Sideways, a film comedy about a road trip, leads the nominees for Hollywood's Golden Globe Awards, which were announced in Los Angeles. The film from director Alexander Payne earned seven nominations for the honors from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The Aviator, a biographical picture about billionaire Howard Hughes, followed with six nominations.
The seven nominations for Sideways included best musical or comedy film, three acting nominations and one for director Payne.
The Aviator's six nods included one for director Martin Scorsese and another for lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who played the reclusive Howard Hughes. Cate Blanchett was nominated for her supporting role in the film, in which she played the actress Katharine Hepburn.
Two other biographies are leading contenders this year, and both are about singers. Jamie Foxx is an acting nominee for his starring role in Ray, a film about the late music great Ray Charles. Foxx is also nominated as a supporting actor in Collateral, in which he plays a taxi driver whose taxicab is hijacked by a hit man.
Kevin Spacey is a nominee for best actor in a musical or comedy for his role as pop star Bobby Darin, who soared to the top of the music charts in the late 1950s.
Actress Mira Sorvino helped announce the nominees at an early morning news conference. Films nominated in the top category for dramas include the Hughes biography; and Finding Neverland, a fictional film about writer J. M. Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan; a drama about the genocide in Rwanda; the story of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, and a tale about boxing.
"Best Motion Picture, drama, The Aviator, Closer, Finding Neverland, Hotel Rwanda, Kinsey, and Million Dollar Baby," she announced.
The Golden Globes are given out by a group of about 90 international reporters, and industry insiders pay attention because the selections sometimes suggest winners at the Academy Awards, or Oscars.
The Golden Globes, which honor both film and television, will he handed out January 16. The Oscars, the U.S. industry's highest honors, will be given out at the end of February.
