Someday I’ll tell my nieces of the time Drake showed up to DJ for two hours at a Netflix Golden Globes after party. They probably won’t believe me, but thankfully there’s video evidence.
Best and Worst of the 2018 Golden Globes
Netflix won only one major award (“Master of None’s” Aziz Ansari for Best Actor in a TV Series – Comedy or Musical) but Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos is in it for the long game. He’s been wooing the industry for a decade and even with little to seemingly celebrate the streaming service’s post-Globes party was just another example of how. We can’t even guess how much Drake was paid to appear (he did stop by HBO’s shindig beforehand), but it absolutely made Netflix the place to be.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdrynXWB3Dv/?taken-by=gregel17
Netflix’s event had lots of familiar faces besides the Canadian Hip-Hop were in the room. “Stranger Thing’s” Millie Bobby Brown enjoyed the dancefloor for a bit. “Glow” stars Alison Brie and Britney Young were on hand. Angelina Jolie stopped by. “Assassination of Gianni Versace” stars Edgar Ramirez and Ricky Martin were there. Pharrell Williams, Laura Dern (also on the dancefloor), Issa Rae, Sebastian Stan and a slew of “13 Reasons Why” stars were too.
Of course, Sarandos wasn’t the only tech mogul in the building. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos was seen at the 20th Century Fox/Fox Searchlight party before he arrived at his own Amazon Studios event (worth noting some A24 peeps were there too). Fox was, obviously, a major celebration for thePharrell Williams team. The film’s star, Frances McDormand, stayed for a bit, before heading off with husband Joel Coen in hand. “Shape of Water” composer and winner Alexandere Desplat enjoyed the dancefloor and “Handmaid’s Tale” stars Ann Dowd and Alexis Blendel stopped by too.
The real star hangout is always the Warner Bros./In Style party where Michelle Williams, Heidi Klum and Maggie Gyllenhaal passed by as Mariah Carey held court at the one VIP table everyone could see her at. Focus Features‘ party was arguably the most beautifully designed, but without the “Get Out” team winning anything (Focus’ sister company is Universal Pictures) there wasn’t much incentive for people to stick around (although winner Gary Oldman reportedly did for quite awhile).
Wherever you went the topics of the night were Oprah (“She’s running right?”), the fact “In The Fade” shocked as the Foreign Language Film winner (HFPA members don’t understand who voted for it because they didn’t), who was winning SAG ensemble (“Three Billboards” and “Get Out” are your frontrunners) and debate over whether Globe winners Sam Rockwell and Alison Janney will go all the way (my bet is no).
Considering it was a year of change it made sense that it was also a big change for the Globes. The longtime Weinstein Company party (recently held with Netflix) was gone (I remember the year Kobe Bryant stopped by the TWC party after playing a Lakers game just an hour before, he was mobbed). NBC Universal no longer did one gigantic party, but two for NBC and Focus Features. That meant Fox took their rooftop space and it felt…strange. For the first time the HFPA put on their own post party and it was supposedly dreadful. Netflix’s party was at the recently opened Waldorf Astoria right next door to the Beverly Hilton which certainly created a different dynamic. Overall there were less stars walking through the hallways and the fans who used to hang out all night in the main lobby were absent. It felt quieter. It felt more serious. It felt more like parties full of forced exuberance. There was a joy missing.
First World problems, right?
That is except for the 20 to 50 people dancing to Drake. They went at it like Netflix was gonna let the party go till the sun came up. That didn’t happen, but years from now we bet they remember it that way.