"The Help," "The Descendants" and "The Artist" are among the leaders in nominations for the 69th annual Golden Globe awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced on Thursday.
"The Artist" topped all films with six nominations, while "The Descendants" and "The Help" had five.
But George Clooney is the King of the Globes this year: Not only was he nominated for Best Actor for "The Descendants," but his film "The Ides of March" had a surprisingly strong showing, giving Clooney additional nominations for directing and for co-writing that political drama. The film was also nominated in the Globes' marquee category of Best Motion Picture, Drama.
In the Best Motion Picture, Drama category, the 80-odd HFPA voters chose six films rather than the usual five: "The Descendants," "War Horse," "Moneyball," "The Ides of March," "The Help" and "Hugo."
Competing for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy are the two presumed frontrunners, "The Artist" and "Midnight in Paris," along with "Bridesmaids," "50/50" and "My Week With Marilyn."
In the Globes' television categories, new series like "Game of Thrones," "Homeland" and "American Horror Story" will square off against "Boardwalk Empire" in the TV Series, Drama category, while the Comedy or Musical category pits "New Girl" against "Enlightened," "Episodes," "Glee" and "Modern Family."
Laura Dern, Zooey Deschanel, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, David Duchovny and Matt LeBlanc are among the comedy acting nominees for TV, while the drama category includes Steve Buscemi, Bryan Cranston, Kelsey Grammer, Claire Danies and Julianna Margulies.
In typically star-heavy nominations from an organization long dazzled by the lure of celebrity, Glenn Close received one nod for starring in "Albert Nobbs" and another for writing lyrics to the film's closing song. Ryan Gosling received two acting nominations, one for the drama "The Ides of March" and one for the comedy "Crazy, Stupid, Love," but was overlooked for his most critically-acclaimed performance, in "Drive."
In the acting races, Rooney Mara was something of a surprise nominee for "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," as was Michael Fassbender for "Shame." Melissa McCarthy was surprisingly missing for "Bridesmaids," though her castmate Kristen Wiig was nominated, and Max von Sydow was overlooked for "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."
In fact, that Stephen Daldry drama, the final film to screen for the HFPA, was completely shut out.
Angelina Jolie was nominated for her foreign-language film "In the Land of Blood and Honey," and Madonna for a song from "W./E."
The companies with the most nominations were the Weinstein Company, which released "The Artist," "The Iron Lady," "My Week With Marilyn" and "W./E.," and Columbia Pictures, which had "The Ides of March," "Moneyball," "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," "The Adventures of Tintin" (with Paramount) and "Arthur Christmas." Both picked up 12 nods — although if you factor in Sony Pictures Classics and Sony Pictures TV, the Sony Pictures Entertainment umbrella had 25.
The nominations were announced at the Beverly Hilton hotel by Gerard Butler, Woody Harrelson, Rashida Jones and Sofia Vergara.
The nominees:
MOTION PICTURE CATEGORIES
BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse
BEST MOTION PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn
BEST DIRECTOR
Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis, The Help
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Joseph Gordon Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love
Owen Wilson, Midnight in Paris
BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet, Carnage
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain , The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
BEST SCREENPLAY
Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
The Ides of March, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
Moneyball, Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Flowers of War
In The Land of Blood and Honey
The Kid WIth The Bike
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
W.E., Abel Korzeniowski
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Hugo, Howard Shore
War Horse, John Williams
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Lay Your Head Down," Albert Nobbs
"Hello Hello," Gnomeo and Juliet
"The Living Proof," The Help
"The Keeper," Machine Gun Preacher
"Masterpiece," W.E.
TELEVISION CATEGORIES
BEST TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA
American Horror Story
Boardwalk Empire
Boss Starz
Game of Thrones
Homeland
BEST TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
Modern Family
New Girl
BEST TV MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Hour
Mildred Pierce
Too Big to Fail
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA
Claire Danes, Homeland
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Madeleine Stowe, Revenge
Callie Thorne, Necessary Roughness
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, DRAMA
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Kelsey Grammer, Boss
Jeremy Irons, The Borgias
Damian Lewis, Homeland
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
David Duchovny, Californication
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Thomas Jane, Hung
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Laura Linney, The Big C
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Idris Elba, Luther
William Hurt, Too Big to Fail
Bill Nighy, Page Eight
Dominic West, The Hour
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
Romola Garai, The Hour
Diane Lane, Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern, Downtown Abbey
Emily Watson, Appropriate Adult
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TV SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Paul Giamatti, Too Big To Fail
Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce
Tim Robbins, Cinema Verite
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TV SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce
