How Are Golden Globe Presenters Picked? (Hi, Taylor!)

There's a special formula, and Philip Berk, president of the HFPA, has it all in his head

How do awards shows like the Golden Globes pick their presenters?
—JessCee, Sylmar, Calif. via the Answer B!tch inbox

You'd think the producers of the TV show would pick who hands out Globes on Sunday. Or some hapless talent coordinator. But nay, apparently the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press does a lot of the recruiting himself.

So why exactly will we be seeing Taylor Lautner and Sophia Loren in the same room? Well...

...apparently, it ain't that tough when you're Philip Berk.

"It begins with the relationship that the HFPA has with the publicists and the stars and the studios," Berk tells me. "With those type of relationships we can command some type of respect in asking for any presenters we want."

One exception: no nominees as presenters for obvious reasons.

That still leaves a galaxy of stars, many of whom would probably sell their kidney for the chance to present.

"We choose what we consider people who are really going to enhance the show and bring prestige and glamour," Berk says. In other words, it's all about whom the viewers really want to see on TV, who will bring in the eyeballs and get people talking.

Hence Lautner—see my earlier statement on eyeballs—and Loren, who still looks great for a woman of 75. (See my earlier statement on getting people talking.)

What other luminaries are we talking about this year?

How about Kate Hudson, Amy Adams, Harrison Ford, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Worthington, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Christina Aguilera and the NPH?

There's also Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Aniston, Amy Poehler, Zoe Saldana, Leo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. And oh, Mickey Rourke, Cher and Nicole Kidman, presumably not together. But you never know.

So does that mean doing viewer polls, consulting marketing statistics, maybe ratings?

Nope, Berk says. It's all him.

"This is 60 years of involvement, love and experience with movies," he says. "I don't need anybody to tell me who should be in the room. I know because we deal with them every day. I can't help noticing the paparazzi, the people who get all the attention based on newsprint. It's based entirely on my knowledge."

The biggest complication, Berk tells me, is getting stars to commit in December, when the agents are on vacation and stars are in Aspen or St. Barts. Miraculously, he tells me, this year everyone is booked already.

"It's unusual that the job was accomplished that early," Berk says. "There have been times when I wasn't able to even print the names in the program book; this year I have all the names in the program book."

I myself do not appear in that program book, but fret not. I will be live tweeting the event on Sunday.