Sideways leads the field with Golden Globe nominations

THE road-trip flick, Sideways, led Golden Globe contenders yesterday with seven nominations, including for best musical or comedy film, best director and three acting nominations.

The Howard Hughes biography, The Aviator, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo Di Caprio, was second with six nominations including best director, best dramatic feature and two acting nominations.

Other best drama nominees were the caustic sex tale Closer; the story of Peter Pan creator, JM Barrie, Finding Neverland, the story of Peter Pan creator JM Barrie which stars starring Johnny Depp; Hotel Rwanda, a tale set against the genocide in that country; Kinsey, a film biography of the US sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, and the boxing saga Million Dollar Baby.

Along with Sideways, best musical or comedy nominees were the whimsical romance Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; the animated superhero adventure The Incredibles; The Phantom of the Opera, adapted from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and the Ray Charles film biography, Ray.

Ray star Jamie Foxx was nominated for best musical or comedy actor for that film and received two other nominations: supporting actor for Collateral as a taxi driver whose cab is hijacked by a hit man, and as best actor in a TV movie or mini-series for Redemption.

The Aviator star Leonardo DiCaprio earned a nomination as best dramatic actor for his role as Hughes. Other nominees were Javier Bardem as a paralysed man seeking the right to die in The Sea Inside; Don Cheadle as a hotel manager sheltering refugees in Hotel Rwanda; Johnny Depp as playwright Barrie in Finding Neverland and Liam Neeson as the title character in Kinsey.

Dramatic lead actress nominees were Scarlett Johansson in A Love Song for Bobby Long, playing a teen who finds an unlikely extended family; Nicole Kidman as a woman visited by a boy claiming to be her dead husband in Birth; Imelda Staunton as the title character in the abortion drama Vera Drake; Hilary Swank as a boxer in Million Dollar Baby and Uma Thurman as a vengeful former assassin in Kill Bill - Vol. 2.

Along with Foxx, Sideways star Paul Giamatti was nominated for best actor in a musical or comedy for his role as a loser in love on a road trip with a buddy. Other nominees include comedian Jim Carrey as a man who pays to have memories of his ex-girlfriend erased in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Kevin Kline as composer Cole Porter in De-Lovely and Kevin Spacey as singer Bobby Darin in the biopic Beyond the Sea.

Musical or comedy actress nominees were Annette Bening as a London stage diva in Being Julia; Ashley Judd as composer Porter’s wife in De-Lovely; Emmy Rossum as a musical stage ingenue in The Phantom of the Opera; Kate Winslet as Carrey’s ex-girlfriend in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Renee Zellweger as the title character in the romantic sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.