Here is what these Golden Globe winners said backstage in the Golden Globe Awards press room.
Isabelle Huppert and Paul Verhoeven at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on January 8, 2017. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/NBC)
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
What scares you the most in life or in movies?
Huppert: What am I scared of in life or in movies? Well, in movies normally things scare me. Actually, I think the most apparently scary things are the most rewarding. I think it all depends about with whom you do it and obviously going it with [“Elle” director ] Paul Verhoeven didn’t scare me. I don’t think truth never scared me. In life, life it’s a different story.
What made you and Paul Verhoven understand each other to surpass the craziness of this plot and create something that responded to people?
Verhoeven: well and the book was sent to me and I like the book. And then it was clear at a certain moment that Isabelle Huppert was go to do this and had to do this because there is really nobody else in the world that could have done it. That’s what I feel. I mean, that’s all.
Talking in retrospect because when you start an adventure like that you don’t know exactly where you will go where it’s going. You’re not so clear about things, but after finishing the movie and looking at the result I feel that what Isabelle did was so audacious and so authentic that basically, it saves the movie.
Huppert: I think most of the time moviemaking is all about confidence and trust. There is nothing else, actually. And if you if you trust someone if you should feel like you know you’re being watched and loved and understood, it’s all very easy and actually obviously that’s what happened in that film.
I think that both Paul Verhoeven and myself this is what we expect from doing movies. Being adventurous in certain subject matters but being scared of exploring anything, even if it is disturbing if it is, even if it is sometimes difficult to listen or to understand but exploring the human psyche. That’s what makes seen most of the time valuable and worthwhile.
You didn’t win the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Did you expect to win at the Golden Globes?
Verhoeven: In reality, yes. Yeah because there was of course, especially in the United States some controversy about a movie. I didn’t realize that the Hollywood Foreign Press was also open-minded to accept this in all its strangeness otherness and—as Isabelle has called it—disturbance. Yes, I was amazed but on the other hand it was so clear to me that Isabelle was fantastic that I was really from the beginning believing that it would be very strange if she wouldn’t get a prize.
What moved you the most playing this character and what was it like to be in this category with so many amazing fellow actresses?
Huppert: What moved me the most by playing this character? So many things, actually. She’s such a memorable character I love the cat too. I’m joking. I think what I really liked is that also the fact that she’s such a central character around which the whole theme evolves and so it makes it so pleasurable and so easy to be able to little touch by little touch to build up a character and to complete and not to be obliged to choose whether she should be more ironical or more dramatic.
Paul Verhoeven has an incomparable talent to really combine this ability to go from drama to sometimes comedy to thriller through the project of a woman. I just had to you know to follow these as a day everyday experiment and that was amazing for me to create that role in this circumstance.
Here is what these Golden Globe winners said backstage in the Golden Globe Awards press room.
“The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” team at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on January 8, 2017. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
What was the most gratifying part of working on this project?
Nina Jacobson (executive producer): The collaboration amongst these actors was a remarkable gift. These are all actors who under any conditions would be first on a call sheet. They all have enormous star power and yet they all work together to support each other in a way that it was immensely demanding. They all just gave so much to each other, and that was very gratifying.
What was your initial reaction when you heard of the nomination?
Jacobson: We were thrilled and excited pretty excited.
John Travolta (co-star/producer): Well, it’s the icing on the cake. You guys are amazing. You are opinion leaders, so you’re approving of our series. If you hadn’t given us all these wonderful nominations and acknowledged to this depth it would have been a disappointing year. And we’ve been very lucky this year, but you made the year, so thank you.
Now that you’ve had almost a year since “The People v. O.J. Simpson” premiered, did it surprise you the depth of the chord that this struck about contributing to the conversation about race in America? And what would you say has surprised you about the resonance of this project?
Sterling K. Brown (co-star): Unfortunately, it’s not that surprising because the show is more relevant than what it should be. You would think in 20 years time in this country that things would have progressed to such a place where you look back and be like, “Oh, how interesting that was back then.” But back then is what’s happening right now and so the fact that a primarily African-American jury in Los Angeles could find fault with the police department is not that surprising. We’ve got a lot of ocular proof over the past two years of police misconduct—an institution that supposed to protect and serve—and a lot of people don’t always feel protected or served.
And so, I think it’s because of all of the things that we’ve been able to see that there’s a level of understanding that people may not have had 20 years ago when that jury made the decision that they did to acquit. I think what’s really beautiful about what our writers and producers created was that the conversation existed in such a way that people who were appalled with that decision now understood the other side and people who actually celebrated that decision got a chance to see the amount of evidence that the prosecution had and can actually say like, “Well, maybe that wasn’t exact the right approach either.” So hopefully, both sides started to understand each other and instead of just being in fights all the time.
