Silent film is taking over Hollywood's awards scene. The silent-era tale The Artist heads the Golden Globes with six nominations, among them best comedy or musical, and acting honors for its French stars, Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo.
Tied for second-place with five nominations Thursday are the 1960s racial tale The Help and George Clooney's Hawaiian family story The Descendants. Both films are up for best drama, while Clooney was nominated for best dramatic actor and The Help earned acting slots for Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain.
"We've all been striking out trying to make our dreams come true, and the fact that our very first studio film is being so well received and embraced is humbling and exciting," said supporting-actress nominee Spencer, an awards-season newcomer and longtime friend of Tate Taylor, the first-time director of The Help, based on his childhood pal Kathryn Stockett's best-seller.
Also competing for best drama: Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure Hugo; Clooney's political thriller The Ides of March; Brad Pitt's baseball chronicle Moneyball; and Steven Spielberg's World War I epic War Horse.
Joining The Artist in the best musical or comedy category are: the cancer story 50/50; Kristen Wiig's wedding romp Bridesmaids; Woody Allen's romantic fantasy Midnight in Paris; and Michelle Williams' Marilyn Monroe tale My Week With Marilyn.
Dujardin, who won the best-actor prize for The Artist in its premiere at last May's Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for best actor in a musical or comedy. He plays a silent-film star whose career nosedives as talking pictures take over in the late 1920s in The Artist, which has virtually no spoken dialogue and is shot in the boxy, black-and-white format of the silent era.
The actor called his nomination an "incredible gift."
"To be recognized alongside such brilliant actors is an honor," Dujardin said. "The Golden Globe nomination for The Artist has left me speechless!"
The Artist also picked up a supporting actress honor for Bejo as a rising star of the sound era. Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius earned directing and screenplay nominations for the film, which also is up for best musical score.
Along with the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations a day earlier, the Globes help narrow down prospects for the Academy Awards, whose nominations come out Jan. 24. If The Artist earns a best-picture nomination then, it will be the first silent movie with a serious shot at Hollywood's top prize since the very first year of the Oscars, for 1927-28, when the silent flicks Wings and Sunset took top honors.
"They said I was crazy to take on making a black-and-white, silent movie, but I had a feeling The Artist could be something special, something magical," said the film's producer, Thomas Langmann. "I'm so thankful that audiences are taking a chance and embracing it with a spirit of adventure and love of cinema."
Clooney has three nominations. Besides best dramatic actor as a neglectful dad tending his daughters in The Descendants, he's up for directing and screenplay for The Ides of March. For the acting prize, Clooney will compete against his Ides co-star Ryan Gosling, who plays a presidential candidate's aide. Gosling had a second nomination for best musical or comedy actor as a ladies man in the romance Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Glenn Close is also a dual contender, as best dramatic actress as a woman masquerading as a male butler in the Irish drama Albert Nobbs and for best song for writing the lyrics to 'Lay Your Head Down', the film's theme tune.
Also nominated for dramatic actress: Davis as a black maid going public with stories about her white employer in The Help; Rooney Mara as a traumatized victim-turned-avenger in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Meryl Streep as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady; and Tilda Swinton as a grieving woman coping with her son's terrible deeds in We Need to Talk About Kevin.
Clooney has another pal in the dramatic actor race, his Ocean's Eleven franchise co-star Pitt, who's nominated for his Moneyball role as Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. And Clooney also is competing for best director against his boss in The Descendants, filmmaker Alexander Payne.
Gosling, Clooney and Pitt are up against Leonardo DiCaprio as FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover in J. Edgar and Michael Fassbender as a sex addict in Shame.
Pitt's romantic partner, Angelina Jolie, picked up a nomination for foreign-language film for her directing debut, the Bosnian war drama In the Land of Blood and Honey.
"I am forever indebted to our cast and crew, who experienced their own personal tragedies in the Bosnian war and gave me an authentic perspective into the conflict," Jolie said.
Scorsese for Hugo and Allen for Midnight in Paris join Clooney, Hazanavicius and Payne in the directing category.
"Making Hugo was an extraordinary experience for me," said Scorsese, whose tale is a loving nod to the early years of cinema and French director Georges Melies. "It gave me a chance to work in 3-D, which I've wanted to do since I was young; it allowed me to make a child's adventure, the type of picture that I loved when I was young; and it provided an occasion to pay tribute to one of the cinema's greatest pioneers, Georges Melies."
Though War Horse made it in for best drama, Spielberg missed out on a directing nomination.
Spielberg has a consolation prize with a nomination for his first animated film, The Adventures of Tintin. Other animation nominees are: James McAvoy's Arthur Christmas, Owen Wilson's Cars 2, Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek's Puss in Boots and Johnny Depp's Rango.
Along with Gosling and Dujardin, Wilson was nominated for musical or comedy actor as a writer nostalgic for the 1920s France of Hemingway and Fitzgerald in Midnight in Paris. Also nominated are Brendan Gleeson as a bawdy, rule-breaking Irish cop on a drug investigation in The Guard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a cancer patient aided by an assortment of oddballs in 50/50.
