Kirsten Dunst presented Best Supporting Actress to Octavia SpencerWe tried a live blog experiment which was very chaotic though conversational if you'd like to relive it vicariously through us if you weren't here. But otherwise, let's review the big speeches and the winner's roster.
Do you think all five of the major acting wins will translate to Globe and SAG hoopla... and then on to Oscar? It's been a surprising season to date so will it suddenly become a normal season where the same films and performances win each time?
SUPPORTING ACTRESS -Octavia Spencer for The Help
Okay um. Well I'm not prepared. I wasn't a Girl Scout. I guess the operative word here is Best Supporting becasue I was truly supported by the most amazing cast and crew. Oh my god this is really kind of crazy. Okay. Uh. I'd like to thank everyone at Dreamworks -- Stacey Snyder thank you for giving me this chance. Holly Barrio. Chip Sullivan. Everyone at Disney. Rich [series of names that all blurred together for us] ...and then of course my two champions Tate Taylor and Brunson Green who have always believed in me. And thank God you believed in me enough to give me a job that actually paid this time!
But thank you so much to the BFCA. I am truly truly humbled by this. Thank you.
SUPPORTING ACTOR - Christopher Plummer for Beginners
Christopher Plummer, young againWinners and a Tearful Viola after the jump...
Being honored by a critic is like being on a three week binge with the enemy. But it's pretty heady stuff but I'm cool about it. It's rather like going back to school and the headmaster comes in and gives you a good report. It's also like beginning your career all over again and waiting for your first decent review. Anyway I'm completely turned on. I feel terribly young tonight suddenly and at my age I need all the help I can get in that department. Thank you indeed. You've brought back my youth!
ENSEMBLE - The Help
Octavia spoke again.
Team Help
Well, um. They elected me to give the speech. I don't think they realized how ill prepared I was. ----[lots of stuff about Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus] Tate taylor, Kathryn Stockett, this amazing cast. You can see that there's a lot of love here and that translated to screen and we really appreciate your recognizing our work. But it's more of a celebration of us as a unit and it's a proud moment for us all. So thank you from Team Help.
ACTRESS - Viola Davis for The Help
Viola is shocked to hear her name as "Best Actress"
I am absolutely so humbled. You know they say that the two most important days in a person's life is the day you were born and the day you discover why you were born. And, you know, five hours on the bus going to acting classes when I was 14 years old and coming from very challenging circumstances...
Viola's speech = she's winning the Oscar. Octavia's reaction = what everyone is feeling.
I absolutely knew I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to be somebody. I wanted to dream big and make a mark somehow. And that's something that absolutely Aibileen was not afforded. I considered it my honor to pay homage to these women at this time period who were not allowed to dream and not allowed to find their purpose. But thank god and praise God that they gave birth to me my mother my grandmother and I thank Kathryn Stockett for writing The Help I thank Dreamworks and Disney and 1492. Brunson Green. And Tate Taylor for being the most incredible leader. I absolutely am so honored to be in the company of so many women and so many sizes and ages and races and to be such a part of a story that is such an incredible part of american history... even despite the atrocities that can happen in the past, friendship and love can help us find our way. Thank you very much.
ACTOR - George Clooney for The Descendants
Ahhhh. Well, thank you. You know I was thinking listening to Viola talking about her life. A few years ago -- just before ER started I was talking to my father and I was on my seventh series and it wasn't one of the greatest series ever known. My father said to me 'you know, your grandfather was a share cropper. He worked very hard and he bought a piece of land and he bought a home and your mother and I came from the Depression and we didn't have running water and electricity... your mother made your clothes for you' -- which she did! I will say that in 6th gade she made me a naugahyde leisure suit. In sixth grade. That was a fun year...
He said "if you are not proud of what you're doing then do it better or do something else. You didn't have to be a sharecropper and you didn't have to make your own leisure suit. We would hope that you are happy about that and we hope that the work you do you would be proud of."
I have to say that I'm very proud to be in this film. I'm very proud of our association with Fox Searchlight in making this film. I'm very proud of the actors I got to work with on this film who make everyone better . I'm incredibly proud that I got to work with Alexander Payne who I adore as a director and as a perfect storyteller. And I'm very proud to get this award. Thank you to the Broadcast Film Critics. Have a good night.
George Clooney is very proud, Y'all. But can he take it all the way to the Kodak for a second Oscar? Or will Brad Pitt find some new surge between here and Oscar. The Globes are next?
Complete list of BFCA Winners
PICTURE The Artist
DIRECTOR Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
ACTRESS Viola Davis
ACTOR George Clooney
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Octavia Spencer
SUPPORTING ACTOR Christopher Plummer
YOUNG ACTOR Thomas Horn for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
ENSEMBLE The Help
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Midnight in Paris
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Moneyball
ANIMATED Rango
ACTION Drive
COMEDY Bridesmaids
FOREIGN FILM A Separation
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE George Harrison: Living in the Material World
ART DIRECTION Hugo
COSTUME DESIGN The Artist
MAKEUP Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
VISUAL EFFECTS Rise of the Planet of the Apes
EDITING Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
CINEMATOGRAPHY The Tree of Life AND War Horse
SONG "Life's a Happy Song"
SCORE The Artist
SOUND Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2