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Yalies wowed the world on Jan. 8, as Frances McDormand MFA ’82 and James Franco GRD ’17 — two of the six graduates nominated for Golden Globes — took home awards.
The 75th Golden Globes award ceremony was held in the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California. The six Yale graduates nominated for awards were McDormand, Franco, Meryl Streep MFA ’75, Josh Singer ’94, Liev Schreiber MFA ’92, and Robert Lopez ’97. McDormand, who has been nominated for six Golden Globes in total, won her first for Best Actress in a Motion Picture. Both Streep and McDormand used the opportunity to support the #TIMESUP movement against sexual assault in the workplace.
“So many of you know I keep my politics private, but it was really great to be in this room tonight,” McDormand said in her acceptance speech. “And to be part of the tectonic shift in our industry’s power structure. Trust me, the women in this room tonight are not here for the food. We are here for the work.”
Streep walked the red carpet with women’s rights activist Ai-jen Poo, wearing black to show solidarity with the #TIMESUP movement.
Franco, on the other hand, found himself on the wrong side of the #TIMESUP campaign, even as he won the award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. In the last two weeks, five women have accused Franco of sexual assault. Four of the women who have accused Franco are former student actresses, who said they were assaulted while working with Franco on set, and Franco’s fifth accuser described herself as one of his former mentees.
According to professor of Theater Studies Deborah Margolin, Yale undergraduate students who major in Theater Studies excel at the professional level in large part thanks to Yale’s liberal arts focus. As opposed to students in conservatories, Yale students are encouraged to be “students and citizens of the world,” since they study language, science and history as well, Margolin explained.
“They’re not pampered. Our resources in theater [and] dance studies are not as opulent or expansive as those in theater programs at many other comparable universities,” Margolin said. “In my view, this is good. It hones and focuses the motivation of those students for whom acting, writing and theater or film production are sources of great passion. Our theater students graduate knowing they must make their own artwork, and that if they build it, the acclaim will come.”
The dresses worn by Streep and McDormand at the Golden Globes will go up for auction on eBay to support the #TIMESUP movement’s Legal Defense Fund.
Jever Mariwala | jever.mariwala@yale.edu