The true stories behind trio of true-crime tales seeking to heist Golden Globes
Sunday’s Golden Globes will once again celebrate a diverse array of movie and TV hits when it hands out its awards this Sunday night. But amidst the usual collection of comedy and drama contenders, true-crime sagas will be front and center this year, given that three based-on-real-events efforts will be vying for prizes in a number of different categories. With I, Tonya, All the Money in the World, and HBO’s Wizard of Lies, the upcoming telecast will be fixated on ripped-from-the-headlines stories, which is why we’ve compiled a handy rundown of the trio of true-crime tales that will be aiming to pull off a golden heist at the Globes.
I, Tonya
Craig Gillespie’s black comedy traces the rise and tabloid-ready fall of figure skater Tonya Harding (played by Margot Robbie), detailing her abusive upbringing at the hands of her mother (Allison Janney), her violent marriage to Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), and her eventual role in the attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan before the 1994 Olympic Games — a crime that landed Gillooly and his three conspirators in prison and resulted in Harding being given probation and a lifetime ban from professional skating. Employing a Martin Scorsese-ish style and a raft of contradictory narrators, Gillespie’s film presents its material from numerous unreliable vantage points. It will compete for Best Picture — Musical or Comedy, Best Actress — Musical or Comedy (Robbie), and Best Supporting Actress (Janney).
All the Money in the World
Ridley Scott’s drama has been in the news thanks to its last-second decision to replace co-star Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer in the role of J. Paul Getty, the billionaire oil tycoon who famously refused to pay the ransom demanded by Italian kidnappers who’d snatched his grandson John Paul Getty III in 1973. Scott’s film details the efforts of the boy’s mother (Michelle Williams) to rescue her son from captivity with the aid of Getty’s right-hand man (Mark Wahlberg) — attempts that were only aided by Getty himself after the criminals cut off the kid’s ear and sent it to the press. Despite the film’s production upheaval, the Globes saw fit to nominate Scott’s film in three categories: Best Director (Scott), Best Actress — Drama (Williams), and Best Supporting Actor (Plummer) — the last of which is well-deserved, as Plummer proves to be the best part of the film.
The Wizard of Lies
Over the course of almost two decades, stockbroker Bernie Madoff swindled investors out of $64.8 billion via his elaborate Ponzi scheme — the largest in American history — and for this fraud, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. That stunning saga is recounted by director Barry Levinson (Rain Man) in The Wizard of Lies, an HBO movie that stars Robert De Niro as Madoff; Michelle Pfeiffer as his wife, Ruth; and Alessandro Nivola as their older son, Mark, who — though never charged by authorities for having anything to do with Madoff’s scheme — took his life exactly two years to the day after his father’s 2008 arrest. Unsurprisingly given the caliber of its cast, the film received two Golden Globe nominations, for Best Actor (De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Pfeiffer) for a Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television.
The Golden Globes air Sunday, Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
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