• The 75th Golden Globes airs Sunday at 8 p.m. EST on NBC.
• The show will stream live on NBC's app and website for cable subscribers.
• Non-cable subscribers can stream the show on subscription services including DirecTV Now, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and Hulu with Live TV.

The 75th annual Golden Globe Awards airs Sunday at 8 p.m. EST on NBC, and there are a variety of ways to stream the broadcast online. 

In previous years, NBC did not live-stream the Globes, as its contract with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association didn't include streaming rights.

But for this year's show, NBC negotiated with the HFPA to allow the network to stream the show for the first time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Non-cable subscribers can stream the show on subscription services including DirecTV Now, Sling TV, YouTube TV, and Hulu with Live TV. If you have a cable provider, you can access the live stream on NBC's app or website with your cable login.

The HFPA and Dick Clark Productions, the Globes' producers, are also streaming the show's two-hour red carpet event on Facebook, starting at 6 p.m. EST on Sunday. 

NBC's "Late Night" host Seth Meyers will host the awards show.

Guillermo Del Toro's film "The Shape of Water" led all nominees for the show with a total of seven nods, while HBO's "Big Little Lies" picked up the most nominations (six) for a TV series.

SEE ALSO: Our predictions for who will win big at the 2018 Golden Globes

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Meet Scott Rogowsky — the host of the hot new mobile game show HQ Trivia

• "The Last Jedi" has met its match at the box office, and it's a comedy out of China.
• The lastest "Star Wars" movie will not finish in first place for its opening weekend theatrical release in China.
• There is a long history why the "Star Wars" franchise doesn't perform well in the country.

Though it only took three weeks for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" to shoot to the top of the 2017 domestic box office, as well as dominate the attention of moviegoers in other countries, China has always proven to be the franchise's Achilles' heel. And while you might think China's strong domestic movie market explains it, there's more to the story of why "Star Wars" has struggled.

"The Last Jedi" kicked off preview showings Thursday night as it opens in China this weekend, and the result wasn't very impressive.

"The Last Jedi" earned $7 million (RMB50.1 million) by Friday 7 p.m. local time, according to Variety. Combine that with midnight screenings and Thursday night previews, the total is $8.28 million. However, the China-produced comedy “The Ex-File” took in $15.7 million (RMB102 million) by 7 p.m. It now has a total gross of $129 million (RMB838 million) over the eight days it's been in theaters, and is playing on fewer screens than "Jedi" ("Jedi" has approximately a 35.6% share of all Chinese screens compared to Ex-File's 32.3%).

"Jedi" will come in second to "Ex-File" with a three-day total between $25 million and $30 million, according to Deadline.

That's right, a "Star Wars" movie will be beat out in its opening weekend in China by a comedy that had already been in theaters for a week.

This isn't the first time "Star Wars" has struggled in China.

"The Force Awakens" earned $124 million ($52.3 million opening) in its 2016 release in China, putting it in 13th place for the year in the country (it's the all-time best earner in North America). "Rogue One" did even worse last year, despite having Chinese stars Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen. It just took in $69.5 million, with a $30.6 million opening weekend (35th place at the China box office).

One theory is that the China movie market is so strong — very close to surpassing the US as the largest theatrical market in the world — that "Star Wars" has a lot of homegrown content to compete with.

But there's a more realistic reason.

"The 'Star Wars' brand doesn’t resonate in China like it does in other parts of the world because there has not been a long-term relationship with the franchise," comScore box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Business Insider. "The characters that have become iconic in other countries — in the United States Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo have been elevated to revered cult status — there is no such feeling in China and that has impacted the box office prospects there."

The reason for this is because China has only been familiar with the "Star Wars" saga since the late 1990s, when the prequels were the first-ever part of "Star Wars' shown in the country (outside of piracy). The original trilogy wasn't released in China until "A New Hope" opened in 2015.

The late start for China is due to the decades of the country blocking Western culture. Disney has since put a full-court marketing push to get the Chinese to go insane over "Star Wars" like the rest of the world has, but clearly the studio still has a lot of work ahead of it.

SEE ALSO: The Weinstein Compnay is reportedly close to being sold — here's who's bidding and what they'll likely pay

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Meet Scott Rogowsky — the host of the hot new mobile game show HQ Trivia

This week, Justin Timberlake released a perplexingly mediocre single from his upcoming fifth album, and Kendrick Lamar collaborated with SZA on a soundtrack song for Marvel's "Black Panther" film. 

Here are the 5 best songs from the past week that you can stream right now:

SEE ALSO: 37 albums that critics really hate, but normal people love

Justin Timberlake — "Filthy"

After promoting his upcoming fifth album, "Man of the Woods," as a "personal" LP with an apparent country bent, Justin Timberlake pulled a 180 and dropped "Filthy," a Timbaland-produced, robo-funk lead single with cringeworthy lyrics ("What you gonna do with all that meat? / Cookin' up a mean servin'").

Sounding like a rehashed outtake from 2006's "FutureSex/LoveSounds," the song's music video features Timberlake as a Steve Jobs-like character unveiling a provocatively dancing robot at a "Pan-Asian" technology conference in the year 2028.

MGMT — "Hand It Over"

"Hand It Over" — the third stellarsingle from MGMT's upcoming fourth album, "Little Dark Age" — effectively channels the drifting rock ballads of the 1970s through the band's singular psychedelic sensibility. 

Hudson Mohawke — "Foxy Boxing"

Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke released the anticipated studio version to "Foxy Boxing," a vibrant, densely-layered instrumental that became a fan-favorite bootleg after Mohawke started playing it at live shows in 2011. 

Nintendo clearly has a hit on its hands with its new Switch console. As we can see in this chart from Statista, initial sales of the video game machine, which the Japanese company launched in March, are not only outpacing its last console, the woeful Wii-U, but also the fabled Wii, its last big hit. In fact, the Switch is the fastest selling console of all time in the US, at least in its first 10 months on the market, according to Nintendo.

But the news only gets better for the maker of Mario Bros. Part of the reason for the Switch's success has been its strong early lineup of games, including new installments of its "Super Mario," "Zelda," and "Mario Kart" franchises. Those games, all of which are published by Nintendo, have proven to be sopopular that each one is owned by at least half of US Switch owners.

SEE ALSO: Tesla fell short on its Model 3 production goals again — but its latest numbers and past history offer some hope

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: France's $21 billion nuclear fusion reactor is now halfway complete

Every year the Golden Globes throws in a few surprises by nominating terrible or questionable movies, and TV shows that no one could have predicted would get any recognition.

This year, one of the off-the-wall nominations was Ansel Elgort. Elgort was nominated for best actor in a comedy or musical for his role in "Baby Driver," but most critics agreed that his acting was one of the worst parts of an otherwise great movie. 

Considering the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of journalists and photographers who report on the entertainment industry, has consistently made some strange choices when it comes to nominees (and in some cases, winners), we collected some of the wackiest nominees in Golden Globe history — from Jim Carrey's performance in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" to Hugh Jackman in "Kate & Leopold."

