Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet took home the final prize, best motion picture drama, at the Golden Globes on Sunday evening, stunning Zhao and her cast and crew.
Producer Steven Spielberg took the microphone first to thank the Golden Globes voters for the honor, further crediting director “Sam Mendes, who sent me the book by Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet, and I love the book, but I felt there was really only one filmmaker on the face of the planet who could tell the story of Agnes and Will and the spirits of the earth and the forest, and that was the exceptional, exceptional, exceptional Chloé Zhao.”
Zhao, who was also nominated for best director but lost to One Battle After Another‘s Paul Thomas Anderson, then addressed the room, sharing an anecdote that star Paul Mescal had told her previously in the day.
“He said that making Hamnet made him realize that the most important thing of being an artist is learning to be vulnerable enough to allow ourselves to be seen for who we are now, who we ought to be, and to give ourselves wholly to the world, even the parts of ourselves that we’re ashamed of, that we’re afraid of, that are imperfect, so the people that we speak to, they can also learn to see themselves and fully accept themselves,” Zhao said. “And then look around this room. There are so many of you that I have known for many, many years, my incredible fellow nominees, and I’m looking at you, Ryan Coogler, I’m looking at you. … I see so many of you have became so strong and tender at the same time, and you have shared so much of yourselves in your work to the world, so I salute to your bravery, and I salute your dedication. And let’s do this together. Let’s keep our hearts open, and let’s keep seeing each other, and let’s keep allowing ourselves to be seen.”
Hamnet was nominated alongside Frankenstein, It Was Just an Accident, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value and Sinners. Shortly before Hamnet‘s win, star Jessie Buckley won for her performance as Agnes in the film. One Battle After Another won the best motion picture comedy or musical award.
Jay Kelly star George Clooney presented the award to the Hamnet crew. Well, that is until Don Cheadle crashed the stage for “moral support.” What ensued was a hilarious roast of Clooney’s loss at Sunday’s Globes, with Cheadle saying Timothée Chalamet, who won in Clooney’s category of best male actor in a musical or comedy movie, was “3 the last time you won.”
See here for a full list of winners.
Golden Globes producer Dick Clark Productions is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Penske Media Corporation and Eldridge that also owns The Hollywood Reporter.
