Award Central News

"I'm an Essex girl," she said, quipping, "You know how you know if an Essex girl has an orgasm? She drops her fries."

Though she's reigned over award season so far, Mirren said she had no expectations about the future.

"One thing being a little bit older has taught me is you just don't expect anything. Love it when it comes to you, enjoy it, celebrate it, but never expect it."

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"It was like a jolt of lightning," said Forest Whitaker of hearing his name announced as best actor in a drama. "Kiss my wife, go up onstage, then mumble around."

Whitaker said he thinks his best work is still to come. "I've just figured out over the last few years how to do my best work. For me, I'm really striving to play the truth in my characters, I'm just figuring out how to be enveloped by my characters. It's about the truth. If I can get that vibration right, I'll be happy. Hopefully in five years I'll be saying to you guys, I just figured something out."

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Looking anything but ugly, America Ferrera said she felt liberated by the role of "Ugly Betty."

"You know, when I jump into this character, I really feel comfortable," she said. "I'm not concerned (about) if I'm looking OK and what I'm wearing. If I've gained a pound or lost a pound or have food in my teeth, it all works for the show, so it's great."

The other cast and crew of the Globe-winning ABC comedy proved slightly more appearance-conscious backstage, taking turns announcing who they were wearing. (Exec producer Salma Hayek: "Christine Dior.")

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The "Dreamgirls" pep squad was in full force backstage, with no one more enthusiastic than co-star Jamie Foxx.

"How great was this movie? How great was Jennifer Hudson? How great was Eddie Murphy?" the thesp crowed. "I'm so happy that it won best picture. That's the page I'm on tonight."

Producer Laurence Mark bristled at the suggestion that the musical didn't "have enough gas" to make it through award season.

"Look at this gas here!" he said, gesturing toward Hudson and Beyonce Knowles. "There's gas for days! Gas for days!"

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"Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes denied that she rules the show with an iron fist. "I rule with a diamond fist," she said with a grin after showing off the huge diamond she wore to the show.

Did she think about what it might mean for an African-American woman to collect the best drama series Globe on Martin Luther King day? She said "It didn't run through our minds that we would win tonight. I've been telling the entire cast that we shouldn't win tonight so they should drijnk a lot of champagne and have a good time. I don't think we thought about it until we were on our way up to there."

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Very much out of character, Sacha Baron Cohen spelled it out backstage for those viewers who didn't get "Borat."

"The movie is mocking Borat's beliefs. All his beliefs seem laughable -- whether he's homophobic or misogynistic or anti-Semitic, they're all seen as forms of delusion," he said. "He doesn't just think Jews are good with money, he thinks they can change their shape into little insects. And the point of that is to show that all prejudice is ridiculous."

Cohen wasn't all serious, though, elaborating on his spectacularly grotesque acceptance speech about filming the nude wrestling scene.

"There was a little sign that I was going to show (director) Larry Charles, which was that when I ran out of air when Ken was sitting on my face, I would tap on the bed three times," he said. "But Larry was so engrossed ... he didn't notice I was dying under Ken's anus."

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Some 25 years after "Dreamgirls" bowed on Broadway, producer Laurence Mark credited writer-director Bill Condon with making the movie possible.

"(He) who wrote the script that said this has to be a movie. Then it was the cast coming together. I don't think that there's been a better cast for this movie in the last 25 years. Then at the 11th hour Jennifer Hudson came along. Thank god for Jennifer Hudson."

Was he ever worried about casting a tyro in the part? "The thing about Jennifer Hudson is she brings a certain authenticity to the role, she knows who Effie is," and besides, he added. "You can see from 'Gods and Monsters' and 'Kinsey' that he has a way with performers. With someone like BC on the case, hire a neophyte and he'll get the goods out of her."

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"You think about your movies the way you think about your children, you never have a failure," said Cecil B. DeMille Award winner Warren Beatty, after watching a reel of his career highlights. "I don't have favorite movies. I have some movies that I think are not very good, but I don't talk about 'em."

Beatty said flatly that he won't run for office and he isn't ready to announce a new project. "I don't work very often, but I never did. I had an opportunity to live outside the movies. That's another way of saying I've been able to be self-indulgent, and have a good time."

I'm having an experience with a 6-year-old, a 9-year-old, a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old. It's not on television. It's fully engaging. It's, what's the word, transcendent," he said, adding "I waited a... tasteful length of time.

Of his subdued reaction on getting the kudo, he said "When you know that you're on camera, you kind of suppress it. Then you go home and sob."

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Thrilled as he was to win the original score Globe, "The Painted Veil" composer Alexandre Desplat admitted he was disappointed with the film's reception at the box office so far.

"It's always sad when a movie has so much energy, so much money, so much work and talent, put all together -- to see it all just vanish, disappear. It's very sad," he said. Lofting his trophy, he added, "Let's hope that maybe this will help a little bit."

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"Now that I'm a foreign director, I've got to learn some languages," said Clint Eastwood, admitting he needed plenty of help while helming the Japanese-language WWII drama "Letters From Iwo Jima." "I knew one or two words, but I had really good interpreters."

Eastwood said the experience reminded him of working with Sergio Leone in classic Westerns like "A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." "(Leone) could say hello and I could say 'arrivederci.' Between the two of us and a lot of hand signals, we got by."

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"The Queen" scribe Peter Morgan said that it was nerve-wracking to write about the real-life royal family but "That was what made it exciting. Why do people go on high-wire walks? You take on something to test yourself and hopefully we pulled it off."

