Gaga wins; Gervais spews transphobic jokes — Golden Globes

Alejandro Inarritu’s “The Revenant” won awards in the drama category for best picture and best actor for star Leonardo DiCaprio, who seems to be on a path to an Oscar for his portrayal of the 1820s fur trapper Hugh Glass.

The Golden Globes, handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are the first major film honors of the Hollywood awards season that culminates with the Oscars on February 28th.

“Pain is temporary”, said Inarritu, referring to the film’s arduous shoot in the Canadian Rockies. That was the most-watched Golden Globes in a decade.

DiCaprio ended his speech thanking indigenous peoples for being part of the film.

The Martian, the tale of an astronaut stranded alone on Mars, won two top prizes – Best Comedy Film and Best Actor in a Comedy for Matt Damon. Stepping to the podium, Scott wondered, “Comedy?” and answered with a skeptical wave of his hand.

“I think that it was unbelievable that he acknowledged First Nations people, not within just Canada but across the world”, said Marlowe, who lives in Siksika Nation, and is originally from Lutsel K’e in the Northwest Territories. The crowd greeted him with a standing ovation.

“I want to thank my imaginary friend Rocky Balboa for being the best friend I ever had”, said Stallone, whose only other Golden Globes nod was also for portraying the Italian Stallion in “Rocky”.

Move over, Jacob Tremblay’s dad – there was another hot bystander at the Golden Globes, and his name is Denzel Washington’s son.

Ricky Gervais hosted the night making a slew of transphobic jokes about Caitlyn Jenner, “The Danish Girl” and “Transparent” star Jeffrey Tambor. I am going to do this monologue and then go into hiding. Ok.

Bets are that Sean Penn’s stunning revelation about his secret interview with Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman three months before his recapture on Friday will provide some great fodder for Gervais. In a particularly awkward encounter, he and Mel Gibson stood arm-in-arm after exchanging insults. Todd Haynes’ Carol was one of the biggest losers, taking home not a single award despite five nominations, including both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara in the running for best actress. A gleeful Larson concluded: “I’m sorry for anyone I forgot”.

“You have every right to be offended”, Gervais wrote on Twitter shortly after the Jenner non-apology.

Least amusing presenter “mistake”: By Jamie Foxx, who did a little misdirecting before the announcement that original score had gone to Ennio Morricone for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight”. Citing the crowded categories, Winslet remarked: “What an incredible year for women in film”. Best comedy series was a similar upset, with Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle”, winning over the HBO heavyweight “Veep”. Even more surprising (and perhaps a mite more suspicious): “Mozart” actor Gael Garcia Bernal winning for lead actor in a show in which he’s arguably only a supporting player.

In an election year, Gervais had the only cutting political remark in the show. Andy Samberg, who hosted the Emmys, has become a reliably lovely and amusing presence at events like this, and America Ferrera and Eva Longoria did a really amusing bit about being confused with other Latina actresses: “Hi, I’m Eva Longoria, not Eva Mendes”.

Lady Gaga said as her tears turned to laughter.

The big television winners included USA’s “Mr. Robot”, Taraji P. Henson for “Empire” and Jon Hamm for “Mad Men”. “She didn’t do a lot for women drivers, but you can’t have everything”, Gervais joked. Their Oscar predictive power, though, is nonexistent.

All eyes in Hollywood are now on the Oscar nominations, to be announced on Thursday, to see if the “Titanic” star scores his fifth nomination for an acting role as widely expected.