Golden Globes and Broadway: HFPA's President Philip Berk

By Christopher Moore, Broadway Magazine

The stage is being set for one of the largest collections of celebrities ever gathered. As workers calmly assemble the stage for Sunday night's Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood, we had the opportunity to speak directly with Philip Berk, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the organization responsible for presenting the Golden Globes. Each year, the Golden Globes distinguishes itself with moments of surprise and celebrity-intrigue, and this year is no exception.

"It's the same excitement every year. In terms of setting up, as you put it, it's no different. I think this year is somewhat crucial in the sense that the ratings were down last year, so we're hoping to rectify that," says Mr. Berk candidly.

While stars have always played a part on Broadway, this year the Broadway-Golden Globes connection is a little bit stronger as the movie musical Nine is up for five awards. Interestingly, the Hollywood-ization of Broadway may even have had an impact on which stars will attend the Golden Globes on Sunday night.

"I'm really unhappy about it," Mr. Berk says with a smile about the flock of A-list Hollywood stars playing Broadway, " because that's a good excuse why many of these people who are very good friends of the Hollywood Press are not here this year–because they are either on Broadway or just finished a long run on Broadway and now they are prepared to take a rest and go back to Australia or go back England. The Hollywood-ization of Broadway is amazing."

Of course, there are plenty of stars to go around, and this year the Golden Globes would seem to offer one of the largest collections of celebrities in the history of entertainment. Offering awards to stars of both film and television, the Golden Globes has something for everyone.

"We approached and were approached by a wonderful mix of old Hollywood, new Hollywood, the A-list, you know, everything you could imagine, so we have a fantastic line-up of stars this year. It's the best- people say it's the best ever," Mr. Berk tells Broadway.tv. Added into the mix is the always entertaining and capriciously clever star Ricky Gervais, who will host this year's Golden Globes. While previous Globes have not had a host, Mr. Berk tells us that there was pressure from NBC. Ricky Gervais was the ideal host, according to Mr. Berk, but he thought the star would never agree to do it. Fortunately, Mr. Gervais did agree.

As the workers continue to set the stage for Mr. Gervais and the galaxy of stars who will arrive for the Globes on Sunday, Mr. Berk takes a moment to reflect again on the connection between Hollywood stars and Broadway.

"I go back a long time with having attended plays on Broadway," the president of the HFPA recalls, "Even when I first came to Broadway there was Katherine Cornell, there were The Lunts, Julie Harris-- I mean, they always had stars…audiences have always flocked to plays with stars. In the case of movie-stars, superstars like Daniel Craig, superstar Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, obviously there are people (in the audience) who would never go to the theatre –they are not Broadway theatre audiences–they are only there because they are star-gazers and that's how those shows sustain themselves."

Star-gazers and Broadway, star-gazers and the Golden Globes, no doubt when it comes to Hollywood, everyone is, to some extent, an astronomer. That rarest and most unique celestial gathering of stars called The Golden Globes can be seen live Sunday night on NBC at 8PM EST and 5PM PST…and, of course, you can catch the red carpet at 7PM EST and 4PM PST.

Catch the entire video interview with Philip Berk, President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association right here on Broadway.tv.