"Clearly you never really know what happens in the private audience meetings between the Queen and the first minister. I tried to write for a tiny audience, for people in the royal household, if they would give a begrudging nod that it was accurate, and people inside Downing Street if they would give a begrudging nod that it was accurate, that would be great." No such nod has been forthcoming, though, he says; "I haven’t heard anything."

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Alec Baldwin wore a puzzle-piece pin on his lapel, supporting autism research, at the request of NBCU's Bob Strauss. "When Bob Strauss asks you to wear something," said Baldwin, "I would have worn a hubcap on my lapel."

For the outspoken liberal, it has been "exhilarating" to play a conservative executive who flies to Dubai, possibly to have sex with Condoleeza Rice. The character's hard edges jibe with Baldwin's past roles, but he said "When you do a job, everybody offers you the same job over and over again. I've said my dream job is to recreate 'Little House on the Prairie' and recreate the Michael Landon role."

As for his relationship with NBC and its parent company, he said he hasn't been gifted with any appliances yet but "I'm going to build a new house next year and it'll be completely GE, everything, from head to toe."

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Bill Nighy, winner for "Gideon's Daughter," lamented he's often been mistaken for Bill Nye, The Science Guy. "I've disappointed a lot of small children. When my daughter started school her classmates were very excited to meet me until they realized I was the other Bill Nighy."

Grateful for a career that has taken him, unexpectedly, to leading-man territory, he said "My expectations were pretty low early on. I wanted somebody at some point to say my name and the word actor and my name in a casual way, I just wanted to be accepted in that community. The fact I've been able to do that and other things as well, I've never gotten over it."

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"Gideon's Daughter" supporting actress Emily Blunt proved blunt indeed backstage, as the double nominee admitted she knew she wasn't going to win the Globe for "The Devil Wears Prada."

"I saw Jennifer Hudson in 'Dreamgirls,' who just tore up the screen," said the Brit thesp. "When I saw Jennifer, my friend turned to me in the cinema and was like, ‘Yeah, good luck next Monday.' "

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Eddie Murphy, once an action-comedy king and lately known for his family movies, said he'd never felt pigeonholed by roles like "Daddy Day Care" and "Doctor Doolittle." "I've been making movies for 25 years, I just keep trying to do different kinds of things."

He said that singing comes easily for him, but "The scariest thing (in "Dreamgirls") for me was dancing. I'm not much of a mover. I can jump around and dance if I want to be funny, but it's different being serious." Don't look for him to resume his recording career, either. "That's pretty much dead," he said. "Then I would be getting joked about on the latenight shows. 'Party All The Time II' will not be happening."

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"Elizabeth I" scribe Nigel Williams said the Virgin Queen was not only a great subject for the HBO mini, but a personal source of inspiration.

"She was not only a brilliant stateswoman, she was also a merciful woman in a cruel age," said the writer, standing backstage with helmer Tom Hooper and exec producers George Faber, Suzan Harrison and Charles Pattinson. "She was also a wonderful writer and poet. ... I think she stands as a beacon to everybody, especially to me."

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Is the devil in Hollywood? "Look around you," said Meryl Streep slyly.

Streep admitted to being emotional on hearing her name. "I usually have a few drinks before my category comes up so I was not really settled. My shpilkes were not quieted."

Streep said her husband got an unexpected benefit from her portrayal of a fashion harridan. "Well, I so overcompensated at home. He was thrilled, because I got all my nasty rocks off at work. Butter wouldn't melt. ‘Can I do anything for you darling?' "

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"This is history, folks," declared "Cars" helmer John Lasseter after winning the first-ever Golden Globe for animated feature film. "I'd like to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press for having this category. I love animation."

The Pixar chief said he was also grateful to the org for putting him in touch with a key voice thesp.

"I met Tony Shalhoub for the first time on the red carpet of the Golden Globes a few years ago. And he's a voice in 'Cars,' and he's a very good friend of mine."

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"The red carpet was fine tonight," quipped "House" star Hugh Laurie, "because I surfed away from Ben (Affleck) and Jennifer (Garner). I was like a plastic bag surfing in their wake."

He said the separation from his family back in Blighty during production is difficult at times. "My children are much more grown up than I am, much more mature," he said. "And they're taking the separation very well. But it's hard all around. It's like I've joined the merchant navy or something, I just go to sea."

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"I'm totally shocked," said Kyra Sedgwick. I definitely didn't think I would win, because there's Edie Falco and all these other amazing people. I was nominated three times last year and got really used to losing."

Sedgwick, it turns out, is a Falco fan, and even went to see her work onstage. "It's thrilling to be in the category with her at all." She apologized for forgetting to thank her crew, saying "I had this dog-eared speech from last year from three award shows, and I left it in the hotel room. Then I thought maybe that's not such a bad thing."

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After "Eragon" and "Elizabeth I," supporting actor winner Jeremy Irons said he was looking forward to getting back to contempo roles.

"We rely on what people ask us to do. I push a few projects of my own forward, but basically people ask you do to things and you say yes or no. Lately it's been fantasy, or crusaders, or Shakespeare."

"Maybe it's the beard," he added. "Maybe I should take the beard off."

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Jennifer Hudson, winner as supporting actress in a feature for playing jilted big-girl Effie in "Dreamgirls," said the biz should rethink its thin-is-best notion of beauty.

"I think we're all beautiful, regardless of shape, size, color."

She was diplomatic at first about "American Idol," where she was a contestant but didn't win. But finally she couldn't resist a little dig: "You like my award, Simon?" she said with a grin, holding up her Globe. She won't be watching the show's premiere Tuesday night, though, because she'll be winging overseas. But she said her sister will update her and "YouTube will have it."