Here are the 17 strangest Golden Globe nominees of all time:

SEE ALSO: Our predictions for who will win big at the 2018 Golden Globes — and who should win

17. Freddie Highmore in "The Good Doctor"

Sure, Freddie Highmore is a good actor, who is good in "The Good Doctor." But the show is not good. Considering all of the other great performances by actors in a drama series that could have been nominated — like Lee Pace in "Halt and Catch Fire" or Matthew Rhys on "The Americans" — we're surprised Highmore made the cut.

16. "Legally Blonde" —2001

"Legally Blonde" helped get Reese Witherspoon the career she has today. It's a good romantic comedy, and Witherspoon's performance as Elle Woods (which was nominated for a Golden Globe as well) was great. But it's really just a silly movie that's best watched on a day when you don't feel like thinking or leaving your couch, so a nomination for best comedy or musical was an interesting choice. 

15. "Bobby" — 2007

Emilio Estevez directed the 2006 film that followed an excellent ensemble cast the day Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. Despite a promising premise and an all-star cast, the movie was a dud. But it managed to get nominated for best motion picture in the drama category anyway.

• Former VMware CEO Paul Maritz likes to make angel investments in companies that he understands. He doesn't play video games and never considered backing an eSports startup.
• But when one of his former employees pitched an idea for a gambling platform, he was intrigued.
• And when Maritz saw people literally lining up around the block to wager on a game, he opened his wallet wide.

As the ex-CEO of VMware, Paul Maritz is a well-known name in enterprise software . But he's the first to admit he knows nothing about video games, much less the hyper-competitive world of eSports. He's not even a little bit of a gamer.

That's why even he was surprised when Maritz become the key angel investor for RumbleMonkey, a year-old eSports platform that launched in March. It lets gamers play head-t0-head games for small wagers. Maritz described his stake as a "Series A." The total investment was in the "very low millions," he says.

Maritz was a key executive during Microsoft's early days, before he was poached to become CEO of VMware. Later, Maritz was tapped to be the CEO of Pivotal, a VMware spinoff. He retired as Pivotal CEO in 2015, but stayed on as executive chairman. In his semi-retired life, he's become an angel investor in a variety of companies.

But eSports is way outside his expertise, he tells Business Insider.

"[RumbleMonkey CEO] Jacob [Rapoport] has taken me in a direction I never expected to go. Other investments I have are much more in my background in enterprise software. Investing in a company like RumbleMonkey is something I never thought I'd do," Maritz says.

A real world test, not a slide deck

Maritz first met RumbleMonkey CEO Rapoport back in the late 1990's, when he worked for Maritz at Microsoft. Rapoport has come to Maritz with startup pitches several times before. What lured Maritz to say "yes" this time was when Rapoport convinced Maritz to come with him to the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).

Martiz had never heard of PAX — a major gaming convention, held regularly in cities all over the world, especially known for hosting massive tournaments. 

"About 20,000 people show up to each of those conferences," says Maritz. "They are enormous. On one night they have to rent out Symphony Hall in Seattle to watch people playing video games."

Rapoport used the opportunity to tell Maritz about the money in professional eSports these days. The industry generated about $696 million in 2017 in revenue, according to some market research.

Rapoport wanted to bring the excitement of playing video games for a real cash prize to the average gamer. "The equivalent of people who go out to a golf match, put money into the kitty and play for the kitty," Maritz says.

So he built RumbleMonkey to be a platform that handles tiny wagers, verifies who won, and helps gamers find other players of similar ability to play and bet against.

But the real selling point for Maritz was when RumbleMonkey tested his idea at PAX with a pro gamer. Any gamer could challenge the pro to a match for a $5 wager. If they won, they won the money. If they lost, the money would be donated to charity. 800 people lined up to play against the pro, "with lines around the block," Maritz recalls. 

A light bulb went off that this was a potentially huge market. He opened his wallet and joined the board. His gamble on this company is proving solid, he says, because about 15,000 applied to be part of the beta program. RumbleMonkey launched in March with just one game, the mega-popular virtual card game "Hearthstone."

"It is the mirror image of the sports world that's growing up in cyberspace," Maritz says. "It's a new opportunity for me to learn about a world that is emerging very rapidly."

All in all, Maritz has a half-dozen angel investments, including a scheduling software company called BoldIQ and an aircraft company in his home country of South Africa. That last one is close to his interests — he may not play video games, but he's a seasoned pilot in real life. 

SEE ALSO: This ex-NSA hacker is hunting white supremacists and hate groups lurking on Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: New film takes you inside the cut-throat world of professional eSports

• Actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow spoke with Net-a-Porter about her diet and exercise routine.

• She said she exercised for two hours a day and usually skips breakfast and eats a low-carb lunch.

• I decided to tackle her habits for a week.

I tried to live like Gwyneth Paltrow for a week, and it didn't quite work out the way I'd planned.

Paltrow famously leads an intense life. In terms of exercise, she used to do an hour of cardio and an hour of weights six days of the week. Her lifestyle brand Goop also hawks all sorts of hardcore detoxes and cleanses.

But all that doesn't really reflect Paltrow's current reality. She recently told Net-a-Porter that she doesn't have the time or energy to tackle that grueling schedule anymore: "I'm getting old, my back hurts! It's depressing. Some days, the gym gives me this rush of energy and I feel amazing, but then my body's like 'f--- you.'"

She also doesn't stick to any Goop cleanses for a long amount of time. She told Net-a-Porter she passes on breakfast and eats a low-carb lunch "so my energy levels don't peak and valley through the day." Then, for dinner, she typically decides to "loosen the reins."

I decided to follow her diet as best I could, as well as take up her previous exercise routine. Here are the rules I was determined to follow for a week:

• Skip breakfast.

• Have a low-carb lunch.

• Put in an hour of cardio exercise.

• Go for an hour of weights-based exercise.

• Eat a dinner along the lines of her typical evening meal: "A glass of wine, maybe a baguette dripping in cheese, some fries."

I didn't prepare at all for this. I just jumped into it, sparking concerns among the people I know. "You're going to die," several coworkers told me when I described my plan. Family members predicted I would "seriously injure" myself and expressed concerns about my shambling running style.

All of this just bolstered my determination to rise to the occasion.

The experiment itself left me somewhat surprised. On the one hand, some of Paltrow's dietary habits were easier to tackle than I thought. On the other, I ended up pulling my shoulder.

Here's a look at what happened when I tried to live like Gwyneth Paltrow for a week:

SEE ALSO: I tried productivity 'Hell Week' created by a former Norwegian paratrooper, but all I learned is I'm great at making excuses

I skipped breakfast every day.

Before this Gwyneth Paltrow challenge, bagels were my go-to morning meal. I'd often grab one — poppy seed with cream cheese or butter — before heading into the office.

