Often, the best moments at the Golden Globes don’t even make the telecast.
When you’re inside the Beverly Hilton, where the ceremony takes place, Hollywood’s first awards show of the year can feel like attending a high school homecoming game. There’s free-flowing booze. There’s lots of hugging and talking between the plays. And there’s a mad beeline to meet the most popular kids — Meryl Streep, Ellen DeGeneres and Renee Zellweger.
Here are the 13 biggest secrets from inside the ballroom at this year’s ceremony.
1. Who gets the best and worst seats?
There are multiple tiers of seating at the Golden Globes. The biggest A-list stars — Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Aniston and Taylor Swift — are all seated on the floor of the Beverly Hilton ballroom. Then there’s a next tier — Billy Porter, Olivia Colman, Bong Joon Ho — who are in a second row of tables, farther away from the stage. Before the show started, Gillian Anderson was talking to DeGeneres, the recipient of the Carol Burnett Award, who had one of the best seats in the house. Anderson pointed up to the sky, to joke that her table was far away. And Quentin Tarantino, who had a very good seat, was heard complaining that all the producers and financiers who actually got the movies made were forced to sit in the back of the room — beyond the second-tier, there’s a third- and fourth-tier (several steps up) for the less famous attendees.
2. There was no meat served
This year’s Golden Globes had its first all-vegan menu, which was an idea that came from best actor in a drama winner Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”), an animal rights activist. When guests arrived inside the Globes, instead of the usual dinner of steak or fish, they were served chilled golden beet soup, oyster mushroom “scallops” with mushroom risotto and a chocolate opera dome for dessert. There was no meat backstage either, where the finger-food appetizers at the bar consisted of vegetarian sandwiches.
3. Everybody wants to say hi to Meryl
In the 20 minutes before the show starts, the floor of the ballroom is a mosh pit — as every famous person on the planet tries to say hi to other famous people. But obviously, there’s no one more bowed down to than Streep, recipient of 32 Golden Globe nominations. As Streep made her way to her table, she was first greeted by Michelle Pfeiffer and her husband David E. Kelley (who wrote “Big Little Lies”). Next, she said hello to Noah Baumbach, who is in a relationship with her “Little Women” director Greta Gerwig. She hugged Billy Porter. Finally, she stopped by Helen Mirren’s table. Streep leaned over to talk to Mirren, who was seated and pleased to see her good friend.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety