The Critics Choice Awards are off and running with Australians Sarah Snook and Jacob Elordi taking out awards.
Snook won Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television with All Her Fault.
Snook had not prepared a speech, saying her husband commented in the car that she seemed distant.
Suddenly clocking how little time she had to deliver a speech, Snook quickly thanked the network, and the cast and crew.
“We had an awesome time with the crew shooting really difficult stuff,” Snook said.
All Her Fault streams on Binge in Australia and went up against Adolescence for Best Limited Series, with Adolescence coming out on top.
The Netflix series had already won three awards back-to-back.
Erin Doherty won Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television, Owen Cooper took out Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television, and Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television went to Stephen Graham.
“I’m the only person I don’t recognise in this room,” Graham joked.
Jacob Elordi wins for Frankenstein
Jacob Elordi continued the winning streak for Aussies, taking out Best Supporting Actor for Frankenstein, which is on Netflix.
Jacob Elordi accepts the award for Best Supporting Actor for Frankenstein. (Reuters: Mario Anzuoni)
Elordi expressed surprise, singling out a special thank you for director Guillermo del Toro.
“You made my dreams when I was 11,” Elordi said.
He ended his acceptance speech on a sweet note.
“And thank you Mum and Dad.”
Best Actor went to Timothée Chalamet for Marty Supreme. He singled out his fellow nominees, who included Australian Joel Edgerton, Michael B Jordan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ethan Hawke and Wagner Moura.
Jessie Buckley won Best Actress for Hamnet. She was up against Australian Rose Byrne in that category.
“I am nothing without all of you here,” Buckley said.
“I love being part of this village.”
KPop Demon Hunters slays
Best song went to Golden from KPop Demon Hunters. Australian Nick Cave was in that category with Train Dreams.
KPop Demon Hunters was a global smash hit. (Supplied: Netflix)
KPop Demon Hunters also won Best Animated Feature.
The very first award handed out at the ceremony went to Sinners star Miles Caton, who won Best Young Actor.
Caton thanked director Ryan Coogler.
“Thank you for seeing whatever you could see in that poorly-lit audition video,” Caton said.
One Battle After Another took out Best Picture.
Director Paul Thomas Anderson was rather understated in his acceptance speech.
“This is really fantastic, fantastic news,” he said to laughter.
Chelsea handles the celebrity audience
This year’s ceremony was the fourth back-to-back Critics Choice gig for comedian and host Chelsea Handler.
Chelsea Handler hosted the awards show. (REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
Known for her acidic tongue, Handler wasted no time getting stuck into the celebrities in attendance, first lasering in on One Battle After Another star Leonardo DiCaprio’s New Year’s Eve activities.
“Leo almost didn’t make it tonight because he was trapped on a boat in St. Barts,” Handler said.
“It was just like the Titanic, but worse, because Jeff Bezos was there.”
DiCaprio made it just in time for the Critics Choice ceremony but missed the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala over the weekend, as he was unable to fly due to air traffic control issues following the attack on Venezuela.
While praising Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, Handler took a swipe at Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav off the back of last year’s bombshell news that the legacy studio will be sold to Netflix.
“Sinners is the story of brothers who start this really fun place for entertainment and then vampires show up, suck the life out of everybody and burn it all to the ground. Fun fact, the original name of the main vampire was David Zaslav,” Handler said to big laughs.
Handler wrapped up her opening speech by honouring Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife Michele who died late last year.
“Everyone in this room knows that the nicest guy in Hollywood was Rob Reiner,” Handler said of the When Harry Met Sally director before praising the couple’s “decency”.
“I think we can all agree that we definitely need more of that, so let’s use tonight as a reminder of that decency and as a reminder of everything Rob and Michele represented and fought so hard for,” she said.