Backstage at the Golden Globe Awards
Reuters/Variety
January 25, 1999.

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Jim Carrey, who carried away a Globe for his work in ``The Truman Show,'' said the award is ``opening up another arena for me,'' from comedy and across the spectrum into drama.

``I want to be able to do everything, like Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, who could tell every story,'' he said. ``This is the beginning of something to look up to.''

Asked whether the big paychecks still meant as much as they did -- he was the first actor to get $20 million for a movie, for ``The Cable Guy'' -- he said, ``I don't think about the money. I have wonderful people who take care of that for me. If I had to negotiate a contract, I'd work for scale... I get a little psychotic when I'm not working.''

Michael Caine, best drama actor winner for ``Little Voice'' in the musical or comedy film group, said, ``It's a performance I'm very proud of in a small film that could have been missed had it not been for an organization like the Hollywood Foreign Press.''

Caine said he would be going to the Miramax party, ``in case there's another film in it for me,'' and then to the Fox and DreamWorks parties, because he's never made a film for either one. ``So it's drinking and job searching for me tonight.''

Gwyneth Paltrow, luminous in front of endless flashbulbs, appeared genuinely affected by her award for best actress in a musical or comedy for ``Shakespeare in Love.'' She reiterated her onstage dedication of her prize to her ailing grandfather, Buster Paltrow, who ``had had a tough year.''

``I poured everything I had into this role,'' she said, and prepared for the Globes by doing over an hour of yoga Sunday morning -- although she had been ``psychotically nervous all day.''

The fact that her date was her brother Jake, and not former boyfriend Ben Affleck, who was also in the audience, was cause for some speculation, but Paltrow chose not to address it.

Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, winners for screenplay for ``Shakespeare in Love,'' agreed the movie was a long shot, seeing as how it took years to get made and was for a time considered ``damaged goods.''

When asked how Shakespeare would have reacted to the film, Norman said, ``I think he would have been standing in line on first night. If Shakespeare were alive today he'd be driving a Porsche, he'd be living in Bel-Air, and he'd have a deal at Paramount.''

TV comedy best actor Michael J. Fox (``Spin City''), who recently went public with details of his battle with Parkinson's disease, said that ``for the last couple of years my health has been an issue (making it uncertain) whether I could continue doing this work.''

But he credited his doctors and a certain surgical procedure (which he called ``popping his cap'') with enabling him to continue working at his current level and into the future. Fox said that in addition to completing a voice job for Sony's ``Stuart Little'' feature, he is voicing a character for an upcoming Disney animation feature about the famed Lost City of Atlantis.

Dylan McDermott, who took home a Globe for best actor in a TV series for ``The Practice,'' credited the show's continued viability with ``the older women who found the show and then made their husbands watch.'' He also called the show's creator-writer David E. Kelley the ``Eugene O'Neill of this generation.''

Tom Hanks, who won as executive producer for best miniseries ``From the Earth to the Moon,'' tripped as he stepped onto the stage in the press room. ``That's one small step for man,'' he quipped.

Asked if awards were becoming routine, he said, ``The universe is created on Jan. 1 -- nothing is created before that and nothing exists after that. It's the big bang theory and it starts right here at the Golden Globes. I'm constantly amazed when they call my name. Listen, I'm happy just to get a free meal.''

Best actress winner Cate Blanchett (``Elizabeth'') said her next project is the London staging of David Hare's legit show ``Plenty,'' and that there is no film project on the horizon.

``Central Station'' helmer Walter Salles has been the object of affection of many agents and execs. But the director of the best foreign film winner was hesitant to talk about his next project, other than to say that it is based on an English-language screenplay he wrote and will most likely be produced by ``Central Station'' producer Authur Cohn.

The Brazilian picture ``Central Station,'' released last fall by Sony Pictures Classics, owes its critical run to its launch last year at the Sundance Film Festival, not the usual launching pad for foreign language films.

While the Hollywood Foreign Press takes its knocks, the media swarm gathered backstage aren't exactly giving Woodward and Bernstein a run for their money.

A random sampling of the most asked questions:

``Where will you put your statue when you get home?'' (shelf and mantle are the most used responses)

``How do you feel?''

``What are, or who, are you wearing?''

And one intrepid media maven worked her way through the glitter to get to the core of the proceedings: asking nearly every winner, ``What's sexy about L.A.?'' Most Globe winners just stared in bemusement and struggled for an answer.''

Fox, which last year was sitting atop the Golden Globes brought in from ``Titanic,'' which it co-produced with Paramount, was left out in the cold this year on the film side, but with its TV studio and network earning multiple awards for shows that include ``The Practice,'' ``Ally McBeal'' and ``Dharma and Greg,'' one eager flack said Fox's rooftop party was ``going to rock.''

Paramount, on the other hand, continues its award streak. After picking up nods for ``Titanic'' last year, the studio had multiple wins for its ``Truman Show'' and ``Saving Private Ryan,'' which it co-produced with DreamWorks.