In the coming Golden Globe Awards, which nominees will make history if they win? Who are the stars coming?

What funny surprises do hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler have in store for the viewers?

Those questions and more will be answered when the 78th Golden Globe Awards airs live in the United States, coast to coast, on Sunday, February 28 (Monday morning, March 1, Manila time) from 5-8 p.m. PT/8-11 p.m. ET on NBC and will be available to stream the next day on Peacock.

Due to the pandemic, the two hosts will stay in their respective coasts. Tina and Amy will appear live from the Rainbow Room in New York and The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, respectively. The star presenters will also announce the winners in various categories honoring excellence in film and television from both locations.

But the nominees will be in various locations around the world.

Amy, interviewed for Moxie, a comedy-drama she directed and also co-stars in, talked about her hosting gig which reunites her with her BFF, Tina. For the first time in the Globes’ history, the star-studded show will be bicoastal, which means the two best friends will not be physically together on the same stage.

“The format is going to present some fun challenges,” said Amy, whose co-hosting duties with Tina of the celebrated awards show from 2013 to 2015 were well-received.

“I will say Tina and I don’t back down from challenges, however weird they may be. What I always look forward to when I get to host the Golden Globes is spending an evening with my friend.”

“This has been a very heavy year. So any way we can bring some humor and light, some sense of play and joy and help celebrate artists and the work they’ve done, then I’m happy to be a part of that.”

With their tested comedic talents and Saturday Night Live experience, the two amigas have also been shooting pre-taped segments that will provide funny surprises and situations.

“It’s like working new muscles, trying to figure out what will play in this medium,” added Amy. “We’ve never hosted anything remotely before but we are really having fun with the idea of being on different coasts, the ways in which we can use this new medium and also, we really like to treat it like we’re hosting a party.”

“So when you’re hosting a party, you have to be having fun yourself. You have to leave space for all the great glorious things that do happen at the Golden Globes. And you have to remember that you’re there to entertain.”

As for any worries she might have about the new format, Amy joked with a laugh, “So it’s probably just that our Zooms won’t work, right? We are going to be working in a new way. It’s probably that everything will short out. Technological fears, really.”

Photo courtesy of HFPA

“I have to say when we had done the show before, and we had walked on the stage in front of an audience, there’s all that fear. But now there’s like a lot of new technological fears to worry about.”

“But I know we are in good hands and I look forward to those things that make the shows feel alive and live, which is important to feel.”

Amy recalled the first time she met Tina in 1993, when Chicago ImprovOlympic Theater co-founder Charna Halpern introduced them to each other.

“We met when I was 22 in Chicago and just starting out in the comedy world,” the actress-director recounted.

“I was taking improv classes, doing sketches and so was Tina. We were both girls from the East Coast, we had very similar shared sensibilities, and I think right away we saw a friend, a partner and something similar in each other.”

“Neither one of us have sisters so right away we just kind of chose each other as work sisters. How you work with someone is important. We all have friends that we love, and we can’t work with all of them.”

“So Tina and I have a very special connection in that we really like to work together. So it’s great this many years later that we get a chance to do that. It’s awesome.”

Amy’s Moxie, which stars Hadley Robinson, Lauren Tsai, Alycia Pascual-Pena, Nico Hiraga and Patrick Schwarzenegger, premieres on Netflix on March 3.

As I write this, the announced live presenters include Joaquin Phoenix, Renee Zellweger, Awkwafina, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Kevin Bacon, Cynthia Erivo, Kristen Wiig, Sterling K. Brown, Kate Hudson, Tiffany Haddish, Margot Robbie, Anthony Anderson, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosie Perez, Christian Slater and Christopher Meloni.

Cynthia Erivo, interviewed for National Geographic’s Genius: Aretha, where she plays the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, said she looks forward to presenting at the Globes. But this time, in different circumstances because of the COVID-19 health crisis. The presenters will enter backstage, go on stage and then quickly exit the stage and the ballroom.

Everyone attending the show, in both LA and New York, will be tested for COVID-19 in advance and go through health screenings and temperature checks before entering either venue. The show is treated like a movie production with strict health safety protocols enforced.

