IRISH PRODUCTION COMPANY Element Pictures landed itself a win at the Golden Globes last night after Olivia Colman scooped up an award for her role in The Favourite.
Colman, who plays Queen Anne in the film, which is produced by Element Pictures, won best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy.
The film, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos – a longtime collaborator with Element – had been nominated for Golden Globes across five categories.
Speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland following last night’s win, Ed Guiney, co-founder of Element, said that “it’s absolutely brilliant” news.
Colman’s award follows Golden Globe nominations for previous Element productions including The Guard, Room and The Lobster.
“If you get a win, that’s an incredible thing,” Guiney said.
“I guess we had it a few years and with Brie, but Olivia carrying best actress is a phenomenal result and we are delighted by that, for sure,” he said.
The Favourite was shot by Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan and was partly post-produced in Dublin.
It was written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara and is produced by Guiney and executive produced by Andrew Lowe for Element Pictures.
Actresses Emma Stone and Rachael Wiesz also starred alongside Colman in the film.
“The three of them are brilliant. Rachel and Olivia and Emma are probably three of the greatest actresses working right now in film or theatre in the world. To have the three of them in a movie is a privilege,” Guiney said.
“They are incredible people and we are so blessed and lucky, so lucky, to have them as part of our film.”
Speaking of what it means to have a Golden Globe win for a film, Guiney said “it’s a kind of validation”.
“If people see that a film has got five Golden Globe nominations they’re more likely to go and see the film, it’s that simple. It’s all about getting people into the cinema,” he said.
And, noting the film’s success in the US, Guiney added: “With The Favourite, it’s simply about people getting to see it and, actually, it’s been very successful at the American box office.”
Speaking to TheJournal.ie earlier this year, Guiney was asked whether he thinks The Favourite is set for an Oscar nomination.
“One remains optimistic, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves either,” said Guiney.
“With the nomination, we are certainly in what they euphemistically call ‘the conversation’ [about the Oscars]. We’ll see how we roll.”
He added: “Obviously we went through a it a couple of years ago with Room, so it’s nice to be back in contention again and have another film that might get that recognition.”
The Favourite had been nominated for the following categories:
Irish actress Catriona Balfe was also nominated for a Golden Globe, for her role in the TV series Outlander.
With reporting by Aoife Barry
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say