The Hollywood Foreign Press Association wasn’t feeling very bookish last night.
The organization gave out plenty of nominations to book-to screen adaptations in December, but at the 77th Golden Globe Awards ceremony in Beverly Hills, California, on Sunday, it gave just two nods to book-based works—both in acting categories.
Russell Crowe won for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television, for his portrayal of ex-Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes in the Showtime miniseries The Loudest Voice. The series is based on Gabriel Sherman’s 2014 biography The Loudest Voice in the Room. Crowe wasn’t on hand to accept the award, however, as he was in Australia “protecting his family from the devastating bush fires,” noted Jennifer Aniston, who presented his acceptance speech.
Crowe beat Christopher Abbott, who played John Yossarian in the Hulu miniseries of Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22, as well as Sam Rockwell, who starred as director/choreographer Bob Fosse in the FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon, based on Sam Wasson’s 2013 biography Fosse.
However, Rockwell’s Fosse/Verdon co-star, Michelle Williams, did win Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television. She played the actress and dancer Gwen Verdon in the series—a role for which she won an Emmy in September. In a moving acceptance speech last night, she said, “I’m grateful for the acknowledgement of the choices I’ve made, and I’m also grateful to have lived in a moment in our society when choice exists, because, as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice.”
A few popular book-to-screen adaptations were surprisingly shut out at the Globes, including the Martin Scorsese-directed crime film The Irishman, which had been nominated in five categories; it’s based on the 2004 nonfiction book I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt. Similarly, the World War II satire Jojo Rabbit, based on Christine Leunens’ grim 2008 novel Caging Skies, and writer/director Greta Gerwig’s excellent Louisa May Alcott adaptation Little Women were both nominated for two awards—and won neither.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
