'Emilia Perez,' 'The Brutalist' win big at the Golden Globes

The transgender pop-opera "Emilia Perez” led the 82nd Golden Globes on Sunday, winning four awards, while the three-hour saga "The Brutalist” followed with three, including best drama and best dramatic actor for Adrien Brody as a visionary architect. Although Karla Sofía Gascón, of "Emilia Perez,” missed her chance to become a rare openly transgender Golden Globe winner — losing to Demi Moore in "The Substance” — she closed the show with an impassioned speech as her movie won best picture in the musical or comedy category.

"You can maybe put us in jail, you can beat us up,” Gascón said after her director, Jacques Audiard, gave her the stage, "but you never can take away our soul, our existence, our identity.”

Moore’s win in a horror movie was one of the few populist choices in an evening that mostly focused on art-house titles. "The Brutalist,” for instance, still hasn’t seen a wide release. The high-profile award for best actress in a drama went to Fernanda Torres in the Brazilian film "I’m Still Here,” beating out such A-listers as Nicole Kidman in "Babygirl” and Angelina Jolie in "Maria.” Sebastian Stan won best actor in a musical or comedy for "A Different Man,” an indie release that earned barely more than $1 million.

Conversely, the Globes brought out Vin Diesel to present its second-ever Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award, given to movies that — ostensibly — are both big earners and worthy of an award. He briefly nodded to fellow blockbuster star Dwayne Johnson — "Hey, Dwayne,” he said — before presenting the award to the musical "Wicked.” Director Jon M. Chu accepted the Globe and dedicated it to the movie’s fans.

"We saw your videos, we saw your sing-alongs,” Chu said in a high-energy speech. "It shows us how important making this stuff is.”

The show’s host, Nikki Glaser, famous for her fearsome celebrity roasts, played mostly nice with the crowd. She needled a handful of stars (including Zendaya, the star of "Dune: Part Two,” to whom Glaser gushed, "I woke up for all your scenes”) but otherwise kept the jokes general, as when she called the Globes "Ozempic’s biggest night.” Unlike last year’s widely panned host, Jo Koy, Glaser at least seemed to know her audience. Tweaking their collective egos and liberal leanings, she said, "You could really do anything — except tell the country who to vote for.”

"Emilia Perez" star Zoe Saldaña, accepting the first award of the evening for best supporting actress, gave a gushing, tearful speech that began with an acknowledgment of her dyslexia ("I tend to forget when I’m really anxious”), praised her fellow nominee, Bellport resident Isabella Rossellini ("I had lunch at your house one time and I thought I had made it already”), and ended with her begging the orchestra not to play her off the stage. "No, stop!” she yelled. "My family, my mom is here!”

As always, viewers had to sit through stilted routines from presenters who just happen to be co-stars (such as Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh of "Wicked”), but there were a few inspired moments. Seth Rogen and Catherine O’Hara, presenting the award for best actress in a limited series (won by Jodie Foster in "True Detective: Night Country”), pushed the boundaries of the CBS censorship department with a routine about their (surely fictional) backgrounds in Canadian porn. Rogen, for his part, got silenced for several seconds.

Brady Corbet, winning best director for "The Brutalist,” dedicated his award to his wife (and co-screenwriter), Mona Fastvold, and his young daughter Ada, who teared up for him in the audience. Corbet also said his "heart is with” Aubrey Plaza and the family of her husband, filmmaker Jeff Baena, who died by suicide last week.

The big winners in the TV category were "Hacks" (Max) and "Shōgun" (Hulu/FX).

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman