January 10, 2003 - The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has nominated 32 films in 13 categories for the 2003 Golden Globe Awards (honoring the best films of 2002). Also known as the “pre-Oscars,” the Golden Globes are notorious for having even shorter memories than the Academy Awards, and this year is no different: only about a dozen nominees, mostly in lesser categories, have yet to be in theaters outside of New York and Los Angeles, and two nominees (“The Two Towers” and “Gangs of New York”) have only been in nationwide release for less than four days. Of the ten nominees for Best Picture, only “About A Boy” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” have been outside the Big Apple and the City of Angels for more than a week. Of course, this is no accident; movie studios don’t need clairvoyance to know which of their films are mostly likely to garner awards, and they wait to release their prestige pictures until awards time so that the publicity from the nominations will lead to increased ticket sales.
Leading the pack are Rob Marshall’s big budget musical “Chicago,” with eight nominations, followed, with seven nominations each, by Stephen Daldry’s adaptation “The Hours,” and the Spike Jonze-Charlie Kaufman adaptation extravaganza, “Adaptation.” With five nominations each are Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York” and Jack Nicholson in “About Schmidt,” followed closely by Todd Haynes’ 1950s retro piece “Far From Heaven.” “About A Boy,” “Frida,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Igby Goes Down,” and Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” all picked up two or more nominations, while solitary nominations were distributed to “8 Mile,” Spike Lee’s “25th Hour,” “Secretary,” “Road to Perdition,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” “Talk to Her,” “Unfaithful,” “The Wild Thornberrys Movie,” “Rabbit Proof Fence,” Adam Sandler’s relatively serious turn in “Punch-Drunk Love,” “Nowhere in Africa,” the Dickens’ adaptation “Nicholas Nickleby,” “Hero,” “The Crime of Father Amaro,” “City of God,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “The Banger Sisters,” “Balzac and the Little Chinese Princess,” and “Die Another Day.”
The cream of the year’s crop? Who can say? Passed over are “The Fast Runner,” "Thirteen Conversations About One Thing," “Auto-Focus,” “Changing Lanes,” “The Importance of Being Earnest,” “Insomnia,” “Antwone Fisher,” “Signs,” “Frailty,” "Red Dragon," “Solaris,” and “Minority Report.” Sexists will adjust their crotches with delight when noticing that Reese Witherspoon’s performance in “Sweet Home Alabama” has been overlooked. Also missing are the year’s two biggest box office champs, “Spider-Man” and “Attack of the Clones,” but…well, life would be dull if we took every cheap shot presented to us.
“About a Boy”
“Adaptation”
“Chicago”
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”
“Nicholas Nickleby”
Best Picture – Drama
“About Schmidt”
“Gangs of New York”
“The Hours”
“The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”
“The Pianist”
Best Director
Stephen Daldry, “The Hours”
Peter Jackson, “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”
Spike Jonze, “Adaptation”
Rob Marshall, “Chicago”
Alexander Payne, “About Schmidt”
Martin Scorsese, “Gangs of New York”
Screenplay
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, “About Schmidt”
Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman, “Adaptation”
Bill Condon, “Chicago”
Todd Haynes, “Far From Heaven”
David Hare, “The Hours”
Best Actress – Drama
Salma Hayek, “Frida”
Nicole Kidman, “The Hours”
Diane Lane, “Unfaithful”
Julianne Moore, “Far From Heaven”
Meryl Streep, “The Hours”
Best 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”
Best Actress – Comedy
Maggie Gyllenhaal, “Secretary”
Goldie Hawn, “The Banger Sisters”
Nia Vardolas, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”
Renee Zellweger, “Chicago”
Catherine Zeta-Jones, “Chicago”
Nicholas Cage, “Adaptation”
Kieran Culkin, “Igby Goes Down”
Richard Gere, “Chicago”
Hugh Grant, “About a Boy”
Adam Sandler, “Punch-Drunk Love”
Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates, “About Schmidt”
Cameron Diaz, “Gangs of New York”
Queen Latifah, “Chicago”
Susan Sarandon, “Igby Goes Down”
Meryl Streep, “Adaptation”
Supporting Actor
Chris Cooper, “Adaptation”
Ed Harris, “The Hours”
Paul Newman, “Road to Perdition”
Dennis Quaid, “Far From Heaven”
John C. Reilly, “Chicago”
Foreign Language Film
“Balzac and the Little Chinese Princess” (France)
“City of God” (Brazil)
“The Crime of Father Amaro” (Mexico)
“Hero” (China)
“Nowhere in Africa” (Germany)
“Talk to Her” (Spain)
Original Score
Elmer Bernstein, “Far From Heaven”
Terence Blanchard, “25th Hour”
Peter Gabriel, “Rabbit Proof Fence”
Philip Glass, “The Hours”
Elliot Goldenthal, “Frida”
Original Song
Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzi, “Die Another Day,” from “Die Another Day”
Paul Simon, “Father and Daughter,” from “The Wild Thornberrys Movie”
U2, “The Hands That Built America,” from “Gangs of New York
Hans Zimmer, Bryan Adams, and Gretchen Peters, “Here I Am,” from “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron”
Eminem, “Lose Yourself,” from “8 Mile”
For more information, visit The Hollywood Foreign Press Association at:
http://www.hfpa.org/nominations2003.html