Highlights from the 2026 Golden Globes

Here’s film critic Jocelyn Noveck’s review of the best drama film winner:

Here’s Film Writer Jake Coyle’s review of the best musical or comedy film winner:

The Golden Globes don’t have an in memoriam segment, and the telecast featured no tributes to the Hollywood luminaries lost last year, like Robert Redford, Diane Keaton or Rob Reiner.

But as she bade farewell, host Nikki Glaser donned a “Spinal Tap” black baseball cap — a tribute to Reiner, who directed the film and last year’s sequel. Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead last month in a stabbing that’s cast a pall over Hollywood.

Paul Mescal told Chloé Zhao that the most important part of being an artist is learning to be vulnerable enough to be seen and how to give yourself wholly to the world.

“Even the parts of ourselves that we’re ashamed of, that we’re afraid of, that are imperfect. So the people that we speak to, they can also learn to see themselves and fully accept themselves,” Zhao said.

He didn’t direct the winning “Hamnet” — that was Chloé Zhao — but he was a producer on the film.

“I love the book but I thought there was really only one filmmaker on the face of the planet who could tell the story,” Spielberg said of Zhao before yielding the mic to her.

“You see?” he said after coming onstage and greeting the crowd with, uh, clunky French.

It was an allusion to his recent attainment of French citizenship, which the government of France defended. While language skills are generally a requirement — Clooney has said he speaks “horrible, horrible” French — the Foreign Ministry said the Clooneys were eligible for citizenship under a French law that allows for the naturalization of foreign nationals who contribute to France’s international influence and economic well-being.

She came to the stage to present the best comedy or musical film award.

Matthew Broderick presented his wife of nearly 30 years, Sarah Jessica Parker, with the Carol Burnett Award for a life of achievement in television at Tuesday’s Golden Eve, a ceremony that also added Helen Mirren to the list of legends that have won the Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Broderick suggested if she’d listened to him, it might not have happened.

“Do you really want to do TV?” the actor recalled asking Parker when she was first presented with the script for her career-making role as Carrie Bradshaw on “Sex and the City” in the 1990s. She would go on to win six Golden Globes and two Emmys.

Accepting the award, Parker said, “It has been a privilege and a dream to call myself an actor.”

Golden Eve is a new separate ceremony for the honorary career awards.

“The DeMille Award was described to me as a career recognition,” Mirren said from the stage. “But I prefer to think of it as a life lived, a life survived, a life enjoyed, a life sweated, and a life carried on, hopefully. And given that hope, I prefer to think of this as an ongoing reflection of my career rather than a eulogy.”

Harrison Ford, who won the DeMille Award in 2002, presented this year’s edition to Mirren, his co-star in 1985’s “The Mosquito Coast” and on the current “1923.”

He called her “an undeniable screen presence who brings to every scene a powerful commitment to narrative and character. And when she goes full badass, it’s awesome to watch.”

▶ Read more from the evening

There’s still four awards left, but Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, Dax Shepard, Kristen Bell and Keegan-Michael Key are making their way out before the final awards.

“Adolescence” co-creator Jack Thorne paid tribute to the show’s young as he accepted its fourth Globe of the night, for best limited series.

“Some think that our show is about how you should be frightened of young people,” Thorne, 47, said. “It is not. It is about the filth and the debris we have laid in their path.”

He then thanked all the kids from the show and said “you are proof the world can be better. Removing hate is our generation’s responsibility. It requires thought from the top down. The possibility seems remote right now, but hope is a beautiful thing.”

Unlike the Golden Globes of “The Studio” universe, the character played by Ike Barinholtz went unthanked even when the Apple TV series won best comedy series.

There were more cuts on shots as the “Adolescence” winners walked to the stage than there were in the entire series.

▶ Read more on how the show generated its one-take wonders.

The “Sinners” actor is expecting her first child with husband Josh Allen, quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. The announcer introducing her presentation congratulated her on the Bills’ win.

R. Scott Gemmill, creator of “The Pitt,” said: “We live in a very divided country in a world right now, but I think cinema — and I call TV ‘cinema’, too — brings us all together, not only as an audience, but as a community.”

Entertainment news junkies might recognize the distinctive voice announcing tonight’s awards alongside Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier. That would be Marc Malkin, Variety’s senior culture and events editor.

The red carpet veteran is known to generate online reaction with sometimes uncomfortable questions, which are often clipped into viral videos. He recently drew backlash for asking Janelle James to share what goes through her head when she sees “Heated Rivalry” actor Connor Storrie in real life considering his steamy scenes on the queer romance show. Storrie was standing right next to James.

CORRECTION: Frazier works for Entertaiment Tonight, not Entertainment Now.

Winners arriving backstage are being handed a Golden Globe plucked from a black case sitting on a small table. When they come off the stage after talking to the media, the trophy goes back in the case to await the next winner.

A late and lamented California fast casual chain with a zany name got a name-drop from the stage.

“Queen Latifah, I met you about 20 years ago between jobs at a Koo Koo Roo and you were SO nice,” Rhea Seehorn said after Latifah presented her best female actor in a TV drama.

At its peak, Koo Koo Roo, which served grilled chicken and other mostly healthy fare, had dozens of stores in California, Nevada and Florida, but the last one closed in 2014.

There’s still a vague legal haze hanging over the Golden Globes as it rebuilds its reputation after lawsuits and scandals.

Reports in July from outlets including The Ankler, the Hollywood and The New York Times said final approval of the 2023 sale of the Globes from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to Dick Clark Productions, a property of Penske Media and Eldridge Industries, had been gummed up by objections from members of the old organization.

The Globes have been functioning fine with a preliminary approval of the deal, but three years later the deal is still apparently in need of a final OK from California’s attorney general because it involves a transition from nonprofit into for-profit. The attorney general’s office didn’t reply to a request for comment from the AP this week on the status of the deal.

“My tireless crew, thank you,” she said. “They had my back every single night when the sun was coming up.”

It was “between a job that the Koo Koo Roo and you were so nice,” she said. “So thanks.”

• Macaulay Culkin laughing with Parker Posey.
• Steven Spielberg chatting with Dwayne Johnson.
• Adam Sandler taking a selfie with Noah Jupe.
• Jacobi Jupe sitting on Jessie Buckley’s lap.
• Emma Stone laughing with three Beverly Hills police officers.

The stand-up comedy performance winner has hosted five times, however, often using the opportunity to poke fun at Hollywood’s liberal elite.

“I love you for not being here,” said Wanda Sykes, introducing the category.

“If you win, I get to accept the award on your behalf,” she added. “And you’re gonna thank God — and the trans community.”

• Glen Powell chatted up Seth Rogen, hopefully about a guest spot on “The Studio.”
• Jennifer Lawrence made her way to the bar area where she hugged Jeremy Allen White before finding Emma Stone, who put down her white wine and took her friend’s face in her hands. They fluffed their hair when a photographer asked for a photo before they decided to take their own selfie as well.
• Kirsten Dunst spotted Lawrence nearby too, telling Mona Fastvold and Zoë Kravitz that she just wanted to say hi. Jesse Plemons soon arrived with three drinks to dole out. One was not for Lawrence, who went to stand in line for the bar.