But, like some celebrities, Paltrow skips breakfast altogether. So I had to kick the habit. Instead of stopping by the bagel shop, I'd just hop on the train at head to work.

Truth be told, this wasn't particularly challenging for me. Back in college, I rarely ate breakfast. It may or may not be the most important meal of the day, but I've never had a problem skipping it.

I managed to follow this aspect of Paltrow's schedule for the entire week. To be honest, I think the week-long bagel cleanse worked. I haven't had a bagel since. Health-wise, they're far better as an occasional treat than a breakfast staple.

For lunch, I'd eat a salad at my desk.

I didn't have too much trouble with lunch either. Normally, I'd grab a sandwich or a slice of pizza from some place near the office. For the experiment, I needed to spring for low-carb choices instead.

I tried to get fancy and even looked up some of Paltrow's salad recipes. There were some tempting options in her cookbooks. I figured I'd try to make a few, to tide me over for the week. Heck, I even bought a jar of cornichons — which are adorable, tiny pickles.

But, to be honest, I ran out of time before I could snag all the ingredients necessary to throw together some of Paltrow's recipes (what the heck is "silken tofu," anyway, and where am I supposed to find it?).

So I ended up improvising. My non-fancy salad was pretty good, though. I'd pack it up in Tupperware and eat it at my desk every day around noon, with a ginger ale.

I enjoyed the salads, but I was bummed to have to decline a ton of delicious offerings throughout the week. In the run up to the holidays, my coworkers seemed to show up to work with chocolates, cookies, and other sweet treats every other day.

By the end of the week, I was getting a bit bored with salad, although I tried to spice things up by switching up the dressings.

In fairness, I probably could've gotten more experimental with my lunches — "low carb" can include a whole range of meals, of course. But I only have so much brain power to devote to planning out and cobbling together what I'm going to eat ahead of time.

Still, I didn't have much of a problem sticking to low-carb lunches for the entire experiment.

Once I got home, I'd tackle the weight-lifting portion of the exercise routine first.

Once I got home, I'd hide in the basement, where no one could see me flailing around with a medicine ball and hand weights, looking like a reject from the world's worst workout video.

I was unsurprised to find out that weights aren't my strong suit. I didn't really know what I was doing, so I just switched in between different moves for the hour. It was boring and hard. And I'm sure my technique left much to be desired.

Around Wednesday, my left shoulder began to really hurt. An hour of weights is probably too much if you're clueless about exercise — especially if you're making a leap from couch potato to workout fanatic, like I was. After Wednesday, I had to cut down on the weights a bit.

Overall, I'd say I truly disliked this aspect of the experiment. I'd rather do cardio for an hour than do weights for an hour. At least you can read while walking on the treadmill. The weight exercises just felt repetitive and tedious after about a half an hour.

Elon Musk may be the CEO of two different companies, but he still makes time to game.

As the head of Tesla Motors, Musk is leading the rebirth of all-electric vehicles. At SpaceX, his steering a company whose mission is to "revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets." And that's not to mention that he oversees SolarCity, a company focused on making solar energy commonplace that Tesla bought last year.

But when he's not busy transforming transportation, space travel, and energy use, Musk plays video games. Well, he does lots of other things, but video games are one of those things.

As it turns out, Musk has excellent taste in games. Here are some of his favorites, which we gleaned from a Reddit AMA and Musk's Twitter account:

SEE ALSO: After weeks of bugging him on Twitter, Elon Musk finally told me his 'dark secret'

"Overwatch"

"Overwatch" isn't just a good game — it's the best game that came out in 2016, folks. Musk was quick to get hip to the game. His first tweet about it was last June, a month after the game launched.

Showing how he's a man of taste, Musk has been playing the PC version of the game. Not only is that the prettiest version of "Overwatch," but a PC would give him the most control over the game's performance. And if we know anything about Musk, it's that he has a thing for being in control. 

BONUS: The main character he uses in the game is Soldier 76, which I'd personally call a bit on the boring side. Soldier 76 is a good character, no doubt, but as a main? Come on, Elon. You're more sophisticated than that.

"BioShock"

On paper, "BioShock" isn't anything special. It's a first-person shooter set in an underwater city that has fallen into disrepair. 

In reality, "BioShock" is a genre-pushing, narrative-driven shooting game that raises questions about our basic concepts of how video games work. If I said any more, I'd ruin the game. 

That said, it's not a huge surprise that Musk is a fan: The game is an Ayn Rand-inspired exploration of objectivism, capitalism, and power. It's also a tremendously stylish, innovative game.

The "Mass Effect" series

Moving to a subject that's near and dear to Musk's heart, the "Mass Effect" series focuses on space travel, interstellar diplomacy, and the future of the human race. The second game in the series is "one of the best games ever," Musk has said.

He's not only there. Many video fans agree that "Mass Effect 2" ranks among the best games ever made. Presumably he was pumped when "Mass Effect Andromeda" launched in March!

Podcasts are becoming more popular every year, which means there's a wealth of audio storytelling to listen to — and many options to choose from.

We're here to help.

Whether you need something to listen to on your commute or just want a brain-boost while you pick up around the house, you can always trust a science podcast to teach you something new.

Some of our favorites tell fantastic stories, others examine the science behind controversial topics, and a few delve deep into the mysteries of how we exist in and understand the world. Many of these podcasts stretch beyond science, talking about tech or culture, but all examine scientific topics, including psychology, artificial intelligence, pharmacology, and more.

These are our 12 favorite science podcasts.

SEE ALSO: The 23 best science movies and shows streaming on Netflix that will make you smarter

"Hidden Brain"

The NPR show "Hidden Brain" takes deep dives into one of the most complex objects we know of in the universe: the human mind. Covering everything from psychology to neuroscience, host Shankar Vedantam investigates why people act, feel, and think the way we do.

Vedantam looks at how parents do (and don't) shape their kids minds, the ways humans cope with the unexpected, and why our attention can be sucked into the internet for hours at a time.

"The Story Collider"

In this personal storytelling show, individuals recite their own tales — similar to "The Moth" — but they're all focused on science and more specifically, the ways that science touches people's lives. It's a science-themed show about people.

In some cases, scientists tell stories about things that have blown their minds or gone horribly wrong. In others, you might get a heartwarming (or heartbreaking) tale informed by science. And some stories are just funny. 

"StarTalk Radio"

While some podcasts focus on humans or life on Earth, "StarTalk" takes a much larger-scale approach. Hosted by science-popularizing astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the show takes on the cosmos.

Tyson discusses what it would be like to live on Mars, the search for extra-terrestrial life, and occasionally dabbles in other scientific topics like technology in football or the new science of LSD. 

• "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" won the weekend with an estimated $36 million.
• It finally knocked "The Last Jedi" from its three-week perch on top of the domestic box office.
• "Insidious: The Last Key" came in second place and earns twice as much as its production budget.

