The day before the Golden Globes has always been packed full of industry events and pre-show parties. 2014 was no different, especially if you were anywhere near Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood.
The day kicked off with the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards Brunch at BOA Restaurant where Spirit nominees (many also Globe nominees) mingled with mimosas in one hand and tofu quiche in the other. The event was primarily to announce the winners of the Spirit Awards Filmmaker grants and it was clear all of the recipients were incredibly thankful for the cash infusion. Angela Bassett, honorary chair of the 2014 Independent Spiirt Awards, was on hand to hand out one of the grants and talented couple Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola doled out the others. Noted talent at the fete included Oscar Isaac, Will Forte, Bruce Dern, Lupita Nyong’o and Julie Delpy.
Just down Downey and running almost simultaneously was the annual BAFTA Tea party. That pesky flu bug going around prevented a member of the HitFix team from attending this year, but many of this season’s big guns were there including Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Alfonso Cuarón, Michael Fassbender, Chiwetel Ejiofor (who also hit the Spirits brunch), Tom Hanks, Steve Coogan and “Breaking Bad’s” Aaron Paul.
Later Saturday night, CBS, Showtime and CBS Films held an impressive Globes celebration at SoHo House LA. Some of the talent on hand included Isaac once again, Joel and Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand, “Ray Donovan” stars Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight (very much starting to look his 75 years), Naomi Watts, Catherine Hardwicke, “Big Bang Theory’s” Kunal Nayyar, Kate Mara, Max Minghella, “The Good Wife’s” Julia Margulies and Josh Charles, LL Cool J, “How I Met Your Mother” star and Sundance veteran Josh Radnor, “Homeland’s” Morena Baccarin, “August: Osage County” and “The Millers” star Margo Martindale, numerous producers and showrunners, and, of course, CBS head honcho Les Moonves.
Directly across the street from the CBS shindig and beginning a few hours later was Anonymous Content and HBO’s pre-Golden Globes party celebrating the Sunday premiere of “True Detective.” (Yes, that’s a lot to take in for one event). Not HBO’s official party for the Globes (that’s Sunday night), this event still pulled in some big names in prestige film including Benedict Cumberbatch, his “Fifth Estate” co-star (and Globe nominee for “Rush”) Daniel Brühl, Ben Foster, director Greg Araki, Scott Bakula and a “Downton Abbey” reunion you may not believe. Yes, both Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) and Dan Stevens (the late Matthew) were in the same room together (hold back the tears “Downton” fans). Eventually many of the attendees of the CBS party crossed over to the Anonymous gig for what made for an unlikely if not intriguing crowd.
Another big event Saturday night was the annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards dinner. Recipients including James Franco, Cate Blanchett, Spike Jonze, T Bone Burnett and Alfonso Cuaron were all in attendance, while over at the Chateau Marmont, Paramount Pictures was holding its annual pre-Globes soiree with talent such as Martin Scorsese, Peter Fonda, Jon Favreau and more.
Look for continuing Golden Globes coverage all weekend long on HitFix.