What do you think O.J. Simpson would think about this TV series? And do you care?
Ryan Murphy (executive producer): I don’t think we care.
Jacobson: We have never met him.
Brad Simpson (executive producer): I think that when we were developing the show, the thing that we wanted is everybody to have insight to what these main characters went through, especially the prosecution and the defense to see the other side. That was the main concern.
We made something that had a lot of complexity; that was the objective of the show. We didn’t really think about O.J. Simpson, what he would think. It was mainly about the legal teams that we wanted to present. That was the objective.
Many people on the legal team are saying that they were little upset they weren’t interviewed by the actors. Can you talk about that?
Sarah Paulson (co-star): I can’t speak to that. I didn’t speak to Marcia [Clark] until I think we had completed Episode 7. We were not trying to tell the story from any of their particular points of view, in terms of their personal stakes in it. This was this was something that we were trying to shed light on that may not have always completely lined up with their opinion about what it was that happened. I don’t really know how to answer that exactly.
Here is what this Golden Globe winner said backstage in the Golden Globe Awards press room.
Donald Glover at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on January 8, 2017. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
Long before it went on the air, “Atlanta” was one of those shows that was predicted to catch on. Did that scare you? Did that encourage you? And then as it became accepted, how did that encourage you?
I always when I heard that kind of stuff, it was just my instinct was to pull back. I guess my instinct is always to under-promise over-deliver. I think the last lens that we have as artist is people’s expectations we’ve done so many things there’s been so many great things already made you know that it’s important to just think about how it’s getting to people, whether it’s through their phones or how they’re hearing about it. My instinct was just kind of pull back. I suppose I was really excited.
I’ve been trying to make the show for a long time. I only cared about what people in Atlanta act like I was like if I can’t walk through a lens like you can name a show “Detroit” and then have Detroit people hate it you know so I really was just only caring about if my parents thought it was cool, my cousins thought it was cool, everybody who lived in Atlanta. If I could go to a Chick-fil-A and have people be like, “Have you seen that Donald Glover show?”
Can you talk about your shout-out to Migos?
I think they’re the Beatles of this generation and they don’t get a lot of respect outside of like Atlanta. Not that they don’t get a lot of respect, but it’s like there’s a generation—sort of like the YouTube generation—there’s a generation of kids that are growing up on something that’s completely separate from a whole group of people. And honestly, that song is just fly—like it there’s no better song to have sex to.
How are you preparing for the role of being the young Lando Calrissian?
Not getting to eat anything enjoyable for the rest of my life. Lando’s a big deal to me. It was just literally the first toy I ever got. It’s interesting when you have something that’s kind of iconic in a range where like people pay attention to it, it’s hard because you want to live up to their expectations but all you really do is live up to your own.
“Star Wars” is really high. I know the directors Chris [Miller] and Phil [Lord] they’re amazing. I love the guy playing Han [Solo]. Like it’s going to be a good time. Emily Clark. It’s going to be fun, so like I’m just getting ready to just have fun with those guys. That’s pretty much it.
You said you’ve been trying to make “Atlanta” for a long time. Did you have a struggle to explain your vision for the show and how you would tackle comedy in a different way than the sitcoms that we have become accustomed to?
I think the best things just can’t be explained … I just kind of Trojan-horsed it. I told FX it was something that it wasn’t, and I then hoped it would be enjoyable when it got there. Thank God like you know John Landgraf and the FX team and everybody was rooting for us and pushed for us.
I went home I guess like two years ago, a year-and-a-half ago after I did Bonnaroo … and my mom was clearing out my room and she handed my brother a box of just stuff. I’m just talking to my mom, and he pulls out this letter, and it was a letter I forgot I wrote that he that I sent to him from college. I was like, “Yo, I had this dream where we write a show together and we do this and we do that.”
So I guess it’s been in my head for a long time. Like I said on the stage before, I truly do believe in magic and dreams. We’ve kind of forgotten that, so I feel like that’s the kind of dreamy part of my show. It’s like you’ve got to believe in kind of human magic a little bit, if that made any sense at all.
What do you think we all can do to make a little bit more magic in the world make it a little bit better?
I think honestly right now we live in a time where things are very divisive. I think Meryl Streep was speaking on this a lot of where it’s like we all have a lot of responsibility. And I remember going to school because I wasn’t allowed to talk about magic and I wasn’t allowed.
I knew Santa Claus was fake, but I was around a lot of kids who didn’t know that, so you have that responsibility to keep that going and understand why you’re doing it because of joy. So I think human joy is super-important. It doesn’t come from computers. It just comes from belief.
