HBO Leads Golden Globe Nods

HOLLYWOOD, December 13: HBO led the pack of
nominees for the 65th annual Golden Globes with 18 nods, while FX Networks’
freshman drama Damages and the HBO/Granada/Channel 4 co-production Longford scored four
nominations each and the feature film Atonement received seven,
including best motion picture.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the nominees
today. The 65th annual Golden Globes will air live on NBC on January 13, 2008,
at 8 p.m.

For the television categories, ABC is in second place after HBO
with 11 nominations, followed by NBC and Showtime, both tied for third place
with 6 each.

In the television drama category, FX’s Damages is up against HBO’s Big
Love, ABC’s
Grey’s Anatomy, FOX’s House, Showtime’s The Tudors and AMC’s freshman
series Mad Men. Grey’s Anatomy took home the award in 2007. Best actress
nominees include Glenn Close for Damages, Patricia Arquette for NBC’s Medium, Minnie Driver for
FX’s The Riches, last year’s winner Kyra Sedgwick for TNT’s The Closer, Holly Hunter for
TNT’s Saving Grace, Sally Field for ABC’s Brothers & Sisters and Edie Falco for
HBO’s The Sopranos, notching up the nomination on the heels of the show’s final
season. Facing off in the best actor category are Michael C. Hall for
Showtime’s Dexter, Jon Hamm for Mad Men, Bill Paxton for Big Love, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
for The Tudors and Hugh Laurie for House, who won in the award in 2007.

Best comedy or musical nominees include NBC’s 30 Rock, Showtime’s Californication and ABC’s newcomer Pushing
Daisies,
as well as two HBO series: Entourage and Extras. Absent from the
category is last year’s winner, ABC’s Ugly Betty. Best actress nods went
to Christina Applegate for Samantha Who?, Tina Fey for 30 Rock, Anna Friel for Pushing
Daisies, Mary-Louise Parker for Showtime’s Weeds and America Ferrera for Ugly
Betty, who
took home the award last year. Best actor nominees include last year’s winner
Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock, Steve Carell for NBC’s The Office, David Duchovny for Californication,
Ricky
Gervais for Extras and Lee Pace for Pushing Daisies.

For the mini-series or motion picture made for TV category, TNT’s The
Company
and BBC America’s The State Within are up against three HBO titles: Bury My
Heart at Wounded Knee, Five Days and Longford. The actress nominees are Bryce Dallas Howard
(As You Like It), Debra Messing (The Starter Wife), Queen Latifah (Life
Support),
Sissy Spacek (Picture of Hollis Woods) and Ruth Wilson (Jane Eyre). Actor nods,
meanwhile, went to Adam Beach (Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee), Ernest Borgnine (A
Grandpa for Christmas), Jim Broadbent (Longford), Jason Isaacs (The State Within) and
James Nesbitt (Jekyll).

Focus Features led the motion picture categories, followed by
Miramax Films, Paramount Vantage and Warner Bros. Pictures with 10 nods each.

Best motion picture nominees in the drama category are American
Gangster, The Great Debaters, Atonement, Eastern Promises, Michael
Clayton, No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Actress nominees
include Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Julie Christie for Away
From Her, Jodie Foster for The Brave One, Angelina Jolie for A
Mighty Heart and Keira Knightley for Atonement. In the actor category,
nominees include George Clooney for Michael Clayton, Daniel Day-Lewis for There
Will Be Blood, James McAvoy for Atonement, Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises and Denzel Washington
for American Gangster.

In the comedy or musical category for motion pictures, Hairspray
will
face off against Across The Universe, Charlie Wilson’s War, Juno and Sweeney Todd. Actress nominees
include Amy Adams for Enchanted, Nikki Blonsky for Hairspray, Helena Bonham Carter
for Sweeney Todd, Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose and Ellen Page for
Juno. Actor
nominees are Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd, Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real
Girl, Tom
Hanks for Charlie Wilson’s War, Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Savages and John C. Reilly for
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

In the best animated film category, DreamWorks Animation’s Bee
Movie will
face off with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Distribution’s Ratatouille
and
Twentieth Century Fox’s The Simpsons Movie.

Directors receiving nominations for their work this year include
Tim Burton for Sweeney Todd, Ethan Coen & Joel Coen for No Country
For Old Men, Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, Ridley Scott for American
Gangster and Joe Wright for Atonement.

—By Kristin Brzoznowski