While "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has been dominating the domestic box office since opening in mid December, another title has been hot on its heels and this weekend it finally knocked down the Disney cash cow.

Sony's "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" won the weekend box office, taking in an estimated $36 million, according to boxofficepro.com. The sequel to the 1995 hit starring Robin Williams took the number one spot after "The Last Jedi" was king of the mountain for three consecutive weeks, and earned over $550 million domestically (over $1 billion worldwide). 

But "Welcome to the Jungle" — fueled by the star power of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black — has been building its own strong gross both domestically and abroad thanks to the good word of mouth (it has a 77% critic score/90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes).

It's a credit to Sony understanding it had a title audiences would go to once they got "Star Wars" out of their system (or those who just aren't fans of the saga), that since opening on December 20 it has kept "Jumanji" on as many screens as it possibly could ("The Last Jedi" has been playing on over 4,200).

Showing on over 3,700 screens its first two weekends, "Welcome to the Jungle" accomplished the rare feat by a Hollywood blockbuster of gaining audiences. This weekend it jumped up to 3,800 screens and saw a minuscule drop from last weekend (-28%). The accomplishment is even more impressive after taking into account the awful deep freeze the Northeast is suffering through.

With a domestic total now of $244 million, "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" marks the highest-grossing live-action movie for Kevin Hart and the third-best for The Rock (behind "Furious 7," $353 million and "Moana," $248.7 million).

The only new release this weekend was the lastest Universal/Blumhouse collaboration, "Insidious: The Last Key," which came in second place with $29.2 million. "The Last Jedi" finished in third with $23.5 million.

It's another success for Blumhouse, the company behind last year's 1st quarter sensations, "Split" and "Get Out." Budgeted at $10 million, the fourth "Insidious" movie is already making a profit and had a bigger opening than 2015's "Insidious: Chapter 3" ($22.6 million). But it's not topping the best opening of the franchise, 2013's "Insidious: Chapter 2" ($40.2 million).

SEE ALSO: The 5 new best songs you can stream right now

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Celebrities flocked to these underground poker games where someone once lost $100 million in one night

• Actress-turned-director Quinn Shephard was 20 when she made her debut feature film "Blame" in 2015.
• The movie went on to win the best actress prize at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and later found theatrical distribution.
• Shephard had to cash in her college fund to self-finance the movie after her sole investor disappeared a week into shooting.

“It’s a really crazy story!”

That’s how 22-year-old actress-turned-director Quinn Shephard began when she sat down at a coffee shop in Manhattan’s East Village to talk with Business Insider about her feature directing debut, “Blame” (opening Friday in theaters and On Demand).

Shephard has acted professionally since she was five years old, and has the personality and looks that could easily get her on an upcoming series made by The CW, but these days she's more interested in music rights and color correction. That’s because for the last two years, she has dedicated her life to making a feature-length movie that’s been developing in her mind since she was 15.

A storyteller since birth

Growing up in Metuchen, New Jersey, Shephard’s teenage years were filled with telling stories. When she was 12 she hand wrote a 300-page novel. It’s currently in a binder somewhere in the basement of her parents’ house. Also around that time, she began to make short films after taking a filmmaking class at school. Then at 15, after reading “The Crucible,” she decided she would do a feature-length modern retelling of Arthur Miller’s classic play.

“I’ve always loved writing,” Shephard said. “This movie is me making something that I really wanted to do since I was a teenager.”

Shephard’s script for “Blame” went through numerous phases in the years before shooting began, but the basic story was always there — a girl (played by Shephard) is fixated on her high school drama teacher, and that leads a jealous classmate to concoct a witch hunt-like investigation to reveal the alleged taboo relationship.

To get the script from an unmakable 130 pages to a point where she was able to cast “The Mindy Project” star Chris Messina in the teacher role, and Nadia Alexander (USA series “The Sinner”) as the jealous classmate (Melissa), Shephard honed her storytelling technique by writing more feature scripts. She also made short films, including “Till Dark” in 2015, about a boy’s obsession with his childhood friend.

“Till Dark” was an exciting moment in the process for Shephard. Many of the crew on the short would make “Blame” with her the summer of that year. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel.

Looking back, Shephard said making “Till Dark” was a great calling card to land Messina and other key crew members, but in getting ready for the rigors of feature filmmaking, “it doesn’t prepare you at all” she said.

When everything that could go wrong, does

Shephard produced “Blame” with her mother, Laurie. The only career experience they had making movies was their time on set as actresses — Laurie's main highlight was being on a few episodes of “Days of Our Lives” in 1993; Quinn has been in numerous TV series and movies since she was five, her biggest being a regular on CBS’ “Hostages” in 2013.

Despite their efforts to land an experienced producer to come on the movie, it never materialized. This left the Shephards to learn on the fly what producers do behind the scenes.

“Everything that possibly could go wrong did go wrong,” Shephard said, recalling her mom constantly reading the book “Producer to Producer: A Step-By-Step Guide to Low-Budget Independent Film Producing” for guidance.

“That was her go-to,” Shephard said. “It was that level of inexperience on how to produce.”

Then the movie was hit with what all producers fear the most — its sole investor suddenly disappeared.

It happened the first week of shooting “Blame.” With cast and crew flown to Metuchen, where the movie would be shot, a wire transfer of money that was promised to the Shephards never appeared.

“It was literally, ‘Wire transfer coming on Tuesday,’ and never heard from him again,” Shephard said (she would not give the investor’s name, only saying he was a filmmaker that she and her family had known for a long time).

“We never got an explanation, he just ghosted one day,” Shephard continued. “I never heard from him again.”

Shephard then had to make a vital decision: pull the plug or continue on with the movie.

“We felt we couldn’t turn back,” she said. “This was something we had spent so many years trying to get off the ground, if we had to bail on it when we were right there it would have been the most heartbreaking thing.”

Shephard decided to cash in her college fund and take the money she had from being on “Hostages” to self-finance her movie.

“I felt, I would rather be totally broke than have a broken spirit,” said Shephard, who would not give a specific budget for “Blame,” only saying it is under $250,000.

Finishing the movie at any cost

The money got Shephard through the 19-day shoot — which was mostly shot in her old high school in Metuchen — but it pretty much left no funds for post production.

So Shephard edited the movie herself.

Thanks to discounts and in-kind support from a post-production house in Montreal, and the kindness of a few crew members, Shephard took two trips to Montreal to edit, score, and do other post-production elements (sound mix and color correction).

For her first trip, Shephard stayed in the studio of composer Pierre-Philippe Côté as they created the score. She then lived with his aunt while editing at the post-production house. On the second trip, she stayed in the basement of Sylvain Brassard, her sound mixer.

“The second trip I couldn’t afford a plane ticket so I took the Megabus to Montreal,” Shephard said. “I did this thing at any cost.”

The post-production hustle paid off. When Shephard began to show the movie around people were shocked by its look, which to someone who doesn’t know the backstory looks like it was made for the high six-figures to $1 million.