Acting, making music all that stuff is believing in something that maybe someone older doesn’t truly believe that like when you see it in a child and makes you kind of believe it again, because we forget how innocent and beautiful we were. So I think it’s our responsibility to make magic again because I think a lot of the shit that’s happening now is bullshit.
Here is what this Golden Globe winner said backstage in the Golden Globe Awards press room.
Hugh Laurie at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on January 8, 2017. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
What was your favorite part of working on “The Night Manager”?
[It’s] hard to pick out a favorite part. The whole damn thing was pretty much a dream for me, without wanting to get too maudlin about it. This was a story that I’d fallen in love with almost 25 years ago in the book was published —’93, I think it was published. In fact, it is the only time in my life I’ve ever tried to. I’m not a producer. I have no producing skills or knowledge but I actually tried to option the novel because I thought this has to be on the screen.
And 25 years ago, I rather arrogantly assumed that I would be playing the part that Tom Hiddleston plays, and then my hair fell out, and a number of other things happened, and I wound up being the villain. But I’ve just always believed that the story, the romance of the story, the nobility of the story was so overwhelming to me. Every moment that I was on set, every part of the process of making it was just such a thrill to me. It’s daunting because it mattered so much to me, but it was nonetheless through the whole thing from beginning to end
Who would you most want to work with?
I would honestly would work with Susanne Bier in an instant. I would follow her to the ends of the earth. “The Ends of the Earth” is probably the title of a cable show, now so obviously I have to read the scripts. Whatever credit there is in this project was entirely hers.
She’s a Danish woman … what I mean is that she was entering a world a very male and very English kind of tribalism. And it would have been daunting for almost anybody, but such is her intellect and her passion and her energy and her taste that she never wavered— not for one moment—and had control of it from beginning to end. And I would follow her wherever she leads me, I will go.
Is there a special joy in playing a bad guy and if so what is it?
Well, I suppose there is. I’ve always been a bit suspicious of that assumption. Bad people tend to be interesting because thank God they are rare. Genuinely villainous people are aberrations; you don’t meet them every day. Psychopaths, essentially. And when you do meet them, obviously, a large part of the work is already done for you because they are inherently interesting simply because they’re rare, thank God.
A lot of actors say it’s much harder to make the guy that’s working in the bank interesting than the guy who’s going out committing terrible sins. But I honestly found so much of this story so many I would have played. I would have played the character of Jed if I were given the chance. I would have played any of these characters. I think it’s one of le Carré’s most consummate casts that he ever assembled in a novel—and that, by the way, is saying something because I could think of no better than John le Carré.
I’ve worshipped him pretty much since I could read, but this whole cast of characters, I found of them fascinating, found the character of Corcoran absolutely mesmerizing. I find Pine extraordinary. There’s something very strange and rootless, something sort of occasionally kind of sinister.
You’re looking at a lost soul and a lost soul who is capable of damaging himself and other people in the quest for whatever it is that will give his life meaning. I find them all absolutely fascinating. I can’t remember what your question was, and neither can you. Can we just call it a day?
Are you finding people in real life like your character?
Yes, they undoubtedly exist. The one peculiar thing from my point of view is that I’m not all. I was actually … legally prevented from researching those carriers. I identified a couple of likely candidates upon whom I could base the character, and I was told that under no circumstances could I talk to them because that would give them license to claim that I had to reduce their name in public, and they would then sue. And suing would be the best I could hope for or they might send the boys around.
That’s not to say even allowing for the media’s appetite for sort of gory details of misdeeds in all kinds of spheres, we have this week we seem to be whipping yourself into this frenzied belief that the world is coming to an end, and that there are villainies on the ascendancy. I don’t believe it. I think most people are kind and gentle and considerate and cooperative.
Unfortunately, villainous people, by their nature, have the power to punch above their weight. An unscrupulous person has the power by dint of their lack of scruples to do a huge amount of damage. Nonetheless, they’re rare. I do believe that, generally speaking, people are kind and generous and are getting—if anything—kinder and more generous as the centuries go by. I wasn’t around more than a century ago, I know, but I read a book.
Here is what this Golden Globe winner said backstage in the Golden Globe Awards press room.
Tracee Ellis Ross at the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on January 8, 2017. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
How do you identify with your “Blackish” character?
In many ways, but in many ways I didn’t. I’m not a mother, I’m not a doctor, and I’m not married, but we’re so much alike. Bow Johnson, what I do identify with is that she’s a strong woman with a full life whose story is not told through her husband. And that really is something I identified with. She’s a woman with a big heart.
And one of the things that originally drew me to the character that I really loved she actually really loved her husband. And often, in comedies, a lot of the married comedy kind of thing that happens is that the husband and the wife don’t like each other, and that’s where the foil comes from, but love that this couple actually loved each other.
What’s your favorite memory from the “Blackish” production?
