Golden Globes: Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. embroiled in controversy again

I’m rebooting my summer trip to Big Sur, while exulting in the news that I can hop over to the Channel Islands in the meantime. But wherever I venture, I can assure you that I most definitely will not be stopping at a fast food restaurant for a fried fish sandwich.

Also: The Golden Globes are Sunday. Will you be tuning in to see which stars thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. for the (ahem) “honor”?

I’m Glenn Whipp, awards columnist for the Los Angeles Times, host of The Envelope’s Friday newsletter and someone who isn’t particularly surprised that the “best” (and I use that word generously) fast food fish sandwich comes from an establishment that boasts a sailor as its mascot.

Golden Globes: More ethical lapses for HFPA

There will indeed be a virtual Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday, though with cohosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on separate coasts and nominees fretting over their ring lighting at home, it’s probably not going to be much of a party, much less “Hollywood’s Best Party,” as the HFPA likes to boast.

Then there’s The Times’ investigation, published this week, which found that the nonprofit HFPA regularly issues substantial payments to its own members in ways that some experts say could run afoul of Internal Revenue Service guidelines. According to the story, reported by Stacy Perman and Josh Rottenberg, HFPA members collected nearly $2 million in payments from the group in its fiscal year ending in June 2020 for serving on various committees and performing other tasks — more than double the level three years earlier.

“It’s a beautiful idea to take the money from NBC and give it to good causes like tuition and to restore films,” said one member. “But there is a spirit now to milk the organization and take the money. It’s outrageous.”

This isn’t the first time the HFPA has found itself embroiled in controversy and, knowing this bunch, it probably won’t be the last. But the fallout from this investigation is threatening to overwhelm this year’s ceremony, and I’ll be interested to see how Fey and Poehler address it. (I imagine Ricky Gervais is sorry he’s not on board for roasting duties this year.)

The one Oscar nomination contenders need to win best picture

Oscar voting begins — finally — next week, meaning we are one step closer to March, one step closer to gaining a bit more clarity about this year’s strange awards season and one step closer to making sure the liquor cabinet is stocked with a bottle or three of good Irish whiskey for a few rounds of socially distanced St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

I’m pretty sure about the movies that will be nominated for best picture. But which film will go on to take the top prize at the Oscars? Without any festivals or premieres or parties or human contact outside telephone calls, Zoom conversations and the occasional drive-in screening (Was that ... Chris? I couldn’t tell with the mask), it’s a little more difficult this year to get an early read on the Oscars’ outcome this year.

But “Green Book” and “Argo” aside, best picture winners typically come from movies for which the director is also nominated. And since I’m thinking Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”), David Fincher (“Mank”), Regina King (“One Night in Miami”) and Aaron Sorkin (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”) will be the five directors feted, I focused on their movies for now, considering what nominations they hope to earn and which nomination they need to earn in order to go on to win the Oscars’ top prize.

Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield talk ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’

The same year Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield shared that unforgettable scene in Jordan Peele’s political horror classic “Get Out,” the moment when Stanfield screams the film’s title over and over again, the two men found themselves sharing the bill at a one-night performance of “The Children’s Monologues” at Carnegie Hall.

After the show, Kaluuya told Stanfield that he had agreed to join him on the film “Judas and the Black Messiah,” a tense portrait of Illinois Black Panther Party leader and defiant activist Fred Hampton and William O’Neal, the FBI informant instrumental in Hampton’s killing.

“Then the drinks started flowing, and I can’t remember the rest,” Kaluuya says. “LaKeith. Would you mind telling me?”

Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield, stars of “Judas and the Black Messiah.”

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

“I was like, ‘F—, that’s dope as s—,’” Stanfield says, laughing. We connected recently via Zoom, Kaluuya electing to keep his video off, Stanfield initially doing the same (“we’re going to let our spirits speak”) before relenting. When Stanfield finally turned his camera on, it appeared as if he were floating in space, the sun rising above the Earth in his virtual background.

You can read our conversation, which, of course, touched on their new film. But we spent most of our time together talking about their experiences in life and acting, and they were both open, honest and very, very candid.