had the opportunity to figure out at a young age that music was the thing for me,” Hurwitz said. “I’m grateful to my parents. I’m grateful to the public schools I went to that have music classes. I think a lot about all of the people out there who are really talented at something, but never get the chance to figure out what that thing is. So I just think it’s so important to spread opportunity around to make sure that everybody, kids and adults, and everybody has the opportunity to be exposed to things, to try things out, to figure out what’s for them. Because I think things would be so much better if people could figure out the thing that they were good at, the thing they loved doing more than anything else, and we just need opportunity.”
Miguel Sapochnik, executive producer of the HBO series “House of the Dragon,” won a Golden Globe for Best Television Series (Drama). Sapochnik was joined on stage with performers Emma D’Arcy and Milly Alcock. Sapochnik’s wife Alexis Raben, who served as co-producer of season one, was not present on stage, and has been involved in some behind-the-scenes production drama. Just last week, it was reported that Sapochnik will not return to produce season two because HBO allegedly would not allow Raben to return as a producer, citing her lack of experience, according to the DailyMail.
Actor Jeremy Allen White won a Golden Globe for his starring role as chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in the television series “The Bear.” The FX comedy-drama is about Carmy, a fine-dining chef, returning home to Chicago to run his family’s rag-tag sandwich shop.
White was in talented company, beating out fellow nominees Donald Glover (Atlanta), Bill Hader (“Barry”), Steve Martin (“Only Murders in the Building”) and Martin Short (“Only Murders in the Building”). White choked up during his acceptance speech as he expressed gratitude for the late Chris Huvane, a talent agent who took his own life last year.
“Chris Huvane…Chris really really loved the show, he didn’t get to see all of it,” White said. White was repped by Huvane, who worked at Management 360, now Entertainment 360.
Actress Julia Garner won Best Supporting Actress in a Television Series for her portrayal of Ruth Langmore on “Ozark.”
“Playing Ruth for the last few has been the greatest gift in my life,” Garner said in her acceptance speech.
“Abbott Elementary” won for Best Television Series (Musical or Drama). Co-producer Justin Halpern won his first Golden Globe. Halpern is best known for his book “Sh*t My Dad Says”
About mid-way through the ceremony, actor Sean Penn gave an impassioned speech on stage.
“If the freedom to dream were a spear, I proudly present a human being who tonight represents that spear’s most horned tip,” Penn said.
At that moment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared, speaking directly to the camera in a recorded segment. Zelensky wore a black long-sleeve shirt with the Coat of arms of Ukraine emblazoned in the middle of his chest. The symbol itself, a shield with gold trident. The surprised crowd cheered as they recognized the former comedian and actor turned wartime president.
“Ladies and gentlemen, dear participants of the Golden Globe ceremony,” Zelensky began. “The awards were born at a special time. The second World War wasn’t over yet…but there were still battles and tears ahead. It was then when the golden globe award appeared to honor best performers of 1943. It is now 2023, the war in Ukraine is not over yet but the tide is turning and it is already clear who will win. THere are still battles and teasers ahead…But now I can definitely tell you who were the best in the previous year: It was you, the free people of the free world, those who united around the support of the free Ukrainian people in our common struggle for freedom and democracy. For the right to live, to love, to give birth. No matter who you are, no matter where you’re from, no matter who you are with, the struggle for the right of the new generations to know about the war only from movies. The First World War claimed millions of lives. The Second World War claimed tens of millions of them. There will be no Third World War. It is not a trilogy. Ukraine will stop the Russian aggression on our land. We will make it together with the whole free world. And I hope all of you will be with us on the victorious day— the day of our victory. Slava Ukraini!”
“The First World War claimed millions of lives. The Second World War claimed tens of millions of them. There will be no Third World War. It is not a trilogy. Ukraine will stop the Russian aggression on our land.”
-Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Golden Globes
At the time that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Penn was working on a documentary in Ukraine. He rushed out of the country two months later in April, but returned in June and met with President Zelensky. IMDB still lists the untitled documentary as “in production.” Penn is also a five-time Golden Globe nominee. His sole victory came as Best Actor for “Mystic River.”
This year’s Golden Globes was the first ceremony to be entirely in Beverly Hills since 2020.
There was no in-person ceremony in 2022, as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was marred in controversy. In 2021, the ceremony took place between New York and Los Angeles. It was also the first Golden Globes in 61 years to take place on a Tuesday.
