Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Doubt lead Golden Globe Nominations

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The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, a co-production between Paramount and Warner Bros, and Frost/Nixon, an Imagine/Working Title production for Universal led the pack in the 66th annual Golden Globe nominations which were announced this morning in Los Angeles. Both films took five nominations each.

Benjamin Button, one of the season's costliest titles, was cited for best picture (drama), best director for David Fincher, best actor (drama) for Brad Pitt, best screenplay for Eric Roth and best score for Alexandre Desplat.

Frost/Nixon took nominations in all the same categories as Button - for best picture (drama), best director for Ron Howard, best actor (drama) for Frank Langella, best screenplay for Peter Morgan and best score for Hans Zimmer.

Slumdog Millionaire
But the two studio big guns weren't the only winners. Fox Searchlight's Slumdog Millionaire, the Danny Boyle-directed hit which is a favourite with audiences and critics alike, took four nominations for best picture (drama), best director for Boyle, screenplay for Simon Beaufoy and best score for AR Rahman.

And Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road, produced by DreamWorks and distributed by Paramount Vantage, also snagged four, for best picture (drama), best director for Mendes, best actor (drama) for Leonardo DiCaprio and best actress (drama) for Kate Winslet.

Winslet was a double nominee, named in the best supporting actress category for another leading contender The Reader from The Weinstein Company (TWC) which also got nominations for best picture (drama), best director for Stephen Daldry and best screenplay for David Hare.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona
TWC also enjoyed success with four nominations for Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona for best picture (comedy or musical), best actor (comedy or musical) for Javier Bardem, best actress (comedy or musical) for Rebecca Hall and best supporting actress for Penelope Cruz.

Winning five nominations was Miramax Films' Doubt, although none were for picture or director. Meryl Streep was nominated for best actress (drama), Philip Seymour Hoffman for best supporting actor, Amy Adams and Viola Davis both for best supporting actress and John Patrick Shanley for best screenplay.

Streep was also a double nominee, taking a best actress (musical or comedy) nod for Mamma Mia! The Movie which also won a best picture (musical or comedy) nomination.

Virtually shut out, however, was one of the season's favourite films Milk, Gus Van Sant's acclaimed look at the political life of slain politician Harvey Milk. The film scored a best actor (drama) nod for Sean Penn but failed to register in any other category.

And Clint Eastwood, who had two films in contention this year in Changeling and Gran Torino, had to settle for two music nominations - for best score for Changeling and best song for Gran Torino - although his leading lady Angelina Jolie was nominated as best actress (drama) for Changeling.

Heath Ledger
Blockbuster The Dark Knight took only one nomination for Heath Ledger's supporting performance as The Joker.

Other films which failed to make it onto the Globes radar included Australia, The Visitor, Seven Pounds and Valkyrie.

Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky got nominations for best picture (comedy or musical) and best actress (comedy or musical) for Sally Hawkins, while the Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading also hooked best picture (best comedy or musical) and best actress (comedy or musical) for Frances McDormand.

A big surprise was Martin McDonagh's In Bruges which took three nominations for best picture (comedy or musical) and two for best actor (comedy or musical) for Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

Fox Searchlight also took three nominations for The Wrestler for Mickey Rourke's performance as best actor (drama), for Marisa Tomei as best supporting actress and for Bruce Springsteen's title song.

Meanwhile, if Tom Cruise was disappointed at the shutout for The Valkryie he got a consolation prize with a surprise supporting actor nod for playing a vulgar movie producer in Tropic Thunder. His co-star Robert Downey Jr also took a nomination for that film.

In the foreign film category, the nominees were The Baader Meinhof Complex from Germany, Everlasting Moments from Sweden, Gomorrah from Italy, I've Loved You So Long from France and Waltz With Bashir. Notable omissions from the shortlist were Laurent Cantet's The Class, also from France, and Aamir Khan's popular Taare Zameen Par from India.

There were no surprises in the animated film nominations which went to three studio heavyweights - Wall-E and Bolt from Disney and Kung Fu Panda from DreamWorks.