'Babel' Leads Golden Globe Noms

LOS ANGELES -- The multinational ensemble drama "Babel" led the nominations for the 64th annual Golden Globe nominations Thursday with seven, including Best Motion Picture Drama and supporting acting nominations for Brad Pitt and Rinko Kikuchi.

Also up for Best Dramatic Motion Picture are the Robert Kennedy-themed ensemble drama "Bobby," director Martin Scorsese's mob epic "The Departed," the suburban drama "Little Children" and the royalty-in-crisis tale "The Queen."

Nominee List | |

Clint Eastwood snagged a Best Foreign Language Film nomination for his World War II epic "Letters from Iwo Jima," but surprisingly, that, along with its companion film, "Flags of Our Fathers," failed to yield Best Dramatic Motion Picture nods. Other favorites aced out of the nominations included the Sept. 11 dramas "United 93" and "World Trade Center," Djimon Hounsou for "Blood Diamond" and ironically, Catherine O'Hara as an actress swept up in awards season hype in "For Your Consideration."

Lucky for Eastwood, he was nominated for Best Director for both "Flags" and "Letters," along with Martin Scorsese for "The Departed," Stephen Frears for "The Queen" and Alejandro González Iñárritu for "Babel."

The controversial mock-documentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," nabbed a Best Musical or Comedy nomination, along with a Best Actor nod for star Sacha Baron Cohen.

Taking "Borat" on for the top comedy prize are "The Devil Wears Prada," "Dreamgirls," "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Thank You for Smoking."

Leonardo DiCaprio earned two Best Dramatic Actor nominations, for both "Blood Diamond" and "The Departed." He'll take on Will Smith for "The Pursuit of Happyness," Peter O'Toole for "Venus" and Forrest Whitaker for "The Last King of Scotland."

There were multiple nominees galore, including Helen Mirren, who received nominations for playing both Queen Elizabeth I and II. Mirren was nominated for dramatic movie actress for playing the current monarch in "The Queen," and for the title role in the TV miniseries "Elizabeth I." She also had a nomination for Best Actress in a TV Miniseries or Movie for "Prime Suspect: The Final Act."

Taking on Mirren for the Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama are Penelope Cruz for "Volver," Judi Dench for "Notes on a Scandal," Maggie Gyllenhaal for "Sherrybaby" and Kate Winslet for "Little Children."

Facing off against Baron Cohen for Best Comedy Actor are Johnny Depp for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," Aaron Eckhart for "Thank You for Smoking," Chiwetel Ejiofor for "Kinky Boots" and Will Ferrell, "Stranger than Fiction."

In the Best Comedy Actress category, the nominees are Annette Bening for "Running With Scissors," Toni Collette for "Little Miss Sunshine," Beyonce Knowles for "Dreamgirls," Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada" and Renee Zellweger for "Miss Potter."

"Cars," "Happy Feet" and "Monster House" are up for Best Animated Feature -- in the first year the HFPA has recognized the category.

On the television side, this year's Emmy winning "24" is up for Golden Globe for Best Dramatic series, along with "Big Love," "Grey's Anatomy," "Heroes," and "Lost."

"Desperate Housewives," which was ignored by the Emmys this year, nabbed a Best Comedy Series nomination, along with perennial nominees "Entourage," "The Office," and "Weeds." One newcomer, "Ugly Betty," also made the cut.

Nominated for Best Dramatic Actor are Patrick Dempsey for "Grey's Anatomy," Michael C. Hall for "Dexter," Hugh Laurie for "House," Bill Paxton for "Big Love" and Kiefer Sutherland for "24."

Patricia Arquette was nominated for Best Dramatic Actress for "Medium," along with Edie Falco for "The Sopranos," Evangeline Lilly for "Lost," Ellen Pompeo for "Grey's Anatomy" and Kyra Sedgwick for "The Closer."

Emmy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus is up for a Best Comedy Actress Globe for "The New Adventures of Old Christine," along with Marcia Cross for "Desperate Housewives," America Ferrera for "Ugly Betty," Felicity Huffman for "Desperate Housewives" and Mary-Louise Parker for "Weeds."

The Best Comedy actor competitors are Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock"; Zach Braff for "Scrubs"; Steve Carrell for "The Office"; Jason Lee for "My Name is Earl" and Tony Shalhoub for "Monk."

Jessica Biel, Rosario Dawson and Matthew Perry joined Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk to announce the nominations.

In all, 184 live-action features, 16 animated features, 124 television series and 38 made-for-television movies were eligible for this year's awards, according to the HFPA.

The HFPA previously announced that film icon Warren Beatty will be presented with the organization's Cecil B. DeMille Award.

The Golden Globes will be handed out Jan. 15 in Los Angeles.