Todd Haynes 1950s romance Carol landed a leading five nominations, including best dramatic picture, in nominations for the 73rd annual Golden Globes.
Hollywood Foreign Press Association's nominations, announced Thursday in Beverly Hills, California, spread nods around to a widespread field. Surging was Adam McKay's finance farce The Big Short, which earned four nominations, including best picture, comedy.
Also with four nods is Alejandro Inarritu's follow-up to his Oscar-winning Birdman: the frontier epic The Revenant, which was nominated for best picture, drama, and best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio. Tied with four is the Aaron Sorkin-scripted Steve Jobs, though it failed to join the best picture nominees. Along with Carol and The Revenant, they are: Mad Max: Fury Road, Room and Spotlight.
Several nominations
In an awards season that has so far seen honors spread around, Tom McCarthy's Spotlight came into the Globe nominations as the Oscar favorite. While it took three top Globe nominations Thursday, including best director for McCarthy and best screenplay, its ensemble cast is failing to stand out from the pack.
After the Screen Actors Guild passed over Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo, the Globes did, too. Ruffalo, however, was nominated for best actor in a comedy for his performance as a bipolar father in Infinitely Polar Bear.
Most of the expected contenders came away with something to show from the nominations, including the scientific space adventure The Martian (including nods for star Matt Damon and director Ridley Scott)and David O. Russell's matriarch portrait Joy (best picture, comedy and best actress Jennifer Lawrence).
Left largely on the outside were Steven Spielberg's Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies, which was only nominated for Mark Rylance's supporting performance; the Irish immigrant drama Brooklyn, nominated only for Saoirse Ronan's leading performance; and Straight Outta Compton, the popular N.W.A biopic, which landed no awards.
Will Smith, whose upcoming Concussion has drawn headlines for its depiction of head trauma in football, joined the best actor, drama, nominees. Also nominated were Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl), DiCaprio and Bryan Cranston (Trumbo).
Multiple nominations
A number of performers came away with multiple nods. Alicia Vikander will compete for both best actress, drama, for The Danish Girl, as well as her supporting role as an artificial intelligence in Ex Machina. Rylance added a second for his TV role on the costume drama Wolf Hall. Idris Elba also spanned both film and TV with nods for his West African rebel commander in Beasts of No Nation, as well as the British crime series Luther.
Ricky Gervais will return as host for the Globes on Jan. 10. His third time in the gig follows three straight years of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as hosts.
Last year's NBC telecast dipped slightly from 2013's 10-year high, drawing 19.3 million viewers. Best drama went to Richard Linklater's Boyhood, while Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel captured the comedy category.
Partial list of film nominees for the awards, provided by Reuters:
Best drama
"Carol"
"Mad Max: Fury Road"
"The Revenant"
"Room"
"Spotlight"
Best comedy or musical
"The Big Short"
"Joy"
"The Martian"
"Spy"
"Trainwreck"
Best actor, drama
Bryan Cranston, "Trumbo"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"
Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs"
Eddie Redmayne, "The Danish Girl"
Will Smith, "Concussion"
Best actress, drama
Cate Blanchett, "Carol"
Brie Larson, "Room"
Rooney Mara, "Carol"
Saoirse Ronan, "Brooklyn"
Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl"
Best actor, comedy or musical
Christian Bale, "The Big Short"
Steve Carell, "The Big Short"
Matt Damon, "The Martian"
Al Pacino, "Danny Collins"
Mark Ruffalo, "Infinitely Polar Bear"
Best actress, comedy or musical
Jennifer Lawrence, "Joy"
Melissa McCarthy, "Spy"
Amy Schumer, "Trainwreck"
Maggie Smith, "The Lady in the Van"
Lily Tomlin, "Grandma"
Best supporting actor
Paul Dano, "Love & Mercy"
Idris Elba, "Beasts of No Nation"
Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies"
Michael Shannon, "99 Homes"
Sylvester Stallone, "Creed"
Best supporting actress
Jane Fonda, "Youth"
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "The Hateful Eight"
Helen Mirren, "Trumbo"
Alicia Vikander, "Ex Machina"
Kate Winslet, "Steve Jobs"
Best director
Todd Haynes, "Carol"
Alejandro Inarritu, "The Revenant"
Tom McCarthy, "Spotlight"
George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"
Ridley Scott, "The Martian"
Best foreign-language film
"The Brand New Testament" (Belgium, France, Luxembourg)
"The Club" (Chile)
"The Fencer" (Finland, Germany, Estonia)
"Mustang" (France)
"Son of Saul" (Hungary)
Best animated film
"Anomalisa"
"Inside Out"
"The Good Dinosaur"
"The Peanuts Movie"
"Shaun the Sheep Movie"
Best screenplay
"Room"
"Spotlight"
"The Big Short"
"Steve Jobs"
"The Hateful Eight"
Best original score
"Carol"
"The Danish Girl"
"The Hateful Eight"
"Steve Jobs"
"The Revenant"
Best original song
"Love Me Like You Do," ("Fifty Shades of Grey")
"One Kind of Love," ("Love & Mercy")
"See You Again," ("Furious 7")
"Simple Song #3," ("Youth")
"Writing's on the Wall," ("Spectre")
