Three days before the Golden Globes, the venue is very much a work in progress. Power tools and honking horns replace gowns and applause. Traffic crawls past the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where construction crews weave through unfinished hallways and torn-up pavement. There’s no obvious sign that, by the weekend, this same space will welcome George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Miley Cyrus — or transform seamlessly into Hollywood’s biggest party.
It’s a contrast that feels impossible to reconcile … unless you’re the ones responsible for pulling it off.
When we meet on Thursday, Glenn Weiss, the returning Golden Globes showrunner, is candid about the real challenge ahead of this year’s show on Sunday, which airs on CBS. It isn’t lining up presenters or figuring out seating placement for talent, but tackling “what’s left of this building.”
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” Weiss laughs. “We had a red carpet in a certain place here for years, and then the construction just took it away. We had to come up with something different.”
That meant rethinking how the arrivals will unfold, with nearly 500 feet of carpet laid directly onto bustling Wilshire Boulevard, and designed to conceal disruption while preserving an illusion of ease.
It’s a reminder that while audiences tune in for trophies and speeches, the real Golden Globes drama unfolds out of sight — engineered by designers, chefs and crews whose job is to make everything feel effortless.
A red carpet curveball
This year’s most high-risk accessory isn’t a hemline: It’s a set of stairs.
Meet Jitter Garcia and Kyle Absalom, the designers tasked with reimagining the Golden Globes red carpet after construction forced it off its longtime footprint.
The problem wasn’t just how to make arrivals look glamorous. It was how to make the venue safe, camera-ready and functional for celebrities in towering heels, sweeping gowns and heavily styled looks, while photographers snap away.
On Sunday, after stars arrive, instead of taking photos behind a traditional flat press backdrop, they’ll now make their way down a descending staircase designed by Garcia and Absalom. Each step creates multiple photo moments, allowing stars to pause naturally, with reporters on both sides. But what looks effortless on camera requires meticulous, real-time risk mitigation — because when couture meets gravity, there’s no margin for error.
Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser stands before the new red carpet stairs where stars will arrive on Jan. 11. (Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty Images)
“We were very intentional about the measurements of the tread and how long they are,” Garcia says. “We were thinking about the skirts and the heels.”
That meant real-world testing. Garcia brought heels and multiple outfits to the build site, walking unfinished steps to see what caught, what pulled and what photographed poorly. Adjustments were made inch by inch.
“It felt kind of silly,” she admits. “But it actually helped a lot.”
Even after the scenic design was complete, the team scrapped it — starting over when they realized it wouldn’t read correctly to those at home.
“We were done, we were complete,” Absalom says. “And then we re-looked at it and were like, ‘I’m not sure if this is going to look good on camera.’ So we ended up redoing the whole thing.”
The designers hosted a private stylist luncheon, offering a sneak preview of the new arrival experience so stylists could plan accordingly. Vertiginous heels and long trains? This year calls for confidence.
“I think it was really, really appreciated and very well received,” Garcia says. “So they know what their clients are getting into.”
Getting stars inside is only the first test. Keeping them fed is another.
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa previews the menu he will serve at the 83rd Golden Globes. (Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
The sushi strategy
Inside the Beverly Hilton, the Golden Globes kitchen operates less like a celebrity hot spot and more like a control room. Timing is everything. There are commercial breaks to hit, hundreds of guests to serve simultaneously and zero tolerance for delay.
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa isn’t here as a celebrity cameo. He’s here as an operator.
The scale alone is staggering. Matsuhisa tells Yahoo that roughly 1,200 plates will be served throughout the night — a number that requires military-level coordination. His signature black cod, one of the most requested dishes at his famed Nobu locations, is prepared at a volume that would overwhelm most restaurants, let alone a live televised event. But it’s a must-serve dish, he says, as is his signature yellowtail jalapeño sashimi.
“Last year, everyone loved it,” Matsuhisa says. “But this year, I did a little bit of a switch — we changed the lobster with spicy lemon, and caviar with mashed potatoes. Sushi, people always like this.”
Out of camera view, another sushi bar will be kept fresh throughout the night, giving guests a steady place to snack between speeches and commercial breaks.
For a room filled with Hollywood’s biggest stars, there’s little chance of the celebrity factor rattling the famed chef.
“Most of the people I already know — everyone,” Matsuhisa says, matter-of-factly. “They come to Matsuhisa and Nobu. So I’m very comfortable.”
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Mayor of Beverly Hills Sharona Nazarian, Barry Adelman, Nikki Glaser, Glenn Weiss and Helen Hoehne get together to roll out the red carpet for the Golden Globes. (Monica Schipper/Getty Images)
The one decision without a playbook
Once the logistics are locked, the final decisions this year that behind-the-scenes creatives are weighing are not so much technical as emotional.
Hollywood is still processing the deaths of the much-loved director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner. Whether or how to acknowledge that tragedy during the broadcast remains an open question. The issue was already confronted at the Critics’ Choice Awards, where the host, Chelsea Handler, acknowledged the couple from the stage.
Weiss is carefully considering how to frame this. Historically, the Golden Globes hasn’t included an in memoriam segment, and he’s mindful of preserving the show’s tone.
“The Globes, historically, is not a show that has an in memoriam in the first place,” he says. “We’re trying to keep the vibe in a different place.”
Honoring one life inevitably raises questions about others — colleagues, collaborators and creators whose losses are also felt deeply.
“We also want to be very cognizant that when you start making special mention of one, there’s a lot of others that we’ve lost who are sad as well,” Weiss says. “And we’re just trying to keep the tone where it’s been.”
It’s a reminder that even the most meaningful moments on awards night aren’t automatic. They’re debated, balanced and sometimes left unresolved — part of the invisible work that shapes what viewers ultimately see.
By the time the lights come up and the room fills, those decisions will already have been made. The stairs will hold. The food will land on time. The tone will be set.
If everything works as intended, the chaos will stay hidden — and Hollywood’s biggest night will feel, once again, effortless.
Watch the Golden Globes live Sunday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS. It’s also streaming on Paramount+ and here on Yahoo.com.