“This is a trip,” James Cameron said of the awards being heaped on “Avatar.” “At the time of ‘Titanic, when we won’ the Golden Globe and were on the way to everything that happened, I thought ‘Enjoy this ride, it’ll never happen again.’ I thought on Avatar, I thought we’ll make a naked engine of commerce. I’m not going to try to impress the critics. And here we are again. What the hell did we do?’

The helmer noted that it’s only the second sci-fier to win top GG honors, after “E.T.” Hopefully this is a part of the acceptance of science fiction as drama.” And as for the controversy surround the picture as anti-military, he rejected that, saying it’s against the inappropriate use of military force, also saying “I think it’s very interesting that a major Hollywood commercial film is in some sense controversial.”

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“Crazy Heart” thesp Jeff Bridges spoke backstage about the unexpected nature of Sunday’s best actor kudo: ” It kind of reminded me of the feeling of seeing ‘Avatar.’ I was expecting to be surprised (visually) but I wasn’t expected to be moved by the story like I was.”

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“Blind Side” thesp Sandra Bullock, who took home the Golden Globe for best actress in a drama, has nothing but praise for her real-life character, Leigh Anne Touhy. “She doesn’t care who she barrels over. She doesn’t care who she insults. It’s not a black/white thing. It’s a family thing. And it made me so happy that there were other people like that.”

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Attention Broadway producers: Actress/comedy winner Meryl Streep is ready to return to the Great White Way. “I don’t have a plan for that, but I would like to. I always said when my children grew up and went to college, I could think about that. And that happened this year, so I’m looking.”

She said that coming from “my little outside life” to awards shows is “like a little homecoming.” She added that the recognition for the movie “is a good signal to the financial end of our business. You look at this script, it’s about a middle-aged woman and cooking, it seems so boring. But it has its audience and that’s good news.”

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Mo’nique, winner for supporting actress in a movie, couldn’t escape some of the controversy swirling around “Precious.” After hailing the importance of the film and its message of “It’s time to heal and be survivors and no longer be victims (of abuse),” she was asked about Rihanna and her handling of the topic. “Everybody deals with it in their own way. We need to give people the respect to deal with what they’re going through without the media getting so involved. The way Rihanna handled it was the way she thought it was best to handle it.”

As for her Oscar buzz, she said, “I’m excited about any buzz. All of us are nothing but kids with grown-up faces. I’m excited about all of it.”

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“It’s all been so surreal. We just set out to make a funny comedy,” said “The Hangover” helmer Todd Phillips, who said a sequel is being written, starts shooting in October and is aiming for a Memorial Day 2011 release.

Most excited was ex-boxer Mike Tyson. “Someone told me it’s the guy who did ‘Old School,’ so I wanted to do that. Todd said to me ‘This is going to be the biggest movie, you’re going to get so many girls, you’ll never see the like of it again,” prompting Phillips to jump in and say, “These are private conversations!”

Tyson added that the pic “started me on a good path to a healthy life.”

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A flustered Drew Barrymore said, “I screwed up so hard in my speech. And no matter what happens, I have that parent in my head disciplining me.”

She added that she made a point of not preparing one. “Sometimes you don’t want to know or think or assume you would ever win something.”

When the show’s producers joined her after winning for miniseries, she said, “You came to my birthday party, cut up a sweater, and told me to dance around with that. Then I got really scared as I realized what I was getting into.”

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The “Mad Men” gang came backstage en masse after winning the TV drama trophy for the third year in a row. And Jon Hamm fielded his umpteenth question about his beard. “I shaved twice a day for about eight months so one day I decided I’d just stop.”

Series creator Matthew Weiner was particularly grateful to the HFPA. “I feel like this organization basically picked us and put us on the map,” he said. When he noted how many other good shows there are that weren’t even nominated, January Jones piped up with “‘Jersey Shore!’ ” “In our category, January,” Weiner scolded, good naturedly.

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Toni Collette, who won for actress in a comedy or musical for “United States of Tara,” admitted it was a tough task to follow Mo’nique’s emotional acceptance speech. “Selfishly, I was involved in my own bundle of nerves.”

As for her own acceptance speech, she said: “I chose to be in the moment and speak from my heart and I think that’s the best way to go in life.”

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Best Actor TV Drama winner Michael C. Hall (“Dexter”) made his first public appearance at Sunday’s Globes since his recent announcement of having a treatable form of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “I had the intention of keeping it completely quiet but the award season came and I felt like I needed to let everyone know.”

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Julianna Margulies, winner for actress in a television drama “The Good Wife,” said of kissing her pal and former “ER” co-star George Clooney on the way to the podium, “That was the best. I couldn’t get up there and then I saw this familiar face.” Of the award, she said “Any actor that says they don’t want to get one is lying. But it shouldn’t be the goal. The goal should be good work and fulfillment… This doesn’t go with you when you die.”

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Chloe Sevigny, who plays one of Bill Paxton’s four wives on HBO’s polygamy drama “Big Love,” says, “These women are kept extremely repressed. They should be helped. They don’t even know who the president of the United States is.”

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“Up” helmer Pete Docter was grateful to be recognized for a pic with such poignant moments. “We feel like animation is so much more than people give it credit for. People turn it on to babysit the kids.” Asked what an “Up” ride at Disneyland might be like, he said “We hope there is one. It’s one of the reasons I got into this, my love of Disneyland. I hope some day you’ll see one.”

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Original song winner Ryan Bingham missed the chance to give his acceptance speech because he was in the bar having a beer. “I just got up for a second,” he said abashedly. Co-winner T Bone Burnett said, “He had the speech all written,” and said with a grin in his own improvisation, “It was pathetic.”

Bingham reflected on the ride he’s had in the last few months as “Crazy Heart” found an audience. “It’s come a long away from sitting on the tailgate of a truck in a parking lot playing for five or six people after the bar closed down.”