It's a charmed night for Cynthia Erivo at the 2020 Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 5.
For her first trip to the award show held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif, where she just so happens to be nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama for her work as Harriet Tubman in the arresting biopic Harriet, she showed up on the red carpet for a chat with E! News' very own Ryan Seacrest dripping in custom couture courtesy of designer Thom Browne.
"It's all hand-beaded and embroidered. It took 800 hours," she described her gorgeous black-and-white gown. "He asked me what one of my favorite things were, and the peony flower is. So he's sown them on the hem of the skirt and on the inside, right here." And that's not even mentioning the rocks she had draped around her neck, worth about $3 million, she told a gobsmacked Seacrest.
And yet, she admitted that the "very casual" vibes at award season's big kickoff had her feeling like she could've come decidedly dressed down.
"So far, so good. I've had a good time. Everyone's lovely, everyone's smiling. So I'm happy," she told Seacrest, adding. "It's very casual. Very casual, easy. I don't know why I didn't just wear jeans, to be honest."
Of course, there was no way the first-time attendee and double nominee was ever going to do that. Not on a night she described like this: "It's a dream come true, really. It's an emotional thing. You know, I got to New York to do a play. It was a musical. That's what I was here to do, and to be here now is just—anything is possible is how it feels."
Speaking with Seacrest, she explained how she developed the sound of Harriet for the film. "It was really about trying to find what sound she would, the kind of sound that was far enough away from me to be more her than I am. I wanted it to be grounded. I wanted it to feel grounded and organic," she said. "So myself and Kasi [Lemmons,] my director, worked together to find out where I needed to place my voice to find her. And we did the same for the singing voice as well because she used that as a communication. And hopefully we found it."
The Harriet star is also nominated for Best Original Song — Motion Picture at tonight's ceremony alongside Joshuah Brian Campbell for "Stand Up," the song she contributed to the powerful biopic's soundtrack.
Whether she walks out tonight with any hardware, there's no doubt she's already feeling like a winner—jeans or not.