Have the Globes sealed Oscar season's fate?

"Slumdog Millionaire," Mickey Rourke, Kate Winslet and Wall-E are hot. "Benjamin Button," "Frost Nixon," Meryl Streep and Sean Penn not. Here are Notes on a golden weekend.

What does the Golden Global rout by "Slumdog" mean for Oscar as the Globes are over, Academy ballots are due, people head out to Sundance and the wait begins for Jan. 22's big announcement?

Some film companies HAVE to be scratching their heads after Sunday night's spectacle known as the return of the Golden Globes and wondering just where this unusual season takes them next.

Universal and its specialty division, Focus Features, have been pouring millions of dollars into awards campaigning for "Frost Nixon" and "Milk." Neither won a single thing but Focus did come away with a surprise best actor in a comedy or musical statuette for Colin Farrell as a daffy hitman in "In Bruges," an early '08 release all but forgotten by its distributor.

Miramax might have thought it had a sure thing in the star-studded "Doubt," which had nominations for all its heavyweight actors including Meryl Streep, and led the nomination list alongside Paramount's blockbuster epic, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with five nods each. Both walked away empty-handed but Miramax did prevail with "Happy-Go-Lucky's" Sally Hawkins, who beat Streep for best actress in a musical or comedy.

Warner Bros., co-distributor of "Benjamin Button," had the biggest movie of the year in "The Dark Knight" and a smash in Clint Eastwood's latest Oscar fodder, "Gran Torino." They won only won award -- a posthumous supporting actor award for "Knight's" Heath Ledger. They gave away Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" to Fox Searchlight (retaining a 50% financial stake) because they admittedly didn't know what to do with it, and were planning a straight-to-video release until Peter Rice and his gang swooped in and saved the day. "Slumdog" swept the Globes, winning best picture drama and three other awards, for the second highest total in Globe history. Warner Independent also developed Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" early on, only to also see it distributed by Searchlight and winning Globes for Mickey Rourke and Bruce Springsteen's title song.

It was also fascinating to never hear the name of Warner Independent or Warner-anything in any of the "Slumdog" Globe acceptance speeches. No faith, no glory, brothers Warner.

Go figure. Are the Globes predictive of where the Academy is heading or is this just a bump in the road for all contenders other than "Slumdog Millionaire," which is clearly the undisputed front-runner for the Oscars now as well? If it didn't have reason enough before, the Academy can feel comfortable in crowning "the indie movie that could" even though Sunday's Globe results will have little effect on the outcome of the Oscar nominations as polls close at 5 p.m. Monday.

There are a surprising number of blank Oscar ballots out there even as the deadline is looming. "Crash" Oscar winner Paul Haggis, who had high praise for such films as "Milk," "Benjamin Button" and "Slumdog,"  told us at Saturday's BAFTA tea that he still hadn't seen such hopefuls as "The Reader" and "Frost Nixon" and planned to watch them before voting.

The BAFTA tea was even more successful than usual with Ron Howard, Danny Boyle, last weekend's box office king Clint Eastwood, Stephen Daldry, Kristin Scott Thomas, Marisa Tomei and David Fincher among the high-profile Globe contenders having jasmine tea and crumpets with the Brits, who announce their own nominees this week.

The pre-Globe parties Saturday night also seemed to draw even more industryites than usual, with the  consensus that people wanted to party again with the Hollywood Foreign Press especially after last year's WGA-forced cancellation of their big event.

Paramount's Chateau Marmont bash was wall to wall flesh and filled with a mixture of Globe nominees like Kate and Leo, Brad and Angie and friends, agents, industry types and lots of Veteran (with a capital "V") voting members of the Academy who are often suddenly VERY popular among party planners this time of year. Spotted were the likes of Barbara Eden, Harry Hamlin, Martin Landau, Robert Forster and many, many others who could make a difference with the Big O.

At the equally packed "Mad Men" party right next door, Jon Hamm  told me he would love to get to make the speech he didn't get to give at the canceled '08 Globes where he won best actor in a TV drama series.

"I'm probably the only actor who won a Globe and didn't get to go,"  he lamented a full year later. He didn't get to make that speech this time either. An absent Gabriel Byrne won for HBO's "In Treatment."

A less crowded and more manageable party was thrown by Miramax and Disney in Warren Beatty's former abode,the Royal Suite at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. The stars had left by the time we finally got there but "Doubt" writer and director John Patrick Shanley was seen hanging out under the full moon on the rooftop deck until the wee hours.

Of course the big event was the Globes and its after-parties Sunday. The awards show certainly lived up to its reputation as a grand and fun affair. The table hopping was of Olympian proportions. One frustrated publicist threw up her hands, telling me that several people just decided they would sit wherever they wanted. So much for the seating chart. Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson split up -- for the evening. She sat with the "Mamma Mia" gang while he was with "John Adams." His Playtone company produced both, and while "Mamma Mia" didn't win, "John Adams" took all three categories in which it was nominated. Hanks actually kept jumping from one table to the other during commercial breaks.

I felt sorry for Penelope Cruz. Her hilarious performance in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" has been touted as a sure thing all season for supporting actress. Along comes "The Reader" with Kate Winslet and suddenly there's a real contest, although somewhat unfair since Winslet's role is really more a lead being squeezed into support so as not to conflict with her "Revolutionary Road" starring role. Both are from the Weinstein Co. but since Harvey insisted "The Reader" also be released this year, he may have inadvertently cost his other star Penelope the Globe. If the Academy buys into Winslet's supporting campaign, Cruz may miss out on Oscar as well. Good thing Cruz is making Rob Marshall's musical  "Nine" for Weinstein right now because Harvey may well owe her one.

