'Babel,' 'Borat,' 'Queen' top Globe nods

LOS ANGELES - A truly international lineup of films and performers highlight Monday's Golden Globes, where such contenders as "Babel," "The Queen," "The Last King of Scotland" and "Borat" square off amid the home stretch to the Academy Awards.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel," a saga of families on three continents linked by tragic events in the African desert, led with seven nominations, including best drama and supporting-acting honors for Brad Pitt, Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi.

Martin Scorsese's mob tale "The Departed" was next with six nominations, including best drama and best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, who had a second lead-actor nomination for the African adventure "Blood Diamond."

There was no clear front-runner for the best-drama prize, whose other nominees were the Robert Kennedy tale "Bobby," the suburban comic drama "Little Children" and the British-royalty story "The Queen."

The musical "Dreamgirls" looked like a favorite to win the best musical or comedy Globe, though Sacha Baron Cohen's raucous satire "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" also was a strong contender.

The other musical or comedy nominees were the fashion-business comedy "The Devil Wears Prada," the road-trip romp "Little Miss Sunshine" and the tobacco-industry satire "Thank You for Smoking."

Helen Mirren was the obvious favorite for best dramatic actress as Britain's monarch Elizabeth II in "The Queen." Forest Whitaker was a safe bet for dramatic actor as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," though Peter O'Toole had strong prospects as a lecherous old actor in "Venus."

Warren Beatty was to receive the Globes' Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.

Hollywood's second-biggest film honors, the Globes are something of a dress rehearsal for the Oscars, whose nominations come out Jan. 23. The Oscar ceremony is Feb. 25.

While the Oscars are a formal, dignified affair in a theater, the Globes are looser, with stars, filmmakers and studio bosses sharing drinks and dinner at tables in a hotel ballroom.

"You have within a very small circle all the most important people in Hollywood," said Philip Berk, who heads the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that awards the Globes. "There's liquor on the table and wine. We serve a fabulous meal. But once the show begins, the actual process of the awards is very serious."

The roughly 85 members of the foreign press group comprise a small number compared to the 5,800 film professionals eligible to vote for the Oscars.

Yet the group has a strong history of forecasting eventual Academy Awards winners and providing momentum for Globe recipients as Oscar voters begin to cast ballots.

Such Globe best-picture winners as "Shakespeare in Love," "American Beauty," "Gladiator" and "Chicago" went on to win the same prize at the Oscars. Globe voters were off target the last two years, anointing 2004's "The Aviator" as best drama, a prize that went to "Million Dollar Baby" at the Oscars, and 2005's "Brokeback Mountain," which lost to "Crash" come Oscar night.

But all four of 2005's acting recipients at the Oscars — Philip Seymour Hoffman, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney and Rachel Weisz — also won Golden Globes.

Nominations balloting for the Oscars closed Saturday, so the outcome of the Globes cannot affect who gets nominated. But the Globes can influence who wins on Oscar night, serving as a reminder to academy voters of top performances and achievements.