LOS ANGELES, Dec 14: ‘Babel’, a movie that explores cultural gaps among people around the world, earned seven nominations for Golden Globe awards on Thursday, more than any other film, including one for best film drama.
Joining ‘Babel’ for top movie drama were crime thriller ‘The Departed’, which earned six nominations, British royals movie ‘The Queen’, adultery film ‘Little Children’ and surprise choice ‘Bobby’, which looks at events on the day former US presidential candidate Robert Kennedy was assassinated.
Highly touted ‘Dreamgirls’, which scored five nominations overall, was nominated for best movie musical or comedy, along with road movie ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, summer-hit ‘The Devil Wears Prada’, recent smash ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan’ and another surprise choice, ‘Thank You for Smoking’.
The Golden Globe awards are given out annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and are a key indicator of which movies will compete for the Academy Awards, the film industry’s top honours.
Tom O’Neil, columnist for Oscar Web site TheEnvelope.com, said that in the past Golden Globe winners in the best film, actor and actress categories have gone on to claim Oscars over 60 per cent of the time.
ACTORS, ACTRESSES:
Nominees for best actor in a film drama were topped by Leonardo DiCaprio for two movies ‘Blood Diamond’ and ‘The Departed’. He is joined by Peter O’Toole for ‘Venus’, Will Smith in ‘The Pursuit of Happyness’ and Forest Whitaker for ‘The Last King of Scotland’.
Sacha Baron Cohen, who stars as the politically incorrect Kazakhstan TV reporter ‘Borat’, earned a nomination for best actor in a movie musical or comedy alongside Johnny Depp for smash hit, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest’.
Joining those two actors were Aaron Eckhart in ‘Thank You For Smoking’, Chiwetel Ejiofor in ‘Kinky Boots’ and Will Ferrell for ‘Stranger Than Fiction’.
The nominees for best actress in a film drama were Penelope Cruz for Spanish film ‘Volver’, Maggie Gyllenhaal for ‘Sherrybaby’, and three British actresses, Kate Winslet in ‘Little Children’, Helen Mirren for ‘The Queen’ and Judi Dench in ‘Notes on a Scandal’.
Lead actress nominees in a movie musical or comedy were topped by singer Beyonce Knowles in ‘Dreamgirls’, Toni Collette in ‘Little Miss Sunshine’, Renee Zellweger in ‘Miss Potter’ and veterans Meryl Streep for ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and Annette Bening for ‘Running with Scissors’.
Finally, two US films were nominated in the best foreign language film category led by controversial director Mel Gibson’s ‘Apocalypto’, which is told in an ancient Mayan language, and Clint Eastwood’s ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’.
The other three films in the foreign language group are Mexican fantasy ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, director Pedro Almodovar’s ‘Volver’ and Germany’s ‘The Lives of Others’.—Reuters
LOS ANGELES, Dec 14: ‘Babel’, a movie that explores cultural gaps among people around the world, earned seven nominations for Golden Globe awards on Thursday, more than any other film, including one for best film drama.
