Golden Globes 2025: “Emilia Pérez” and “Shōgun” Win Four Apiece, “The Brutalist” Wins Top Film Drama
The 2025 Golden Globes were held on Sunday night in Los Angeles, with awards bestowed upon one of 2024’s most marquee television series, and a pair of challenging, masterfully constructed films took top honors.
The Brutalist was named the best motion picture — drama, with helmer Brady Corbet winning best director, and his leading man, Adrien Brody, won best actor in a drama. During his acceptance speech, Brody, who plays László Tóth, a Holocaust survivor who comes to America hoping for a better life, spoke directly to his mother, a Hungarian immigrant. “I do not know fully how to express all of the challenges that you have faced and experienced, and the many people who have struggled immigrating to this country,” he said. “I hope that this work stands to lift you up a bit and to give you a voice.”
On the film side, Emilia Pérez was named the best motion picture – musical or comedy and best non-English language film, with Zoe Saldaña winning the best supporting actress award for her stunning turn in the film. “El Mal,” one of the big numbers from the film, won best original song.
On the TV side, FX’s lush, period-perfect epic Shōgun slayed its share of prizes, winning four awards, including the top honor for best TV drama. One of 2024’s big surprises was Richard Gadd’s semi-autobiographical Netflix series Baby Reindeer, which was named best limited series, anthology, or TV movie, one of its two awards. Hacks, the Jean Smart-led biting comedy on HBO, won the best TV series — musical or comedy. Smart won best performance by a female actor in a musical or comedy.
One of the evening’s big surprises was Fernanda Torres’ win for best actress in a drama for her phenomenal work in I’m Still Here, playing Eunice Paiva, a mother and wife who must reinvent herself after her husband is disappeared by the police during Brazil’s military dictatorship in 1971. Torres bested both Angelina Jolie (Maria) and Nicole Kidman (Babygirl).
Demi Moore won best actress in a comedy for her turn as Elisabeth, a middle-aged actress willing to tap the black market for a drug to look younger in writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s fearless film The Substance. The win capped a stirring comeback for Moore, who said in her acceptance speech that awards weren’t something she could enjoy when she was one of the world’s biggest stars in the 1990s.
“Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me that I was a popcorn actress, and at that time, I made that mean that this is not something I was allowed to have,” Moore said. “That I could do movies that were successful and made a lot of money, but that I couldn’t be acknowledged.”
Sebastian Stan nabbed the best actor in a comedy award for playing Edward in writer/director Aaron Schimberg’s A Different Man, an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical medical procedure to transform his appearance into leading man material. The results lead to unexpected consequences.
Director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked won the award for cinematic and box office achievement, while Flow was the best animated film.
Some of the other performers to take home an award were A Real Pain‘s Kiernan Culkin, winning best performance by a male actor in a supporting role in a motion picture, The Penguin‘s Colin Farrell for best performance by a male actor in a limited series, anthology series, or TV movie, True Detective: Night Country‘s Jodie Foster for the same category for a female actor, and The Bear‘s Jeremy Allen White for best performance by an actor in a TV series — musical or comedy.
For a full list of the awards, check out the Globes’ official site here.
Featured image: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 05: Zoe Saldana, winner of the Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture award for “Emilia Pérez,” poses in the press room during the 82nd Annual Golden Globe Award at The Beverly Hilton on January 05, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
