Neither Ariana Grande nor Cynthia Erivo were winners in the Golden Globe categories for which their work in “Wicked” was nominated, but there was no denying the box office success that the long-running Broadway hit achieved when its movie adaptation reached movie theaters in November.
The Golden Globe for cinematic and box office achievement is a recent addition to the show that honors the blockbusters of the year which may or may not win in other categories, and “Wicked” certainly fits that slot.
“This is for you, the fans out there who came to see the movie,” director John Chu said with the cast of “Wicked” around him on stage to accept the award. “We saw your singalongs, we saw your videos, your bake-alongs, I don’t know.
“And in a time when pessimism and cynicism sort of rule the planet right now, that we can still make art that is a radical act of optimism,” he continued. “That is empowerment and that is joy.
“And so when we discover that maybe the world isn’t exactly the way we thought it was, that maybe we are a little bit Elphaba inside of us,” he continued. “That maybe we have that encouragement and that strength to not give up but to rise up and take the road off the yellow brick road and maybe discover we can fly.”
The Netflix limited series “Baby Reindeer” won the Golden Globe for limited series, anthology series or TV movie, which brought creator and star Richard Gadd to the stage with his cast and crew to make a pitch for shows such as his which deal with dark and troubling themes.
“A lot of people sometimes ask me why ‘Baby Reindeer,’ a show this dark, has gone on to be the success it has,” Gadd said. “I think in a lot of ways people were sort of crying out for something that kind of spoke to the painful inconsistencies of being human.
“For a while now there’s been this kind of belief in television that stories that are too dark and complicated won’t sell,” he continued. “I hope that ‘Baby Reindeer’ has done away with that theory because right now when the world is in the state it’s in, and people are really struggling, we need stories that speak to the complicated and difficult nature of our times.”
