BEVERLY HILLS – We had to wake up at the crack of dawn for the 5 a.m. announcement of the 69th Golden Globe Award nominees and drive to Beverly Hilton Hotel. Ladies with mini bottles of Moet & Chandon champagne welcomed us but we proceeded straight where the coffee and tea were being served. The print, TV and radio people were either setting up or having breakfast while publicists were nervously taking their seats with their respective studio groups gearing up for the announcement.
Sofia Vergara of “Modern Family,” who was helping with the announcement of the nominees together with Gerard Butler (“Machine Gun Preacher”), Woody Harrelson (“Rampart”) and Rashida Jones (“Parks and Recreation”), was the photographers’ favorite as they snapped at her every move, smile and wave. Sofia was also funny when she conspicuously showed it was a mouthful for her to be pronouncing the names of directors Michel Hazanavicius of “The Artist” and Martin Scorsese of “Hugo.”
Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) president Dr. Aida Takla-O’Reilly also displayed her sense of humor by calling returning host-comedian Ricky Gervais “a naughty, naughty school boy” making light of his performance last year.
Nominations were announced in 25 categories. When Gerard was announcing the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama, Woody quipped on the side, “Can you please add my name there?” To which Gerard jokingly replied, “It’s so weird but they taped it out. I don’t know what that means.”
When it was Woody’s turn to make the announcement for the Best Motion Picture-Drama, he said, “Rampart” and then paused and wittily added, “opens on January 27” making the audience break into laughter. Then he added, “I don’t see it on the list here. There’s a lot of things left off today, I just wanna say.”
Rashida, on the other hand, the younger daughter of media mogul and musician Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton, was looking very preppy with her dark glasses, ponytail and conservative outfit.
Also present during the nominations announcement was Rainey Qualley, the 21-year-old daughter of actress Andie MacDowell who is Miss Golden Globe 2012. She will take over the duties of assisting during the ceremony from Gia Mantegna, Miss Golden Globe 2011.
The 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Ricky Gervais for the third year in a row, will air on Sunday, January 15, 2012, live coast-to-coast on NBC. It will be seen in more than 160 countries and is produced by Dick Clark productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Going back to Rainey, we met the aspiring actress and singer recently at Cecconi’s in West Hollywood where she was introduced to the press by HFPA president Dr. Aida Takla-O’Reilly.
At the said event, we also met Fil-Am Darren Criss of “Glee” who is excited to take over the role of corporate ladder-climber J. Pierrepont Finch of Daniel Radcliffe in Broadway’s “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” next January.
Also present at the “A Night of Firsts” event were “Hangover 2” and Vanessa Hudgens’ co-star in “Sucker Punch,” Jamie Chung who was resplendent in a silver backless glittery dress. “Glee” star and last year’s Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer also arrived and so did “The Social Network” and “J. Edgar” star Armie Hammer with his lovely wife, Elizabeth Chambers. “Shameless” actress Emmy Rossum came in a beautiful one shoulder silk cocktail dress and Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie made a dramatic entrance with her tight body hugging dress.
Formerly a Manila journalist, Los Angeles-based Janet Susan R. Nepales is a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.