Los Angeles: With the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio and Brad Pitt up for the Best Actor trophy at the 69th Golden Globes, French film The Artist is leading the nominations having picking up nods in all major categories.
DiCaprio is nominated for his portrayal of J Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood’s biopic, as is Michael Fassbender for Shame, George Clooney for The Descendants and Pitt for Moneyball.
The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius’s largely silent black-and-white homage to Hollywood’s golden era, swept the board being nominated in six categories.
The Help, a civil rights era drama came in joint second with five nominations, equalling The Descendants, Alexander Payne’s Hawaii drama. Michelle Williams starrer My Week with Marilyn picked up three nominations, likewise Albert Nobbs and Hugo, Martin Scorsese’s first foray into family films – and into 3D.
Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris picked up four nominations, as did The Ides of March, written by and starring Clooney.
Ides star Ryan Gosling picked up an unexpected best actor (drama) nomination for his work in the thriller, as well as a nod in the comedy category for his work in Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Other surprise acting nods went to Jodie Foster for Carnage and Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin. In the animated category ‘Tintin’, ‘Arthur Christmas’, ‘Cars 3’, Rango, Puss in Boots, went forward for the big prize.
The Flowers of War, In the Land of Blood and Honey, The Kid on a Bike, A Separation, The Skin I Live In were nominated in the foreign language category. Actor Morgan Freeman will receive the group’s Cecil B DeMille Award for lifetime achievement.
The Globes will be presented in a ceremony on January 15, hosted for the third time by Ricky Gervais. (PTI)