BEVERLY HILLS: The surreal show business satire ‘Birdman’, a darling of critics for its innovative storytelling, led the Golden Globe Awards film nominations on Thursday, with its seven nods making it a frontrunner early in the Hollywood awards season.

The story of a washed-up actor played by Michael Keaton attempting a comeback on the Broadway stage, ‘Birdman’ will compete in the best comedy or musical category with “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, “Into the Woods”, “Pride” and “St. Vincent”, Coming-of-age drama “Boyhood” and World War Two biopic “The Imitation Game” landed five nominations each and will square off in the coveted best drama category against “Foxcatcher,” “Selma” and “The Theory of Everything.” The Golden Globes, organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, will be handed out on Jan 11 in Beverly Hills. They are one of the biggest ceremonies in the Hollywood awards season leading to the Oscars in February.

A big omission this year was Angelina Jolie’s second film as director, the World War Two drama “Unbroken”, which received no nominations.

But “Selma”, the Martin Luther King biopic opening on Dec 25, landed four nods, including best director for relative newcomer Ava Duvernay, the only female contender in the best director race. The other nominations were best drama and best actor for David Oyelowo as King.

In the very competitive category of best actor for drama, Oyelowo will face Steve Carell for “Foxcatcher”, Benedict Cumber­batch for “The Imitation Game”, Jake Gyllen­haal for “Nightcrawler” and Eddie Redmayne for “The Theory of Everything”. Keaton, who like his character is a former superhero star, will compete for best comedy or musical actor with Ralph Fiennes for “The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Bill Murray for “St. Vincent”, Joaquin Phoenix for “Inherent Vice” and Christoph Waltz for “Big Eyes”.

Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2014