Demi Moore, Zoe Saldana, Kieran Culkin and Adrien Brody are among the big winners of this year’s Critics Choice Awards.
Moore took home the best actress award for her performance in The Substance, in which she plays a fading Oscar winner who discovers a black-market drug to create a younger model of herself.
The prize adds to her Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination in what has been her first acknowledgement for major Hollywood awards, after decades in the business.
“This has been such a wild ride, I can’t tell you when I started this journey on this film, I could never imagine being here,” the 62-year-old said as she collected her award at the ceremony in Santa Monica, Los Angeles. “This is so far beyond anything I could have hoped for.”
The actress, who is now an Oscars frontrunner, added: “For anybody out there who is still on their journey, who is still struggling to find their way… because it hasn’t happened, it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening – dreams do come true.”
Coralie Fargeat, the filmmaker behind The Substance, also collected the award for best original screenplay, while the film also picked up a third prize for hair and make-up.
Anora, a film about a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, was named best picture, while papal thriller Conclave, which stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini, picked up the gong for best acting ensemble.
Blockbuster musical adaptation Wicked picked up three prizes, including best director for John M Chu.
Brody, another Golden Globe winner and Oscars favourite, was named best actor for his performance as a Hungarian-Jewish architect in The Brutalist, while Saldana and Culkin won awards in the supporting categories for their roles in Emilia Perez and A Real Pain respectively.
Emilia Perez, a Spanish-language musical thriller about a Mexican drug lord who changes gender, was also named best foreign language film and was honoured for best song for El Mal, which features Saldana, Karla Sofia Gascon and Camille Dalmais.
The film leads the nominations for this year’s Oscars, but has faced controversy in recent weeks after old social media posts by Gascon, taking aim at Islam and George Floyd, came to light.
Deadpool & Wolverine, starring Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, shared the best comedy prize with A Real Pain, in which Culkin and director Jesse Eisenberg play cousins visiting Poland to honour their grandmother.
Reynolds shared news of the win on Instagram, writing: “Zing! Thanks Critics Choice – whole team is thrilled. But wait a minute.”
He then encouraged followers to “swipe” to see A Real Pain had also collected the award, and wished the film’s cast and crew a “huge congrats”.
‘Thank you, Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively…’
Reynolds’ wife Blake Lively was the subject of a joke by awards host Chelsea Handler during her opening monologue, following the recent controversy involving the actress and her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni.
“I want to acknowledge that we’ve been through a lot lately, not just here in Los Angeles, but our entire country,” Handler said. “Waking up every day, not knowing what news we are going to hear that will disappoint or horrify us.
“So, it is important in times like these to have a distraction. And that’s why I want to personally extend my gratitude… to Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively. Thank you for providing us with that distraction. I’m grateful. I think we’re all grateful.”
Read more:
Kieran Culkin on A Real Pain: ‘I’d get defensive’
The film opening the conversation about sex work
Conclave: ‘It’s not a facile takedown of the Catholic Church’
In the TV categories, historical drama Shogun, which is set in Japan, dominated the drama section, taking home the best drama award and three of the four acting prizes for stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Moeka Hoshi and Tadanobu Asano.
Hacks was named best comedy series, with star Jean Smart named best comedy actress, while Baby Reindeer was named best limited series and star Jessica Gunning named best supporting actress.
The awards ceremony took place on Friday after being postponed numerous times due to the wildfires that broke out across Los Angeles in January.
