'Emilia Perez,' Demi Moore among winners at Golden Globes

LOS ANGELES, United States — Surreal narco-musical film "Emilia Perez" and actress Demi Moore were among the early winners at the Golden Globes on Sunday, where a crowded field of movies vied for glory at the year's first major showbiz awards gala.

"Emilia Perez," French director Jacques Audiard's genre-defying film about a Mexican drug lord who transitions to life as a woman, held the most nominations going into the show with 10 -- the most ever for a comedy or musical.

It picked up three early wins: for Zoe Saldana as best supporting actress -- nudging out her co-star Selena Gomez; best original song; and best non-English language film.

"I don't have sisters, and that might be the reason why I made this film about sisterhood," said Audiard, via a translator.

"If there were more sisters in the world, maybe it would be a better place."

Big wins at the Globes, a sometimes eccentric bellwether for the Academy Awards, can help movies earn new audiences and build vital momentum toward the Oscars in early March.

But "Emilia Perez" faced competition from a plethora of rivals, in a year with no clear favorites and no lack of strong contenders.

Other early Globes were distributed widely to multiple films.

Demi Moore won best actress in a comedy for body horror "The Substance," which takes a satirical and often grotesque look at the pressures placed on women by society as they age.

Accepting her prize, Moore reflected on how decades ago, she had been told by a Hollywood producer that she was "a popcorn actress."

"I bought in, and I believed that, and that corroded me over time," said the now 62-year-old "Ghost" star.

But "I had this magical, bold, courageous, out-of-the-box, absolutely bonkers script come across my desk called 'The Substance,' and the universe told me that 'you're not done.'"

Sebastian Stan won the best comedy film actor award for "A Different Man," in which he portrays a man who undergoes experimental treatment for a disfiguring facial condition, but comes to rue the consequences.

"Our ignorance and discomfort around disability and disfigurement has to end now," said Stan.

"We have to normalize it and continue to expose ourselves to it."

Kieran Culkin