Roman Polanski's domestic showdown Carnage earned musical or comedy actress slots for both Jodie Foster and Kate Winslet as mothers squabbling over their sons' schoolyard fight. The other nominees are: Charlize Theron as a delusional woman plotting to win back her high school boyfriend from his wife in Young Adult; Wiig as a maid of honor whose life is unraveling in Bridesmaids; and Williams as Marilyn Monroe during a chaotic film shoot in My Week With Marilyn.
Kenneth Branagh as Laurence Olivier, Monroe's exasperated co-star and director on The Prince and the Showgirl, was nominated for supporting actor.
"To be recognized for portraying one of the greatest actors of our time is truly an honor," Branagh said.
Also in the supporting-actor race: Albert Brooks as a gregarious but ruthless gangster in Drive; Jonah Hill as a statistics prodigy in Moneyball; Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud in A Dangerous Method; and Christopher Plummer as an ailing, elderly father who comes out as gay in Beginners.
Besides Bejo and Spencer, who plays a sassy maid in The Help, supporting-actress nominees include The Help co-star Chastain as Spencer's lonely new boss. The other nominees are Janet McTeer as a cross-dressing laborer in Albert Nobbs and Shailene Woodley as a troublesome teen in The Descendants.
Winslet had a second nomination, as best actress in a TV miniseries or movie for Mildred Pierce. Downton Abbey and Mildred Pierce tied for the most television nominations with four, with both shows competing for best miniseries or movie.
Several TV newcomers were among the nominees, including Boss, New Girl, American Horror Story and Homeland.
"I feel very lucky to be part of it," said Homeland star Damian Lewis, who plays a Marine rescued in Afghanistan after eight years in captivity but who draws the suspicion of a CIA operative, played by Claire Danes. "Now I may even be in season 2 now."
Zooey Deschanel, star of the Fox comedy New Girl, learned of her nomination as best actress in a comedy and also the show's nod for best comedy after waking up to find her cellphone's mailbox was full with messages.
"I don't expect to be recognized or validated. I've been doing this so long, and I've done so many movies where I work really hard and don't ever get this kind of attention. But I so appreciate it, I'm so thankful!" he said driving to work.
With drinks and dinner, the Globes are a laid-back affair for Hollywood's elite compared to the Oscars. The show turned a bit touchy last year as host Ricky Gervais repeatedly made sharp wisecracks about stars and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 85 entertainment reporters for overseas outlets that presents the Globes.
But Gervais helped give the show a TV ratings boost, and he's been invited back as host for a third-straight year.
Before the nominations announcement, the press group's president, Aida Takla-O'Reilly, joked that Gervais is a "naughty, naughty schoolboy."
Five-time Academy Award and Globe nominee Morgan Freeman - who won the supporting-actor Oscar for Million Dollar Baby and a best-actor Globe for Driving Miss Daisy - will receive the group's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the Jan. 15 ceremony.
List of film nominees:
Best Motion Picture – Drama
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse
Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture – 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 Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Drama
George Clooney - The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender – Shame
Ryan Gosling - The Ides of March
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical
50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris
My Week With Marilyn
Best Performance By An Actress In A Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical
Jodie Foster – Carnage
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
Kristen Wiig – Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
Kate Winslet – Carnage
Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture - 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 Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In A Motion Picture
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks – Drive
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen - A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Best Director - Motion Picture
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
George Clooney - The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
List of TV nominees:
Actress in a Comedy or Musical Series
Laura Dern, Enlightened (HBO)
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl (Fox)
Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)
Laura Linney, The Big C (Showtime)
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation (NBC)
Actor in a Comedy or Musical Series
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock (NBC)
David Duchovny, Californication (Showtime)
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory (CBS)
Thomas Jane, Hung (HBO)
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes (Showtime)
Comedy or Musical Series
Enlightened (HBO)
Episodes (Showtime)
Glee (Fox)
Modern Family (ABC)
New Girl (Fox)
Actress in Drama Series
Claire Danes, Homeland (Showtime)
Mireille Enos, The Killing (AMC)
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife (CBS)
Madeleine Stowe, Revenge (ABC)
Callie Thorne, Necessary Roughness (USA)
Actor in a Drama Series
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (AMC)
Kelsey Grammer, Boss (Starz)
Jeremy Irons, Borgias (Showtime)
Damian Lewis, Homeland (Showtime)
Drama Series
American Horror Story (FX)
Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Boss (Starz)
Game of Thrones (HBO)
Homeland (Showtime)
Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Cinema Verite (HBO)
Downton Abbey (PBS)
The Hour (BBC America)
Mildred Pierce (HBO)
Too Big to Fail (HBO)
Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Idris Elba, Luther (BBC America)
William Hurt, Too Big to Fail (HBO)
Bill Nighy, Page Eight (BBC America)
Dominic West, The Hour (BBC America)
Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Romola Garai, The Hour (BBC America)
Diane Lane, Cinema Verite (HBO)
Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Emily Watson, Appropriate Adult (Sundance)
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce (HBO)
Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones (HBO)
Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail (HBO)
Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce (HBO)
Tim Robbins, Cinema Verite (HBO)
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family (ABC)
Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story (FX)
Kelly MacDonald, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey (PBS)
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family (ABC)
Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce (HBO)
AP / WENN.com