Golden Globes 2012 Winners: The Artist & The Descendants Lead Oscar Chase

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards last night and there were a few surprises, not least how tame controversial comedian Ricky Gervais was in hosting. More on that later but for now the results are important (although are they, really? - Isn't this the 6th cousin to the Oscars who the Oscars barely recognise and like a disgruntled relation has to contend with once a year?) and the two big winners were Alexander Payne's The Descendants and Michel Hazanavicius' The Artist with two major awards each. George Clooney won Best Actor Drama for The Descendants, which also won Best Motion Picture Drama above critics darling The Help, but a lot of pundits were expecting this going in. The Help, because of it's civil rights story, was thought to be a tough sell to this crowd and is still likely to be the major challenger to The Artist at the Oscars, but The Descendants win was still notable. Especially for Clooney who now is a genuine contender to win his first Leading Man Oscar. He has been nominated twice in recent years (2007 - Michael Clayton, 2010 - Up in the Air) but the acting Oscar on his cabinet is for his supporting work from 2005's Syriana. The Artist, who at this point looks unstoppable at the Oscars, easily sweeped Best Musical/Comedy and Best Actor in the same category for Jean Dujardin. Despite being in a disappointing film, Meryl Streep still came out with Best Actress Performance Drama ahead of strong competition for The Iron Lady. Whether the Academy will be so kind on her starring in a less than stellar movie is another question. Michelle Williams' rather excellent turn as Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn took Best Actress Musical/Comedy. No such luck for Kenneth Branagh whose turn as Laurence Olivier in the same drama lost out to the evergreen Christopher Plummer in Beginners for Best Supporting Actor. Olivia Spencer won Best Supporting Actress for The Help. Elsewhere, Pixar's lame effort means they missed out on Best Animated Award this year with The Adventures of Tintin beating out the tepid Cars 2 and Ludovic Bource picked up Best Original Score for The Artist. Woody Allen also nabbed best screenplay with Midnight in Paris which was a bit of a surprise. Full results below; BEST MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA **Winner** The Descendants (Fox Searchlight Pictures) The Help (DreamWorks Pictures) Hugo (Paramount Pictures) The Ides of March (Columbia Pictures) Moneyball (Columbia Pictures) War Horse (DreamWorks Pictures) BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA **Winner** Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs Viola Davis - The Help Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - DRAMA **Winner** George Clooney - The Descendants Brad Pitt - Moneyball Ryan Gosling - The Ides of March Michael Fassbender - Shame Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL **Winner** The Artist (The Weinstein Company) 50/50 (Summit Entertainment) Bridesmaids (Universal Pictures) Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics) My Week with Marilyn (The Weinstein Company) BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL **Winner** Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn Jodie Foster - Carnage Charlize Theron - Young Adult Kristen Wiig - Bridesmaids Kate Winslet - Carnage BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY OR MUSICAL **Winner** Jean Dujardin - The Artist Brendan Gleeson - The Guard Joseph Gordon-Levitt - 50/50 Ryan Gosling - Crazy, Stupid, Love. Owen Wilson - Midnight in Paris BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM **Winner** The Adventures of Tintin Arthur Christmas Cars 2 Puss In Boots Rango BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM **Winner** A Separation The Flowers of War (New Pictures Film Company) In the Land of Blood and Honey (FilmDistrict) The Kid with a Bike (Sundance Selects) The Skin I Live In BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE **Winner** Octavia Spencer - The Help Berenice Bejo - The Artist Jessica Chastain - The Help Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs Shailene Woodley - The Descendants BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE **Winner** Christopher Plummer - Beginners Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn Albert Brooks - Drive Jonah Hill - Moneyball Viggo Mortensen- A Dangerous Method BEST DIRECTOR - MOTION PICTURE **Winner** Martin Scorsese - Hugo Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris George Clooney - The Ides of March Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist Alexander Payne - The Descendants BEST SCREENPLAY - MOTION PICTURE **Winner** Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon - The Ides of March Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash - The Descendants Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin - Moneyball BEST ORIGINAL SCORE - MOTION PICTURE **Winner** Ludovic Bource - The Artist Abel Korzeniowski - W.E. Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Howard Shore - Hugo John Williams - War Horse BEST ORIGINAL SONG - MOTION PICTURE **Winner** "Masterpiece," Music & Lyrics by Madonna, Julie Frost, Jimmy Harry - W.E. "Hello Hello," Music by Elton John, Lyrics by Bernie Taupin - Gnomeo & Juliet "The Keeper," Music & Lyrics by Chris Cornell - Machine Gun Preacher "Lay Your Head Down," Music by Brian Byrne, Lyrics by Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs "The Living Proof," Music by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason, Jr., Lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Harvey Mason, Jr., Damon Thomas - The Help BEST TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA **Winner** "Homeland" (Showtime) "American Horror Story" (FX) "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO) "Boss" (Starz) "Game of Thrones (HBO) BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA **Winner** Claire Danes - "Homeland" Mireille Enos - "The Killing" Julianna Margulies - "The Good Wife" Madeleine Stowe - "Revenge" Callie Thorne - "Necessary Roughness" BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - DRAMA **Winner** Kelsey Grammer - "Boss" Steve Buscemi - "Boardwalk Empire" Bryan Cranston - "Breaking Bad" Jeremy Irons - "The Borgias" Damien Lewis - "Homeland" BEST TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL **Winner** "Modern Family" (ABC) "Enlightened" (HBO) "Episodes" (Showtime) "Glee" (Fox) "New Girl" (Fox) BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL **Winner** Laura Dern - "Enlightened" Zooey Deschanel - "New Girl" Tina Fey - "30 Rock" Laura Linney - "The Big C" Amy Poehler - "Parks and Recreation" BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES - COMEDY OR MUSICAL **Winner** Matt LeBlanc - "Episodes" Alec Baldwin - "30 Rock" David Duchovny - "Californication" Johnny Galecki - "The Big Bang Theory" Thomas Jane - "Hung" BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION **Winner** "Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)" (PBS) "Cinema Verite" (HBO) "The Hour" (BBC America) "Mildred Pierce" (HBO) "Too Big to Fail" (HBO) BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION **Winner** Kate Winslet - "Mildred Pierce" Romola Garai - "The Hour" Diane Lane - "Cinema Verite" Elizabeth McGovern - "Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)" Emily Watson - "Appropriate Adult" BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION **Winner** Idris Elba - "Luther" Hugh Bonneville - "Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)" William Hurt - "Too Big to Fail" Bill Nighy - "Page Eight (Masterpiece)" Dominic West - "The Hour" BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION **Winner** Jessica Lange - "American Horror Story" Kelly Macdonald - "Boardwalk Empire" Maggie Smith - "Downton Abbey (Masterpiece)" Sofia Vergara - "Modern Family" Evan Rachel Wood - "Mildred Pierce" BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION **Winner** Peter Dinklage - "Game of Thrones" Paul Giamatti - "Too Big to Fail" Guy Pearce - "Mildred Pierce" Tim Robbins - "Cinema Verite" Eric Stonestreet - "Modern Family"