The Valley Wins the Gold!

Did any of you catch the Golden Globes on Sunday (or were you all tuckered out from watching the Jets beat the Patriots)? If you skipped the awards, I’ll fill you in on the only awards you need to know about: The ones with local connections! Who were the Valley’s big winners?

I know we’ve talked about Temple Grandin already. Seeing as it was a TV movie — and, being on HBO, a good one — it’s been handed a million awards at previous telecasts, including the Emmy for “Most Outstanding Made for Television Movie” (one of its seven Emmy awards that night). Well, Grandin returns to capture more praise! Though it didn’t take home the Golden Globe for “Best Mini-Series” — that went to Carlos — Claire Danes did win a statue for “Best Actress in a Mini-series or TV Movie” for her portrayal of Grandin (who applauded from the audience). And the movie’s executive producer, Larchmont resident Emily Gerson Saines, was right there next to her. I spoke with Gerson Saines before the movie aired and learn what a personal project it was for her, so I’m always pretty excited whenever the film garners some big awards.

One of my favorite acceptance speeches of the night came courtesy of Stone Ridge resident (and 2010 Best Of Hudson Valley winner!) Melissa Leo, who was named “Best Supporting Actress” for her brassy role in The Fighter. When asked to meet with the director to discuss the part, she said, “Well, I’d like to meet [him], but I don’t know if I could play Mark and Christian’s mother — I’m a little young.” She pulled it off, however. Plus, it was so good to see her all dolled up and happy — she always looks broken-down and miserable in movies like The Fighter and Frozen River.

An even bigger awards-hog that night was The Social Network, which brought home honors for “Best Score,” “Best Screenplay,” “Best Director,” and “Best Picture, Drama.” The local connection here is obvious: The film is based loosely on the life of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a Dobbs Ferry native. (We don’t really need to break out the screen-shot from the trailer of him wearing an Ardsley t-shirt again, do we?) So really, without the Hudson Valley, there’d be no Social Network.

But there is another big local connection to The Social Network. (Not counting the fact that the film’s David Fincher snaked his “Best Director” award away from David O. Russell, director of The Fighter, who attended Mamaroneck High School.) The Social Network’s writer, Aaron Sorkin, is also a local (graduate of Scarsdale High School, a sometimes-sorta rival school from Zuckerberg’s middle-school alma mater). During his acceptance speech, Sorkin proved that there are no hard feelings (even though his screenplay vision of Zuckerberg is pretty harsh). “I wanted to say to Mark Zuckerberg tonight, if you’re watching, Rooney Mara’s character makes a prediction in the beginning of the movie. She was wrong,” he said. “You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a visionary, and an incredible altruist.” Watch his speech here: 

Did your favorite movies win the Golden Globes? Were you rooting for Russell over Fincher? Let me know in the comments. And if the Globes didn’t shake out the way you wanted them to, don’t beat yourself up about it: The Oscars announce its nominees in a week!