Rings Up for Four Golden Globes
Staff Reporter

BEVERLY HILLS (Reuters): The first instalment of New Zealand director Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy has been nominated in four categories in the Golden Globe Awards including best film drama.

Russell Crowe has also been nominated for best actor in a movie drama for the film A Beautiful Mind.

Just one day after its general release and only 10 days after its world premiere, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring appeared on the list of nominations for best film drama, best director, best original score and best original song at the awards that foreshadow the coveted Oscars.

The New Zealand-made film is up against A Beautiful Mind, with six nominations, and critical hits Mulholland Drive, In the Bedroom and The Man Who Wasn't There for best drama.

But while The Fellowship of the Ring features in four categories, none of its cast have garnered nominations.

Along with Moulin Rouge, also nominated in six categories, the list for best film musical or comedy includes Bridget Jones' Diary, Legally Blonde, computer animated Shrek and Robert Altman's Gosford Park, which was the third most-nominated movie with five nods.

The Golden Globe Awards, handed out each year in January by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, often provide insight on which films might claim Oscars, Hollywood's top film honours awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in March.

Golden Globe winners often go on to claim an Oscar.

This year, the 59th Annual Golden Globes have taken on added importance because critics have split on 2001's best films.

The New York Film Critics Circle, for instance, named Mulholland Drive the top movie, while the Los Angeles Film Critics Association handed that honour to drama In the Bedroom.

"It's a wide open field, and totally unpredictable. But what I like about the Golden Globes is that we at least have the luxury of being able to divide musical/comedy and dramas," said Dagmar Dunlevy, president of the foreign press group, which has about 90 members who work for foreign publications.

The nominees for best actor in a motion picture musical or comedy included Gene Hackman for The Royal Tenenbaums, Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge, John Cameron Mitchell for independent movie hit Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Billy Bob Thornton in Bandits and Hugh Jackman for Kate & Leopold.

On hand to present the list of nominees, Jackman seemed surprised to be named, telling reporters: "I'm feeling pretty good ... it was a really good morning."

Nominees for best actor in a movie drama were Russell Crowe for A Beautiful Mind, Will Smith in Ali, Kevin Spacey for The Shipping News and Denzel Washington in Training Day.

Favorite actress in a dramatic film were Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Judi Dench for Iris, Nicole Kidman in The Others, Sissy Spacek for In the Bedroom and Tilda Swinton in The Deep End.

Nominees for best actress in a movie musical or comedy went to Thora Birch for another independent hit, Ghost World, Cate Blanchett in Bandits, Nicole Kidman for Moulin Rouge, Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde, and Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones' Diary.

Foreign language film nominations went to French film Amelie, Brazil's Behind the Sun, India's Monsoon Wedding, Bosnia's No Man's Land and Mexico's Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too).

The Hollywood Foreign Press also gives awards in television categories, although they take on less importance than the film honours because the current award season in Hollywood focuses on movies.

This year, Golden Globe nominations for best TV drama went to 24, Alias, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos and The West Wing.

Nominations for best TV musical or comedy were handed to Ally McBeal, Frasier, Friends, Sex and the City and Will & Grace.