'Carol,' 'Spotlight,' 'The Big Short' lead Golden Globe nominations

"Carol," the story of a budding romance between two women in 1950s New York, earned a leading five nominations today for the 73rd annual Golden Globe Awards, including a nod for best picture and competing
best actress bids for co-stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara.

The film was nominated for best dramatic motion picture along with "Mad Max: Fury Road," "The Revenant," "Room" and "Spotlight." For comedy/musical motion pictures, nominations went to "The Big Short," "Joy,"
"The Martian," "Spy" and "Trainwreck."

In addition to its nominations for best drama and actress for Blanchett and Mara, "Carol" also received nods for best director for Todd Haynes and best original score for Carter Burwell.

Joining Blanchett and Mara in the best drama actress category were Brie Larson, for her portrayal of a woman held captive with her son in "Room," Saoirse Ronan for "Brooklyn" and Alicia Vikander for "The Danish Girl."

Will Smith, who was snubbed on Wednesday for a Screen Actors Guild nomination, scored a best-actor nod from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association today for his role as a doctor taking on the NFL in "Concussion."

He will face stiff competition against Leonardo DiCaprio for "The Revenant," Bryan Cranston for "Trumbo," Michael Fassbender for the title role in "Steve Jobs" and Eddie Redmayne for his cross-dressing turn in "The Danish Girl."

Jennifer Lawrence, who was also snubbed by SAG, was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress in a motion picture comedy or musical for "Joy," although the film's classification as a comedy was questioned by some pundits, as was the placement of "The Martian" in the comedy categories, with Matt Damon earning a best actor nod.

Lawrence will square off with Melissa McCarthy of "Spy," Amy Schumer of "Trainwreck," Maggie Smith of"The Lady in the Van" and Lily Tomlin of "Grandma."

Along with Damon, nominations for best comedy/musical actor went to Christian Bale and Steve Carell for "The Big Short," Al Pacino for "Danny Collins" and Mark Ruffalo for "Infinitely Polar Bear."

Sylvester Stallone was nominated for best supporting actor for his return to the role of Rocky Balboa in "Creed." Idris Elba was also nominated in the category for his performance in Netflix's African war drama "Beasts of
No Nation," as were Paul Dano for "Love & Mercy," Mark Rylance for "Bridge of Spies" and Michael Shannon for "99 Homes."

Veteran actress Jane Fonda was nominated for best supporting actress for "Youth," along with Jennifer Jason Leigh of "The Hateful Eight," Helen Mirren for "Trumbo," Alicia Vikander for "Ex Machina" and Kate Winslet for
"Steve Jobs."

The Golden Globes are often touted as an indication of how Oscar nominations will go, but the record is mixed. Since the Hollywood Foreign Press Association adopted the split drama/comedy-musical format for the Golden Globes in 1963, 65 percent of the films that ended up with best picture Academy Awards had first received a Golden Globe.

The Golden Globe drama winner has gone on to win best picture 27 of 52 times -- or 52 percent. The musical/comedy winner has won seven times at the Oscars, including each of the first three years.

In January, the Golden Globe for best drama went to "Boyhood." The Oscar for best picture ultimately went to "Birdman," which was nominated in the comedy/musical category at the Golden Globes, losing to "The Grand
Budapest Hotel."

On the television side of the awards, best drama nominations went to "Empire," "Game of Thrones," "Mr. Robot," "Narcos" and "Outlander."

For comedies, the nominations broke some ground by nominating "Casual," the first nominee produced by the Hulu streaming service. Also nominated were Amazon's "Mozart in the Jungle" and "Transparent," Netflix's "Orange is the New Black" and HBO's "Silicon Valley" and "Veep."

Nominations were announced at the Beverly Hilton by Angela Bassett, America Ferrera, Chloe Grace Moretz and Dennis Quaid. The Golden Globes will be presented Jan. 10, also at the Beverly Hilton, in a ceremony hosted by Ricky Gervais.

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