Atonement Leads With 7 Golden Globe Nominations
December 13, 2007

The period piece, Atonement, starring Keira Knightley and James McAvoy and directed by Joe Wright led the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's announcement of the Golden Globe nominees this morning with an impressive seven nominations. Charlie Wilson's War followed after with five nods and a number of creative voices scored more than one nomination this year, including Cate Blanchett, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Clint Eastwood, and Eddie Vedder. Atonement will compete in the big category - best drama - against American Gangster, Eastern Promises, The Great Debaters, Michael Clayton, No Country For Old Men, and There Will Be Blood. Yes, that makes for SEVEN best drama nominees, due to what must have been a three-way tie for fifth in voting. We're not sure, but we don't believe that's ever happened before at the Golden Globes. At least, not in a long time. The nominees for best comedy/musical were kept to five and included Across the Universe, Charlie Wilson's War, Hairspray, Juno, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

The acting nominees were diverse and fascinating this year with both of the stars of Atonement, Keira Knightley and James McAvoy landing lead dramatic actress and lead dramatic actor nominations. The film also scored nominations for Saoirse Ronan for best supporting actress, Joe Wright for best director, best sceenplay for Christopher Hampton, and musical score for Dario Marianelli. Ronan said to the AP after hearing about the nominations, "We're all jumping around at the moment. It's just fantastic. I'm working today, so I don't know whether I'll be able to celebrate, but we'll probably have a nice dinner when we get home from work."

Knightley will compete against some stiff competition in the best actress category including Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Julie Christie for Away From Her, Angelina Jolie for A Mighty Heart, and a surprising nomination for Jodie Foster for The Brave One. James McAvoy will have to fend off Denzel Washington for his work in American Gangster, George Clooney for Michael Clayton, Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood, and Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises.

On the comedic side, the surprising omission from the main category and most of the acting categories has to be the Apatow films. Most expected Knocked Up and maybe Walk Hard to get picture nominations, but they were absent. John C. Reilly did get a best actor in a comedy nomination along with Tom Hanks for Charlie Wilson's War, Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl, and Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Savages. Actresses nominated on the musical/comedy side of the awards include Amy Adams for Enchanted, Nikki Blonsky for Hairspray, Helena Bonham Carter for Sweeney Todd, Marion Cotillard for La Vie En Rose, and Ellen Page for Juno.

Hoffman was also nominated for best supporting actor for his work in Charlie Wilson's War but he'll have to beat Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton, and the surprising pick of John Travolta for Hairspray. The supporting women nominated include Ronan, Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There, Julia Roberts for Charlie Wilson's War, Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone, and Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton.

For best director, Wright will be joined by Tim Burton for Sweeney Todd, the Coen brothers for No Country For Old Men, Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and Ridley Scott for American Gangster. On the screenplay side, Hampton will have to beat Aaron Sorkin for Charlie Wilson's War, Ronald Harwood for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Diabo Cody for Juno, and the Coen brothers for No Country For Old Men. Diving Bell will also compete for foreign-language film against 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, The Kite Runner, Lust, Caution, and Persepolis.

There were some surprises on the TV side of the Golden Globe nominations too with several new shows working their way into the big categories. Proving the continued domination of cable, four out of the six best drama nominees came from non-broadcast networks. They were Big Love, Damages, Grey's Anatomy, House, Mad Men, and The Tudors. A more unexpected list you couldn't have imagined, but the HFPA have always tried to reward the new on their show. Best comedy nominees include 30 Rock, Californication, Entourage, Extras, and Pushing Daisies.

In the acting television categories, the dramatic actresses nominated include Patricia Arquette for Medium, Glenn Close for Damages, Minnie Driver for The Riches, Edie Falco for The Sopranos, Sally Field for Brothers & Sisters, Holly Hunter for Saving Grace, and Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer. The actors were just as unusual a bunch with Michael C. Hall getting a nod for Dexter, Jon Hamm for Mad Men, Hugh Laurie for House, Bill Paxton for Big Love, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers for The Tudors. The big snub has to be the lack of a nomination for James Gandolfini for The Sopranos for the last season of that hit show.

Comedy acting nominees include Christina Applegate for Samantha Who?, America Ferrera for Ugly Betty, Tina Fey for 30 Rock, Anna Friel for Pushing Daisies, Mary-Louise Parker for Weeds, Alec Baldwin for 30 Rock, Steve Carell for The Office, David Duchovny for Californication, Ricky Gervais for Extras, and Lee Pace for Pushing Daisies.

The 65th Annual Golden Globes will be given out live on NBC at 8pm on Sunday, January 13th.