I don’t have children, but I love working with the four kids on the show. It’s been a really beautiful and fun journey watching them grow up. Marcus [Scribner] turned 17 yesterday, and watching them grow and sort of navigate this business has been a really fun experience. And we giggle and laugh at work all day long. We have a really good time. That’s probably my favorite part.
What did you think of the body of work that was considered for the nomination and helped win you this award?
Oh, I thought you meant the other women [nominees], because I was going to say I think they’re amazing … I feel really proud of the show in general. Our writers are exceptional, and every week I feel surprised by our scripts and the way that they very courageously tackle heavy subjects—and yet somehow the show is so funny.
And the way they write for my character is really interesting. As I said earlier, often as the wife character, your storyline is through your husband. And that’s not really the case on our show. And it makes it a really fun experience for me to kind of be challenged every week to find my way. There’s been a couple of favorite episodes this season.
You’ve been nominated for other awards and didn’t win. Is the reward the nomination or does winning even better?
It is the nomination, but winning is really sweet. You know, I’ve been doing this for quite a while. It’s not my first time at the rodeo even though it’s my first time at the Golden Globes, so one of the things I asked myself very early on in my career is, “What do award shows mean to me in the context of the work that I do?” And I would do it whether I was getting nominated for things or not, but I think one of the things that’s very special about being nominated and then most particularly about winning is that you actually get to thank the people that make it possible, because none of us do it alone.
It’s such a collaborative art television so the combination of ABC supporting our show and putting billboards up and making sure that people knew where to find us and then the writing that happens in our extraordinary crew and the cast are so many pieces and so winning and being able to stand on that stage and say those names and say those things and then also to have a platform to say things that are important to me in a larger way is what makes winning so special.
What was the first thing that went through your mind when you won, and how are you going to celebrate?
You mean tonight? I was like “Wait they said my name, right? This is so cool!” It was really cool and is really cool and like a special treat. And then I said my entire speech to Meryl Streep. I was looking right at her. And I was like, “Are we doing good? Great!” Yeah, I hope to party as much as possible, but I have a very big week of work, so I’ll be at work at seven in the morning.
What would you hope that young women, especially women of color, would see when they see you accept your award?
I think what I said is really what I mean. I feel like I receive this award and hold this now I’m as a “inspired by” and “being a face for” as standing on that stage for women of color and colorful people. And I think that you know this nomination was really exciting to me, as was my Emmy nomination. I’m excited to see the industry look outside of where they usually look is very special to me and is very important, and I think it’s something we need to continue to do more of. I think it’s not since 1983 that a black woman has [won] in this category with Debbie Allen …
I think that our industry really can be at the forefront of making sure that the diversity of stories is told, and diversity does not just mean people of color. It’s all different ages and shapes and sizes, and all of it making sure that the stories that we tell and how we celebrate those stories actually represents the humanity that we all live in. So I hope that young women continue to be encouraged to be themselves—and not just young women—young men, all of us.
What does it mean to you to be the first black woman to win this award in this category in more than 30 years?
Holy moly, when you say it that way, I don’t know quite a process that! It means a lot. Goodness! I think my shoulders got a little heavier and I got a little taller all at the same time. I think that’s something I’m going have to ponder for the next couple days but I think it’s some of it is for me to ponder, and I think more of it is for our industry and all of us to ponder.
I think it’s something that we just need to do better at. I think the work is there, the stories are there, and I also feel really special to be in the category with Debbie Allen. I reposted her post because … it’s Debbie Allen, for God sakes! So yeah, very cool. It’s also cool to be a member of a family with two Golden Globe winners.
How does it feel to carve out a totally different path from your parents in show business?
Normal. It feels like it was sort of what I was raised to do, to be myself. I never felt like I was in my mother’s shadow. I know that always comes up when you have a very famous or prominent parent that people say things like that. “How does it feel to be in your parent’s shadow?”
I’ve actually always felt like I was in my mother’s embrace, and part of the way she raised me and all five of her kids is really to follow my heart and follow my dreams and do the hard work to get there. And so I feel like it’s actually kind of sweet and charming and wonderful to have a different experience and yet have so much that is the same as my mom. She’s been here, I had never been to the Globes so I got ask her what to expect.
Can you comment on some of the monologue jokes related to the incoming president?
I think I will let this moment be about my Golden Globe … I’m basking in the glow of this award.
In a few days, a lot of people think a white supremacist will be running this country. What do you suggest people do to change so this won’t happen in the future?
I will keep it focused on this moment and sort of answer that through this moment, which is that I think I’m continuing to tell our own stories and to stand up for what we believe in as individuals is very important. And I think how I accepted my award tonight spoke to how I feel about all different kinds of stories being represented.