Even prior to the event, all production staff, crew and artists are required to undergo daily health screenings and temperature checks. Everyone, except talents speaking on stage during the show, are required to wear face masks and stay socially distanced at all times.

COVID-19 compliance officers are on-site to ensure all safety protocols are implemented.

Cynthia said, “I’ve done a couple of awards shows during this (pandemic). The way precautions have been taken really make me feel at ease. It’s really important.”

“It’s sort of a full circle moment,” explained Cynthia, who attended the 2020 Golden Globes, with two nominations – best actress in a motion picture – drama for Harriet and best song, Stand Up, from the same film.

“The first time I was there was when I was nominated. I remember my dress was by Thom Browne and it was beautiful. It was black and white. I remember really enjoying that day.  It was a lovely day to be there. To be able to gift someone else with an award…It feels great to be able to give that back to someone.”

Again due to the health crisis, The Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom will not be packed with Hollywood’s biggest names this year. But the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which votes on and presents the Globes, will show its appreciation for frontline workers.

For the first time, the Globes, which is the first major awards event this year and kicks off the delayed awards season (from early January to late February due to COVID concerns), invited a limited number of frontline and essential workers to attend.

Inside the ballroom, social distancing guidelines and health safety precaution rules will be enforced.

A select number of food bank workers were also invited, which is a recognition of HFPA’s philanthropic partnership with Feeding America in this year’s Globes. Feeding America, which is the largest hunger-relief and food rescue organization in the U.S., has helped provide food to millions of people who are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

For many years, Feeding America has been serving more than 40 million people through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. Throughout the Globes show, viewers will be made aware of Feeding America’s campaign to end hunger, especially among children, seniors and veterans.

The exciting show, produced by dick clark productions in association with the HFPA, will be viewed in more than 210 territories worldwide. Millions of viewers will witness perhaps some historic firsts, possible upsets, and surprises. Here are some potential milestones, culled from Variety and other sources:

Photo by Ruben V. Nepales

Anthony Hopkins, believe it or not, has never won a Globe for acting. The esteemed thespian was honored with the Globes’ Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2006.

So if Anthony Hopkins, who has earned 8 acting nominations, finally wins the best actor in a motion picture – drama trophy for The Father, it will be a historic night for the 83-year-old.

But if one of Anthony’s rivals in the category, Chadwick Boseman, triumphs for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, he would be the first Black acting posthumous winner in the Globes’ history.

Still in the same category, it’s the first time that two Muslim actors, Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) and Tahar Rahim (The Mauritanian), were nominated in the same field.

If Helena Zengel, who is 12, wins best supporting actress – motion picture for News of the World, she becomes the youngest winner of a Golden Globe for acting.

Nomadland director Chloe Zhao might be the evening’s winner who will set the most milestones.

Still courtesy of Searchlight Pictures.

If Nomadland emerges as the best motion picture – drama, Chloe would be the first Asian woman producer to win in that category. Nomadland would also be the first film directed by a woman to win best picture – drama.

If Chloe is declared the best director, she would be the first Asian woman and the first woman of color to win that honor. The immigrant filmmaker would also be the second woman to win this field, following Barbra Streisand’s victory for Yentl in 1984.

There’s one more. If Chloe also snags the best screenplay, she would make history as the first Asian winner in that race.

But if Promising Young Woman is the one that bags best motion picture – drama, it would be the first film directed by a woman (Emerald Fennell) to win that honor.

If Sacha Baron Cohen cinches both best actor in a motion picture – musical or comedy for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and best supporting actor – motion picture for The Trial of the Chicago 7, he would be the first male to win two acting prizes on the same evening.

Still courtesy of Amazon Studios

Four actresses have already accomplished this double victory – Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Sigourney Weaver and Joan Plowright.

If H.E.R. nabs the best song for Fight for You, which she composed with Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas for Judas and the Black Messiah, she would be the first Filipino-American to win in this category.

As announced earlier, Satchel and Jackson Lee, the daughter and son of acclaimed director Spike Lee and producer and philanthropist Tonya Lewis Lee, will serve as the 2021 Golden Globe Ambassadors.

With their appointment as ambassadors, Satchel and Jackson also made history as the first two siblings of color to hold the position, with Jackson being the first Black male ambassador. – Rappler.com