Poor Things Director Shouts Out Birthday Buddy Bruce Springsteen as Movie Wins Best Comedy at Golden Globes

Poor Things is the 2024 Golden Globes' choice for best picture in a musical or comedy.

Air, American Fiction, Barbie, The Holdovers and May December were also in contention in the category at Sunday's awards ceremony.

During his acceptance speech, director Yorgos Lanthimos opened by shouting out a very special attendee whom he has looked up to for much of his life.

"I just wanted to speak to Bruce Springsteen the whole night," said Lanthimos, 50. "We have the same birthday, 23rd of September. He's been my hero since I grew up."

Aside from Springsteen, 74, the filmmaker went on to express his gratitude for the Poor Things cast and crew, including acting winner Emma Stone, whom he called "the best."

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Poor Things reunited Stone, 35, with Lanthimos, whom she previously worked on 2018's The Favourite, as Bella Baxter, a dead woman resurrected with the brain of a baby by a scientist played by Willem Dafoe.

The film follows Bella as she relearns how to live in human society, travels around the world with Mark Ruffalo's womanizing lawyer, and grows into an advocate for women's rights.

Stone, Dafoe, 68, and Ruffalo, 56, each received acting nominations (with a win for Stone!), while Lanthimos was nominated for best director. Poor Things also received nods for best screenplay and best original score.

Air reunited Ben Affleck with his longtime friend and collaborator Matt Damon for a biographical basketball-sneaker-centric film directed by Affleck, 51.

The movie follows Nike executives in 1984 as they famously struck a deal with NBA then-NBA rookie Michael Jordan and created the highly popular Air Jordan sneaker brand. The movie also stars Viola Davis, Julius Tennon, Jason Bateman, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans and Chris Tucker.

In addition to a best picture nomination, Damon, 53, also received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro.

Filmmaker Cord Jefferson earned his movie American Fiction a best picture nomination with his first feature-film-directing effort.

The movie, adapted from Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, follows a Black writer named Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), who writes a novel titled My Pafology under a pen name that parodies books by other Black American authors filled with racial stereotypes. Monk's book unexpectedly turns into a success, leaving him to grapple with fame based on a fake persona.

On top of American Fiction's best picture nomination, Wright, 58, was nominated for his leading role in the film.

Barbie entered Sunday's Golden Globes ceremony as the most-nominated film, leading with nine nods.

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling both received nominations for their performances as Barbie and Ken, respectively, while director Greta Gerwig and her co-writer (and husband) Noah Baumbach also received nominations for directing and writing.

Three tunes from 2023's highest-grossing film received best original song nods, with Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?" taking home the win — and the movie clinched the Globes' first-ever cinematic achievement, as well.

The runaway hit film featured an ensemble cast that also included Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell and Simu Liu, among others.

The Holdovers had three nominations going into Sunday's ceremony: Paul Giamatti and costar Da'Vine Joy Randolph each received acting nominations on top of its best picture nod, with a win for both Randolph, 37, and Giamatti, 56.

The film follows a teenager named Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) at a boarding school in New England in 1970, who is left to spend the holiday season at the school with unpopular teacher Paul Hunham (Giamatti) and the school's cook, Mary (Randolph), who is grieving her son's death in the Vietnam War.

Directed by Alexander Payne (Election), the film revolves around Angus, Paul and Mary's time spent together over Christmas and New Year's as the unlikely trio forge an odd friendship.

May December stars Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton each received acting nominations for their roles in director Todd Haynes' movie, on top of its best picture nod.

The film follows an actor named Elizabeth (Portman, 42) who visits with married couple Gracie (Moore, 63) and Joe (Melton, 33) some 20 years after the couple made tabloid headlines — and Gracie was briefly jailed — for having a child with Joe when he was 13.

The movie is based on a screenplay by Samy Burch, and the film is partially inspired by the real-life case of Mary Kay Letourneau, who was convicted of child rape and imprisoned from 1997 to 2004 after she sexually abused one of her students, Vili Fualaau. The pair later married in 2005 and separated in 2017.

Barbie led the film nominations with nine total, followed by Oppenheimer with eight and both Killers of the Flower Moon and Poor Things with seven. In television, Succession's final season also totaled nine nominations, followed by The Bear and Only Murders in the Building, both with five nods.

See PEOPLE's full coverage of the 81st annual Golden Globes as they're broadcasting live from The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles on CBS and Paramount+.