( dpa ) - The British war romance Atonement won the Golden Globe Award for best movie drama Sunday night in a surreal awards show that was hobbled by the screenwriters strike.
Instead of the usual star-studded dinner and presentations broadcast for more than three hours live around the globe, the prizes were announced by television presenters in just half an hour. In a move that might be welcomed by many critics of the traditionally lengthy awards shows, no prizes were presented and no gushing acceptance speeches given.
The gruesome musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street won the prize for best musical or comedy, and Johnny Depp won the best actor award for his role in the Tim Burton-directed film.
Also winning two awards was No Country for Old Men, which picked up a writing award for director/writers Joel and Ethan Coen and best supporting actor for Javier Bardem.
Julian Schnabel picked up best director for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which also won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film.
The best actor in a motion picture drama was Daniel Day-Lewis for his role as a ruthless oil prospector in There Will Be Blood while Julie Christie won the best actress award in a drama for her role in Away From Her.
Cate Blanchett won the supporting actress award for her role in the Bob Dylan movie I'm Not There. Marion Cotillard won for best actress in a musical or comedy for her portrayal of French singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.
The British comedy Extras was named as best TV comedy while David Duchovny for Californication and Tina Fey for 30 Rock, were named best actors in a TV comedy.
The best TV drama was Mad Men, a little-watched show about advertising executives. Other awards included best actress in a TV drama series for Glenn Close in Damages, best supporting actor in TV series for Jeremy Piven in Entourage, best original song for Guaranteed from the movie Into the Wild.
The glittering ceremony was cancelled last week by the US television network NBC and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the awards. They took the decision after the screenwriters announced they would picket the event, effectively preventing the attendance of the movie and TV stars who are the main attraction for the broadcast spectacular.
The Golden Globes are often regarded as second in importance only to the Oscars and a key indicator of Academy Award winners even though the two awards shows have diverged in the past three years.
It could be accurate, however, in predicting the shutdown of the biggest night of the year in Hollywood on February 24 if the writers strike is not solved by then and they decide to picket the Oscars.