“Blame” got its world premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, where Alexander won the best actress award for the Melissa role. Soon after the festival, Samuel Goldwyn Films bought the North American rights to the movie.

Telling teen stories with adult topics

Alexander told Business Insider she believed it was the comfort of being directed by someone the same age as her that led to her acclaimed performance.

“It gives you your own unique power that you wouldn’t necessarily get on a set with a 45-year-old director and producers running around,” Alexander said of working with a peer. “Making Melissa a lot more crass with the boys was my suggestion to Quinn, so I had a comfort to come forward and say to her, ‘I want to do this with the character.’”

Actress Sarah Mezzanotte, who plays Melissa’s friend Sophie, said she could feel the movie’s authenticity right from the pages she read for her audition.

“I knew immediately that it was written by a young female,” she said. “You can tell when something isn’t written authentically. I could tell this was by someone who understands what it’s like to be a young woman struggling with identity and fitting in.”

Shephard is now preparing to tell her stories on a larger scale.

Following Tribeca, she landed an agent at WME and plans to cut down her acting considerably to focus on writing and directing. She said she’s close to landing a feature directing project at a studio as well as a TV project.

“‘Blame’ is a proof of concept,” Shephard said. “It has shown that there's a place for me to do my genre, which is teens dealing with adult topics. Giving three-dimensional plotlines to young women in a way that I don't think is represented right now. Many of my favorite shows and movies are these complex stories about middle-aged men. I think it's time to tell complex stories focused on teenage girls.” 

Shephard is at that moment in a career when being in the same room with movie stars, and taking meetings with executives, can lead to getting too caught up in the glossy side of Hollywood. But she said she’s stayed grounded. She only recently created an Instagram account, and it was because she wanted to better connect with teens who are searching for inspiration.

“I've gotten emails from girls who are 15, 16 years old, who said they read about me and now have signed up for a filmmaking course or started working on a script with their friends,” Shephard said. “They said, ‘I didn't think there was any point for me trying to do this at this age because I thought I would have to go to college or film school.’ It's important that we have young women in the media. I’m not trying to say I'm a role model, but it's important if you have an opportunity to reach young women you make them see that they can be businesswomen and run the show. So if my story makes them feel that in any way then it was worth it.” 

SEE ALSO: Movie attendance his a 25-year low in the US in 2017, as viewers "flock to streaming in droves"

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Behind the scenes with Shepard Smith — the Fox News star who's not afraid to take on Trump

• The US Army's Twitter account liked actress and comedian Mindy Kaling's tweet on Saturday that seemed to be making fun of President Donald Trump's tweets earlier in the day. 
• The US Army later unliked the tweet and told Business Insider that it was "inadvertently" liked by an operator.
  
• It's not exactly clear if a civilian ot soldier liked Kaling's tweet. 

The US Army's official Twitter account "inadvertently" liked Mindy Kaling's tweet on Saturday that seemed to be making fun of President Donald Trump's rage-tweets earlier in the day, Lt. Col. Jason Brown, a US Army spokesperson, told Business Insider.

"An operator of the Army’s official Twitter account inadvertently ‘liked’ a tweet whose content would not be endorsed by the Department of the Army. As soon as it was brought to our attention, it was immediately corrected," Brown wrote in an email to Business Insider.

Kaling had tweeted a picture of Kelly Kapoor, her character from "The Office," with a quote on the bottom reading: "You guys, I'm like really smart now, you don't even know."

Trump sent out a series of tweets earlier on Saturday claiming he was "like, really smart" and "a very stable genius" in response to Michael Wolff's new book, "Fire & Fury: Inside the Trump White House." The book quotes multiple current and former cabinet members insulting his intelligence. 

Wolff also said in an interview on the "Today" show Friday that 100% of the people around Trump, including top aides and family members, question his intelligence and fitness for office.

He has added, however, that he isn't certain all of the book's contents are true.

Kaling responded to the US Army liking her tweet by tweeting "#armystrong." The US Army, however, had unliked her original tweet by early Sunday.

The US Army did not immediately respond to Business Insider's follow-up email or phone call asking how the operator liked the tweet, given that the US Army Twitter handle doesn't follow Kaling.

SEE ALSO: Trump declares himself a 'stable genius' after book author says 100% of his team questions his mental state

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch the F-22 in action — the most dangerous jet fighter in the US Air Force for the last 20 years

• Live ads — which were once TV mainstays — are seeing a resurgence, with MassMutual and Snickers among companies dabbling in them around big, tentpole events.
• They allow brands to break through the clutter and appear authentic, and they present networks with another viable ad unit to make money from.
• But live ads won't reverse TV's decline, experts say.

If you tuned in to CNN's coverage of its annual New Year's Eve telecast on Sunday night, you would have seen thousands of people excitedly gathered in New York City to watch the iconic Times Square ball drop. But that's not all.

You would have also caught the network airing its first live TV commercial. The 2 1/2-minute spot, for the insurance company MassMutual, showcased the National Children's Chorus celebrating a group of people who looked out for one another in 2017, delivering the performance straight from the venue to your TV screens.

The feat may be a first for CNN and MassMutual, but it represents a budding trend in TV advertising. Both Snickers and Hyundai, for example, ran live ads during the Super Bowl last year. And makers of the film "The Greatest Showman" ran a live ad when Fox aired a live musical version of "A Christmas Story" this holiday season.

"Live ads allow brands to tap into culture and create context, not just buy it," said Laura Correnti, the executive vice president and managing director of the ad agency Giant Spoon, which bought the ad on behalf of MassMutual. "It allows them to break through the clutter."

Live ads allow brands to stand out

Live ads are not new. They were once TV mainstays, particularly during the early days of NBC programs like "The Tonight Show," where companies like Polaroid offered viewers dramatic product demonstrations like photos developing instantly in real time.

But they have been seeing a quiet resurgence over the past few years, particularly as marketers, media companies, and TV networks struggle to connect with increasingly ad-averse consumers.

For brands, unlike a traditional 30-second TV ad, live commercials can be tailored to directly connect with the live TV events during which they air, such as Super Bowl or the Emmy's. And they can come across as raw or authentic.

"A live ad is not overproduced and edited like other spots — it has an element of spontaneity and risk," said Jennifer Halloran, the head of brand, advertising, and community responsibility at MassMutual. "Viewers know that the brands cannot rescript and edit to get the perfect message, so there is an embedded assumption that it has to be a genuine message."

There's evidence that such live ads stand out. When Garmin partnered with "The Tonight Show" for a live ad back in 2008, for instance, the effort boosted its brand recall 76% more than other commercials did, the company said.

And Fox's 2 1/2-minute live commercial for the film "The Greatest Showman" not only saw a 100% audience retention rate but also had a positive sentiment as high as 80% among its viewers, according to the network.

"Our two primary goals in advertising are to create great value for our partners and to improve the viewer experience," said Suzanne Sullivan, the executive vice president of entertainment sales at Fox Networks Group. "With live ads, we've seen proof points for both."

And live ads present a viable new format for TV networks fighting to hold on to ad budgets

For TV networks, live ads are a beacon of hope. People are ditching cable at a much more rapid clip than previously thought, TV ratings are on the decline, and TV ad spending is down overall.

"The traditional TV ad model needs diversifying," Correnti of Giant Spoon said. "It is no secret that consumer attention is waning and viewers are migrating to other platforms."

In such an environment, live ads provide media companies like Turner and Fox the ability to tout big-ticket ad options that only TV can deliver. These ads can bring in $2 million to $5 million in revenue each, according to sources. It is no wonder, then, that networks have been bullish on the format.

Live ads have been a priority for Fox for the past few years, said Sullivan, while CNN's parent company Turner has created an ad unit called Native Plus, which allows marketers to replace an entire commercial pod with longer-form branded content including live ads.

"We saw the potential to leverage these cultural moments, capitalize on them as they were happening, and package them as ads," said Michal Shapira, the senior vice president of news content partnerships at Turner's ad-strategy division, Turner Ignite. "We are putting a stake in the ground and feel like this is one of the top products that we offer in the marketplace."

Live ads are not limited to TV. The resurgence can in part be attributed to the rise of livestreaming on social media, from the once hot Meerkat and Periscope to the more mainstream Facebook and Instagram more recently. And brands looking to capitalize on the trend can venture in these directions — at a fraction of the price.

But the TV giants believe that they have an edge over digital platforms when it comes to execution. Producing a live ad is a fairly complicated undertaking, Shapira said.

"Dozens and dozens of people are involved in pulling something like this off," she said. "But we believe we provide the highest quality and have all the tools and resources that are required from a capability standpoint."

Still, live ads are not going to be TV's silver bullet. These events are sporadic and therefore not consistent, said Greg Hahn, the chief creative officer at the ad agency BBDO New York. Plus, users will always have to leave TV to actually go take an action, said Chris Beresford-Hill, the chief creative officer of the agency TBWA New York.

"Live ads are not going to usher in the sustained golden age of TV," Beresford-Hill said.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Meet Scott Rogowsky — the host of the hot new mobile game show HQ Trivia

The Golden Globes is one of the biggest nights in entertainment since the ceremony awards the best in both film and television. All the stars from your favorite shows and movies come together to celebrate, and unlike at the Oscars, they have food. 

Seth Meyers was the host of this year's celebration from the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

There were quite a few surprises in film, starting with the best supporting actor category, which Sam Rockwell won for his role in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri." Frances McDormand won the Globe for her leading role in the same film, and it also won best screenplay for a motion picture, beating the favorites "Lady Bird" and "I, Tonya" in the very competitive category.

"Three Billboards" ended the night by taking home the award for best motion picture drama, and the critically acclaimed "Lady Bird" won best picture in the comedy or musical category. In what became one of the most shocking moments of the night, Guillermo del Toro won the Globe for best director for "The Shape of Water," a category that the presenter Natalie Portman slammed for consisting of only male nominees.

For television, "Big Little Lies" swept the acting categories with wins for Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, and Alexander Skarsgård. The HBO series also won the Globe for best miniseries, limited series, or TV movie. Streaming services dominated the other TV categories. Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale" got wins for best actress and best drama. Amazon's "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" won best comedy and best actress in a comedy series, and Aziz Ansari won best actor in a comedy for Netflix's "Master of None."

Below is the complete list of winners in bold:

SEE ALSO: Here's what all the celebrities wore at the 2018 Golden Globes

Best actress in a TV miniseries or movie

Jessica Biel, “The Sinner”
Nicole Kidman, “Big Little Lies” *WINNER*
Jessica Lange, “Feud: Bette and Joan”
Susan Sarandon, “Feud: Bette and Joan”
Reese Witherspoon, “Big Little Lies”

Best supporting actor in a motion picture

Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”

Armie Hammer, “Call Me by Your Name”

Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”

Christopher Plummer, “All the Money in the World”

Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” *WINNER*

Best actress in a TV series, comedy

Pamela Adlon, “Better Things”
Alison Brie, “Glow”
Issa Rae, “Insecure”
Rachel Brosnahan, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Frankie Shaw, “SMILF”

• The Golden Globes host Seth Meyers didn't hold back when he addressed the sexual misconduct in Hollywood during his opening remarks Sunday night.
• Celebrities on Twitter praised how Meyers handled the moment.

Seth Meyers came out guns blazing to open the 2018 Golden Globes.

With sexual-misconduct allegations hovering over Hollywood for months, and almost everyone dressed in black to support the Time's Up initiative opposing sexual harassment, the late-night host addressed the elephant in the room right when he came onstage Sunday night.

"Good evening ladies and remaining gentleman," Meyers said to open the show. And he just went on from there.

"It's 2018, marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn't," he said, adding that 2017 was the "year of big little lies and get out — and the television series 'Big Little Lies' and the movie 'Get Out.'"

Here are a few more jokes that broke up the audience at The Beverly Hilton:

• "It's been years since a white man has been this nervous in Hollywood."
• "For men, tonight is the first time in three months it won't be terrifying to hear your name announced."

Meyers also said the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which puts on the Golden Globes, did try to get a woman to host this year's Globes, but then "they heard it would be held in a hotel," a reference to the many accounts of sexual misconduct taking place in hotel rooms.

President Donald Trump wasn't safe in Meyers' opening, either. When mentioning how Seth Rogen was a more important "Seth" in the room, the host added: "Remember when he was the guy making trouble with North Korea? Simpler times."

Meyers' friend Amy Poehler even got in on the mix, taking over a bit in which he would say the setup of a joke and a woman in the audience would do the punch line.

One of the most pronounced reactions, though, came when Meyers did a joke about Harvey Weinstein, the longtime film producer who sparked the reckoning over sexual harassment after The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed three decades of allegations against him.

Meyers said Weinstein would have his comeback to Hollywood "in 20 years when he's the first person ever booed during the In Memoriam."

And then Meyers ended his opening by getting serious and recognizing women in the business, who he said "had to work even harder" to build a career in the world of entertainment.

"I look forward to you leading us to whatever comes next," Meyers said.

Celebrities on Twitter praised Meyers' opening:

Watch Meyers' entire opening below:

SEE ALSO: Here's what all the celebrities wore at the 2018 Golden Globes

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Everything we know about 'porgs' — the penguin-like creatures from 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

• The wildly popular smartphone app "HQ Trivia" surpassed 1 million concurrent players for the first time on Sunday night.
• The game recently expanded to Android phones, which likely accounts for the huge jump in the number of players lately.
• A $10,000 prize was up for grabs on Sunday night's game, which was divided between around 400 winners. Each took home $24.45

The hottest smartphone app of 2017 is only getting bigger in 2018.

