‘Chicago,’ ‘The Hours’ lead Globe nominations

? The brassy old-fashioned musical “Chicago” and the literary drama “The Hours” earned the most Golden Globe nominations Thursday, marking them as early favorites for Oscar contention, with the long-delayed, extravagant Martin Scorsese 19th-century epic “Gangs of New York” close behind.

Apparently rebounding after a slow award season last year, Miramax dominated this year’s Globe nominations, garnering the most of any studio with eight for “Chicago” and five for “Gangs of New York.” In addition, “The Hours,” a Paramount/Miramax co-production, received seven nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., including one for best picture-drama and two for best actress-drama for Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.

The Globe nominations, which are seen as fairly reliable indicators of Academy Award bids (the Oscar nominations will be announced Feb. 11), turned out to be good news for such films as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” “About Schmidt,” “Adaptation” “The Pianist” and “About a Boy,” as well as for Diane Lane, a best actress nominee for “Unfaithful,” and Goldie Hawn, a surprise best actress nominee for “The Banger Sisters.” The 60th annual Globe awards will be given out Jan. 19 and will air on NBC.

Not faring well were two DreamWorks films, “The Road to Perdition” and “Catch Me If You Can,” both of which received one nomination each. “Far From Heaven,” a critical favorite and winner of the New York Film Critics Circle award, failed to get a best picture nomination, although its stars, Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid, were both nominated.

“Chicago” cast members were still recuperating Thursday morning from their glitzy New York premiere the night before when they started getting congratulatory calls about the nominations.

Best-director nominee Rob Marshall was watching an entertainment news show in his New York apartment when he saw that the entire lead cast had been nominated — Richard Gere for best actor, Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones for best actress, John C. Reilly for best supporting actor and Queen Latifah for best supporting actress.

Chicago received a leading eight Golden Globe nominations. The film's nominations, announced Thursday, include best musical or comedy and best actress for stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, above, and Renee Zellweger.

In the best actress-drama category, both Kidman — playing the English novelist Virginia Woolf — and Streep as a modern-day Clarissa Dalloway were nominated for “The Hours.”

Nia Vardalos, who was nominated for best actress in a musical or comedy for her starring role in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” said she was overwhelmed by the nomination and the success of the film.

“People ask me if I’m living my dream,” she said Thursday. “I never even dared to dream something like this.”

The Globes are also given out for TV, and once again HBO dominated the main categories. The pay-TV service, which at the last ceremony swept the two main TV categories — comedy and drama series — with “Sex and the City” and “Six Feet Under,” garnered 26 nominations this year, twice as many as its nearest competitor, NBC.

That included repeat nominations for “Sex and the City” and “Six Feet Under,” nods to “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and continued dominance in the area of made-for-TV movies.

Golden Globe Awards nominees listedMotion picturesDrama: “About Schmidt,” “Gangs of New York,” “The Hours,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” “The Pianist.”Actress, Drama: Salma Hayek, “Frida”; Nicole Kidman, “The Hours”; Diane Lane, “Unfaithful”; Julianne Moore, “Far From Heaven”; Meryl Streep, “The Hours.”Actor, Drama: Adrien Brody, “The Pianist”; Michael Caine, “The Quiet American”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “Gangs of New York”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “Catch Me if You Can”; Jack Nicholson, “About Schmidt.”Musical or Comedy: “About a Boy,” “Adaptation,” “Chicago,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Nicholas Nickleby.”Actress, Musical or Comedy: Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Secretary”; Goldie Hawn, “The Banger Sisters”; Nia Vardalos, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”; Renee Zellweger, “Chicago”; Catherine Zeta-Jones, “Chicago.”Actor, Musical or Comedy: Nicolas Cage, “Adaptation”; Kieran Culkin, “Igby Goes Down”; Richard Gere, “Chicago”; Hugh Grant, “About a Boy”; Adam Sandler, “Punch-Drunk Love.”TelevisionDrama Series: “24,” Fox; “The Shield,” FX; “Six Feet Under,” HBO; “The Sopranos,” HBO; “The West Wing,” NBC.Actress, Drama: Edie Falco, “The Sopranos”; Jennifer Garner, “Alias”; Rachel Griffiths, “Six Feet Under”; Marg Helgenberger, “CSI”; Allison Janney, “The West Wing.”Actor, Drama: Michael Chiklis, “The Shield”; James Gandolfini, “The Sopranos”; Peter Krause, “Six Feet Under”; Martin Sheen, “The West Wing”; Kiefer Sutherland, “24.”Musical or Comedy Series: “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” HBO; “Friends,” NBC; “Sex and the City,” HBO; “The Simpsons,” Fox; “Will & Grace,” NBC.Actress, Musical or Comedy Series: Jennifer Aniston, “Friends”; Bonnie Hunt, “Life With Bonnie”; Jane Kaczmarek, “Malcolm in the Middle”; Debra Messing, “Will & Grace”; Sarah Jessica Parker, “Sex and the City.”Actor, Musical or Comedy Series: Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”; Matt LeBlanc, “Friends”; Bernie Mac, “The Bernie Mac Show”; Eric McCormack, “Will & Grace”; Tony Shalhoub, “Monk.”