Jan 11, 2009 8:38 pm US/Pacific
'Slumdog Millionaire' Sweeps The Golden Globes
BEVERLY HILLS
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'Slumdog Millionaire' cast and filmmakers arrive at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 11, 2009, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
"Slumdog Millionaire" has lived up to its underdog theme at the Golden Globes, sweeping all four of its categories, including best drama and director for Danny Boyle.
Kate Winslet has won two Globes all on her own, best dramatic actress for "Revolutionary Road" and supporting actress for "The Reader." "The Wrestler" also has two, dramatic actor for Mickey Rourke and best song for Bruce Springsteen.
"Slumdog Millionaire" also won best screenplay and musical score, firming up its prospects for the Academy Awards.
Featuring a generally unknown cast in a story set on the streets of Mumbai, "Slumdog Millionaire" knocked off four other nominated films featuring such stars as Brad Pitt, Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. "We really weren't expecting to be here in America at all at one time, so it's just amazing to be here," said Simon Beaufoy, whose winning script was adapted from Vikas Swarup's novel "Q & A."
Winslet, who has previously been nominated five times without winning at both the Globes and Oscars, won for her role as a woman in a crumbling marriage in "Revolutionary Road" and as a former Nazi concentration camp guard in "The Reader."
"Revolutionary Road" was directed by Winslet's husband, Sam Mendes, and reunited her with her "Titanic" co-star Leonardo DiCaprio.
To DiCaprio, Winslet gushed: "I've loved you for 13 years and your performance in this film is nothing short of spectacular." To Mendes, she added: "Thank you for directing this film, babe, and thank you for killing us every single day and really enjoying us actually being in such horrific pain."
Woody Allen's Spanish romance "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" won for best musical or comedy film.
As expected, the late Heath Ledger earned the supporting-actor Globe for his diabolical turn as the Joker in the Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight." The Globe win boosts Ledger's prospects for the supporting-actor honor at the Oscars, whose nominations come out Jan. 22, the one-year anniversary of the actor's death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.
The award was accepted by "The Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan, who said he and his collaborators were buoyed by the enormous acclaim and acceptance the film and Ledger's performance have gained worldwide.
"All of us who worked with Heath on `The Dark Knight' accept with an awful mixture of sadness but incredible pride," Nolan said. "After Heath passed, you saw a hole ripped in the future of cinema."
Only one actor has ever won a posthumous Oscar, best-actor recipient Peter Finch for 1976's "Network."
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
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