More than 1.2 million people logged on to play "HQ Trivia" on Sunday night — a new record for the app and a huge amount of players for any game, let alone at one time.

The trivia app costs nothing, and is available on both iOS and Android devices. Players log on at specific times, twice on weekdays and once each day on weekends, to participate in a live trivia game. Best of all: Winners are rewarded with actual cash prizes. 

Sunday night's prize total was $10,000, which was split between around 400 people who each got about $25. 

The game has become an explosive hit, spawning memes and elevating one of its hosts to cult celebrity status.

The hosts of "HQ" affectionately refer to players as "HQties" (pronounced "H-cuties"), and many of the game's millions of players tune in dutifully each day. The game was only available on iOS until recently; an Android version launched in the last few weeks, thus adding a new infusion of players. 

The game's growth has been massive in the last few months, with players counts swelling dramatically as "HQ" went from an obscure app to a cultural phenomenon.

A chart tweeted out by venture capitalist Jay Kapoor demonstrates how large the game has become as of late:

Since the game's beloved host Scott Rogowsky is on vacation currently, actress and comedian Sarah Pribis hosted the game on Sunday night. 

Still, Rogowsky took to Twitter to sum up Sunday night's achievement:

SEE ALSO: 730,000 people interrupted their Christmas to try to win thousands of dollars from the hottest new app of the year

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We asked the host of HQ Trivia 12 questions to see how much he knows about game shows

No matter how good your PC gaming monitor is, it's not as large or vibrant or capable as the insanely massive new "big-format gaming displays" from Nvidia.

What you see above is merely an example of what the so-called BFGD line of monitors might look like in your home setup. Nvidia's working with several major display makers — including Acer, Asus, and HP — to produce the new line of gigantic screens.

Even if you're using a large, 4K/HDR-capable TV as your gaming monitor, it's unlikely to compare to these 65-inch behemoths — take a look.

SEE ALSO: These are the 2 best types of screens for playing PC games — here's which one you should choose

To be clear, at 65 inches, the Nvidia monitors will not fit comfortably on any desk.

A 65-inch screen is huge.

The average computer monitor is under 32 inches. Most TVs aren't even 65 inches.

It's also worth considering how much space a 65-inch display takes up. Your desk most likely isn't prepared for that large of a screen, especially in addition to a PC gaming tower and other stuff, like in the example above.

Another thing to consider: Sitting at a desk to play games means sitting a few feet (at most) from the screen. Imagine sitting a few feet away from a nearly 6-foot display.

More than just big and beautiful, these screens are full of bells and whistles.

4K? Check. HDR? Check. G-sync? Check. A 120-hertz refresh rate? Check!

These BFGDs even have Nvidia's Shield set-top box technology built right in. It's kind of like those Roku-based smart TVs, where the Roku functionality is built directly into the TV.

That's all to say that these aren't just large gaming displays. They're large, sure, but their specs are top of the line. That means games will look incredible — as long as you have a PC powerful enough to make them look that way, of course.

Having Nvidia Shield tech built in means you have access to stuff like Netflix and Hulu — but also that you can stream PC games directly to your screen.

Instead of putting this massive display in your PC gaming area, why not put it in your living room? That's definitely an option.

With the Nvidia Shield tech, you could stream PC games to the huge display without directly connecting your PC. You'll lose some visual quality by streaming games and add some latency in the process, but games will still look pretty good regardless.

• "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" won the big prize at Sunday's Golden Globes.
• If that was a shock to you, the Globes has a history of surprising wins.
• But having a Golden Globe doesn't mean you are a lock to win best picture on Oscar night.

If you stayed up to watch who won the big prize at the Golden Globes Sunday night, you might have done a quick Google search of the winner: "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri."

The surprise best drama in a motion picture win for director Martin McDonagh's darkly comedic tale about a mother (Frances McDormand) who buys three giant billboards to voice her frustration toward the local police seeming to do little to solve her daughter's murder, beat out favorites like "The Shape of Water" (which had the most nominations of the night), the epic "Dunkirk," and Steven Spielberg's "The Post."

But what does this mean for its chances Oscar night?

Though the Golden Globes is one of the major nights of awards season, as it's aired on NBC and all the big buzzed-about movies are in the running (in both the drama and musical/comedy categories), if you dig a bit deeper you'll find that the Globes don't often mesh with the Academy Awards.

The night is held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), journalists affiliated with publications outside of the US but who cover the movie and TV industry in Hollywood. It's an organization that only has around 90 members, and that's the first big red flag. The decisions are from a small collection of people, compared to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences — which vote for the Oscars — that has over 6,000 members. 

Then there's the HFPA's history of winners. 

The Golden Globes has become known for two things: watching your favorite stars drink too much and then have to get up on stage to accept an award (it's one of the few events during awards season where the audience is given food and drinks), and the surprise winners. 

In fact, "Three Billboards" won a bunch of surprising awards on Sunday. Before the big prize, Frances McDormand won the best actress prize and Sam Rockwell won best supporting actor.

But the "Three Billboards" dominance is simply the latest surprise in Globes history.

Just last year, Aaron Taylor-Johnson ("Nocturnal Animals") beat out eventual Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali ("Moonlight") for best supporting actor. Going further back, in 1997 "Evita," the musical starring Madonna as Eva Perón, beat out popular titles "Jerry Maguire," "The Birdcage," and "Fargo." And then there's 1989 when three actresses tied to win the best actress in a drama prize — Jodie Foster ("The Accused"), Shirley MacLaine ("Madame Sousatzka"), and Sigourney Weaver ("Gorillas in the Mist"). A three-way tie! Only at the Golden Globes.

In the last 10 years, the Globes and Oscars have only chosen the same winner in its best drama/best picture category four times. Compare that to the Screen Actors Guild Awards (which has around 130,000 active members). Its outstanding cast in a motion picture award has meshed with the Oscar's best picture six times in the last decade.

This isn't to diminish the achievement by "Three Billboards" and Fox Searchlight, which released it. The movie, along with McDormand and Rockwell, will be in the running when Oscar nominations are announced January 23. And fans of the movie will be happy to know the Globes and the Oscars both chose the big winner last year: "Moonlight."

But if the win came as a shock to you last night, trust us, that's a common occurrence on Globes night and historically it's not a major factor when the Oscars come around.  

SEE ALSO: Seth Meyers didn't hold back on Hollywood sexual misconduct in his hilarious opening to the Golden Globes

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Everything we know about 'porgs' — the penguin-like creatures from 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'

• Diane Kruger talked about her career-defining performance in "In the Fade," which won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film.
• She could earn an Oscar nomination for the role.
• The actress prepared for the role for six months leading up to filming.
• She made the movie during the "darkest time" in her life as her stepfather had recently died.

German actress Diane Kruger has built an impressive career, but after working steadily for 16 years, her new movie is getting her recognition she never thought she'd ever receive.