We ran into Sony Pictures Classics' co-president, Michael Barker (SPC's "Waltz With Bashir" took best foreign film), who seemed to think that despite the Winslet win for "Reader," Penelope still has an excellent shot at an Oscar this year, and if not she can get one for HIS upcoming release, Pedro Almodovar's  "Los Abrazos Rotos."

There was a bit of a consolation prize for Cruz in the prize for best picture, musical or comedy, going to "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," the first Woody Allen film to win since "Hannah and Her Sisters" 22 years ago.

Winslet's remarkable two-for-two win as supporting and lead actress (for "Revolutionary Road") threw another wrench into an already impossibly crowded best actress race with various awards this week also going to Sally Hawkins (Golden Globe and L.A. Film Critics winner) , "Rachel Getting Married"'s  Anne Hathaway, and "Doubt"'s Meryl Streep, to name four.

As far as the best actor race goes, Mickey Rourke's popular Globe win for "The Wrestler" got a standing ovation, stopping the "Milk" train  and Sean Penn's winning streak -- at least until Sean picks up the L.A. Film Critics trophy Monday night. What it means going forward is anyone's guess but Mickey scored points in this round with Frank Langella still looking for a win and Eastwood lurking in the shadows ready to pounce.

It was interesting to see the HFPA shower such love on "bad boys" like Rourke, Colin Farrell and even the late Heath Ledger. Apparently it's the year of the rebel.

The show was fast-paced, handing out one award after another, with highlights including the appearance of presenter Sacha Baron Cohen, who pulled off one of the night's best lines by stating that "Benjamin Button's face gets younger as he gets older -- just like many people in this room."

Another highlight was the Cecil B. De Mille presentation to Steven Spielberg, two years in the making since this award was announced originally for last year on the show that never happened. Spielberg said that ironically his filmmaker's fate "was sealed" when he saw De Mille's "The Greatest Show on Earth" at age 6 in 1952.

As usual the party doesn't stop with the telecast and Warner Bros./In Style, NBC/Universal, AMC, and HBO all had crowded after-bashes with the lines particularly long to get into HBO this year. A smart move by Fox was to take their celebration off campus and throw it at Craft restaurant not too far away in Century City.   The "Slumdog" group and Mickey Rourke all stopped by and the party had a relaxed , elegant feeling  that gave it top honors for the night. I ran into Fox co-Chairman Jim Gianopulos, who was excited about attending the Mumbai premiere of the film in a few days. He still marvels at being able to wrest "Slumdog" away from Warner control to give Searchlight what is now indisputably the Oscar front-runner, especially after back-to-back Critics Choice and Globe sweeps. I also pointed out to Searchlight President Peter Rice that no one thanked or even mentioned Warner in their acceptance speeches.

"I'll thank them. I thank them every day,"  he laughed.

Congrats to all the winners, the nominees and especially the Hollywood Foreign Press who came back in a big way. It  wasn't the same without you last year.

-- Pete Hammond

Photo: Paul Drinkwater / AP

Comments

[Sarah Tarlow]

The Globes are the poor sister to the Oscars. This was a token pity award for Mickey Rourke.

[Pat Rarus]

I am an avid movie fan and typically watch only the Academy Awards, not the Golden Globes. However, this year I viewed most of the Globes.

I was delighted to see Kate Winslet win two awards, especially after I had just seen "The Reader" this past Friday.

She is an incredibly talented lady and has been the underdog for far too long. No more!

As for "Slumdog Millionaire," I suspected that movie would win major awards. After all, how often does a movie theatre audience applaud these days after a movie is finished? That's exactly what they did a couple of weeks ago in Del Mar when I saw "Slumdog" with my friend.

I look forward to seeing the Academy Awards broadcast in February -- my favorite show of the year -- and I'm not even a fasionista.

[michael]

Congrats to Kate WInslet, i hope she finally wins an Oscar... !!!

Penelope who?

I kid, i kid...

[Violet]

I still think Sean Penn is the favorite. Even with the win for best picture I'm not sold on slumdog. I think Kate winslet will win best actress and Penelope Cruz supporting actress.

[Tom]

"This was a token pity award for Mickey Rourke" - Have you even seen the film Sarah?
There is NO better performance this year than Rourke's (apart from perhaps Kristen Scott-Thomas) and he thoroughly deserves EVERY award he gets for 'The Wrestler'. While I am at it, Marisa Tomei's supporting role is sensational too.

[Andy]

Sean Penn all the way baby!

[Chicago48]

I agree with Andy 100%. Mickey is everywhere campaigning. I haven't seen much of Penn. Maybe by default or on purpose? Maybe Penn wants Mickey to win, that's why he's MIA from the press. Go Mickey!

[Mark]

The only reason Rourke won the Golden Globe is because of the distain that the Hollywood Foreign Press has for Sean Penn. Penn blew off the ceremony when he won and when he was supposed to present. He even blew off the press conference the HFP had for "Milk." Penn dislikes the HFP and they dislike him. I guarentee you Penn will win the Oscar just as he has one all the various other critics awards thus far.

[Jemima]

Pete, Christian Colson, producer of "Slumdog" THANKED JEFF RUBINOV of WARNERS in his speech for Best Film. Check any of the videos on Youtube, and you'll hear him thank Warner.

[austingoesGRR]

I hope kate and leo win everything. They have a real presence on screen; and it isnt look at me I'm pretty. You can tell how devoted they are to their work.