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Lisa Richwine and Danielle Broadway

Oppenheimer triumphs at Golden Globes, Barbie eclipsed

Cillian Murphy (L) and Robert Downey Jr won Golden Globes for their performances in Oppenheimer. (EPA PHOTO)

Historical drama Oppenheimer has dominated the Golden Globe awards and gothic comedy Poor Things upset blockbuster Barbie as Hollywood threw its biggest party since last year's labour strikes.

Oppenheimer, about the making of the atomic bomb, landed five honours, including the coveted best movie drama prize and acting awards for stars Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.

Christopher Nolan won his first Golden Globe award for best director for the film, which was distributed by Comcast's Universal Pictures.

Oppenheimer was the big winner as awards season kicked-off in Hollywood.

"I am so pleased that Chris has been acknowledged because I just think that what he does is unlike anything anyone else is doing," Oppenheimer producer Emma Thomas said on stage on Sunday.

She said Nolan, who is her husband, "brings the best out in people by being the very best himself".

Poor Things, starring Emma Stone as a deceased woman revived by scientists, won best movie musical or comedy.

Awards watchers had widely expected that honour to go to Barbie, the female empowerment story produced by and starring Margot Robbie that topped 2023 box office charts and went into the night with a leading nine nominations.

Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe
Poor Things took out the best musical or comedy award, with Emma Stone winning best actress.

Robbie missed out on the award for best actress in a musical or comedy, with Stone taking home the prize.

Barbie went home with just two awards, for Billie Eilish's song What Was I Made For and for a new category called cinematic and box office achievement, created for widely seen films.

Collecting the achievement award, Robbie dedicated the gong to "every single person on the planet who dressed up and went to the greatest place on earth - the movie theatres".

Fellow Australians Elizabeth Debicki and Sarah Snook were also among the winners on the night.

Elizabeth Debicki
Australian Elizabeth Debicki picked up her first Golden Globe for portraying Diana in The Crown.

Debicki was named best supporting actress in a TV series for portraying Diana, Princess of Wales, in The Crown and Sarah Snook won her second Golden Globe for best female actor in a TV series drama, for her role in Succession.

The winners were chosen by roughly 300 entertainment journalists who voted on the honours as a part of a new organisation created after an ethics and diversity scandal among Globe voters.

Lily Gladstone, best actress winner for her role in Killers of the Flower Moon, began her acceptance speech by introducing herself in the Native American language she learned in school.

"This is an historic win," Gladstone continued in English. "It doesn't belong to just me. I am holding it right now with all my beautiful sisters."

She thanked director Martin Scorsese as well as Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, her co-stars in the story about the murders of members of the Osage Nation in the 1920s.

Margot Robbie
Barbie missed out on a major gong but star Margot Robbie collected its prize for cinema achievement.

In television categories, Succession was named best drama and led all series with four wins, including a lead acting honour for Kieran Culkin.

The Bear, about the struggles of owning a restaurant, won best TV comedy and acting trophies for stars Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri.

Road-rage story Beef landed the Globe for limited series.

The glitzy ceremony at the Beverly Hilton kicked off Hollywood's annual awards season, which culminates with the Oscars on March 10, and brought top stars together for the first time after six months of strikes by actors and writers in 2023.

Comedian Jo Koy opened the ceremony with jabs at some of the A-list stars and their projects.

Oppenheimer, a historical drama running three hours long, "needed another hour", Koy joked. "I felt like it needed some more backstory."

Sunday's turnout showed Hollywood had re-embraced the Globes as a key stop on the awards campaign trail.

In the crowd were several Hollywood legends from Meryl Streep to Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster, all Globe nominees vying for Oscars this year.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift joined the crowd as a nominee for her recent concert film. Oprah Winfrey presented the night's top prize to Oppenheimer.

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