On Sunday, "In the Fade" (now playing in theaters) won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film. From German filmmaker Fatih Akin, it's highlighted by Kruger's tour-de-force performance. Playing Katja Sekerci, whose life collapses when her husband and son are victims of a terrorist bombing, we follow Katja as she takes illegal drugs to numb the pain, and then sitting in court to watch the two suspects, who turn out to be neo-Nazis, go through the trial for the bombing. That's when things get even more intense for Katja.

When Business Insider sat down with Kruger at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, she didn't hold back when talking about the pain she dealt with to pull off this gut-wrenching performance, which won her the best actress prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival and garnered instant Oscar buzz.

Jason Guerrasio: How did you connect with Fatih Akin? Did you know him?

Diane Kruger: No, I was just a fan. He's a big director in Germany — I grew up with his films. So when I became an actress and I left Germany 25 years ago, I always waited for this part to come out of Germany. I mean, I don't have an agent there, so I never get any offers from there. Five years ago, I was a jury member at Cannes, and he had a documentary playing there, so I went to his party to meet him. I told him I loved his work and if he ever wanted to make a movie with me, that would be amazing. So years later, he remembered and called me.

Guerrasio: Did he talk to you over the phone about the part, or did he ask if he could send the script over?

Kruger: He kind of told me what it was about, and then he said he didn't want to send me the script — he wanted to come and meet me. So he came to Paris to meet me. And I was really nervous because I didn't think, upon meeting me, that he would think that I'm right for this part. This isn't typically the part I get offered. [Laughs.] And just judging from his voice over the phone, I don't think he was 100% sure I could do it either. So he came to my house, and I wore no makeup, and I really tried to dress down and be as raw as possible, and we just had this amazing talk. And I told him I was really, really scared of this part. I told him I wasn't sure I could do it.

Guerrasio: But at the same time, was this a role you had been wishing for? Something to show your range?

Kruger: I just knew something felt right. I was really scared. Fatih told me I couldn't take another role until we shot this because he wanted me to prep for it. I mean, he is known for casting unknowns in his movies, so I think he got a lot of backlash at first for casting me. But I jumped off that cliff with him. It was a lonely time prepping for the movie. I didn't do anything else. I was living in Germany, meeting with victims of families that weren't necessarily suffering from terrorist attacks but murder and other brutal things, and I just allowed myself to be overcome by the grief that I felt.

Guerrasio: And this is the first German-produced movie you've ever starred in?

Kruger: That's right.

Guerrasio: That's surprising. Was that because you got into modeling so early in your life?

Kruger: I left when I was 16, and I wasn't an actress then.

Guerrasio: So was there a feeling with this movie that you wanted to be a part of something to show your talents to your home country?

Kruger: Yes and no. I wanted to do a German film that felt really German but also had an international presence. And Fatih, who is German but of Turkish descent, he himself has an international flavor. And this movie has such a universal feel. The focus is neo-Nazis, but it could have been jihadis, just some crazy person, whatever.

Guerrasio: I think Americans will certainly relate to this movie. The grieving mother is universal.

Kruger: Exactly.

Guerrasio: What did you want to get out of meeting victims? Did you take notes? Did you just want to interact with them?

Kruger: I guess the one thing I will never forget is that energy. More than individual stories, there was this energy that mothers especially having lost children had that I wasn't quite prepared to really take on. It was a wall of blackness. And that's regardless of how long ago it happened or how much or how little they talked to me about it — that energy was there. And it got more intense as time went on and the more people I met.

Guerrasio: How long were you talking to victims?

Kruger: I started six months before shooting started.

Guerrasio: Wow. Did it get to a point where you felt you had enough and just wanted to get started with shooting?

Kruger: Yeah. There definitely came a point where I was like, I can't take it anymore. And, unfortunately, when we started to film, my stepdad passed away. So honestly, it was probably the darkest time in my life, having to play that much grief and then coming home and feeling that on a personal level. It's a personal film because of that. We also shot in order, so you can imagine the first three weeks were just awful. There were scenes when I didn't even feel like I was acting. There were moments when I felt this movie is going to break me. I couldn't work for six months afterwards. I can still feel it.

Guerrasio: So you haven't been able to kick this character yet?

Kruger: I still dream about it. I feel like a little bit is always going to be with me. What I take away most of it is this connection with people talking about loss. The empathy I felt — and maybe because we live in a time where these stories have become so common, but I'm reminded of how many Katjas every week are being created. I sometimes just sit in front of the TV, and I just sob uncontrollably.

Guerrasio: Has doing a role like this changed the parts you want to take on going forward in your career?

Kruger: To be honest, the two films I'm working on right now I signed on before "In the Fade" came out, and I haven't taken anything since. I'm sort of debating what I want to do next.

Guerrasio: Is it hard to promote this film, seeing as you have to continue talking about the process of creating this character, which obviously wasn't pleasant?

Kruger: No, I want to. I think it's a very important film in my life. I feel it's my baby. I've never been invested in anything like this. I think it's an inspiring movie. In Cannes, which was the first time I saw it with an audience, I was so taken aback by the reaction. There must be pictures of me just looking shocked. It's weird because, in the past, people have come up to me and said they love my work, like for "Inglourious Basterds," but I feel this is my first big starring role.

SEE ALSO: Why the Golden Globes win for "Three Billboards" won't make it an Oscar frontrunner

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here are the most important differences between the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X

• Streaming services won the largest awards tally at the 2018 Golden Globes.
• It's the first time streaming services have collectively beat out cable and traditional TV networks for the most wins.
• Amazon and Hulu won two awards each, while Netflix won one.
• HBO won the most of any individual network, with four awards.

Streaming services collectively won the largest awards tally at the 2018 Golden Globes, beating out cable and broadcast TV networks for the first time in the award show's history. 

While HBO took home four Golden Globes for one show, "Big Little Lies" — the most of any network and the only wins for premium cable — the three major streaming services together landed five out of the total 11 awards. 

Amazon Studios won two awards for "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," including best comedy series and best actress in a comedy series for Rachel Brosnahan. Hulu also won two awards for "The Handmaid's Tale," including best drama series and best actress in a drama series for Elisabeth Moss. 

Aziz Ansari's performance in "Master of None" won Netflix its only award of the night, for best actor in a comedy series. 

Last year, basic cable reigned, as FX took home the most awards with four (two a piece for "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" and "Atlanta"), while AMC grabbed three wins for "The Night Manager."

Here's how the Golden Globes broke down by network:

STREAMING SERVICES: 5

Amazon Studios:  2 ("The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel")

Hulu: 2 ("The Handmaid's Tale")

Netflix: 1 ("Master of None")

PREMIUM CABLE: 4

HBO: 4 ("Big Little Lies")

BASIC CABLE: 1

FX: 1 ("Fargo")

BROADCAST NETWORKS: 1

NBC: 1 ("This Is Us")

SEE ALSO: All the winners at the 2018 Golden Globes

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Everything we know about 'porgs' — the penguin-like creatures from 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'