Hollywood stars swish out for Golden Glob

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sheetal

@sheetald

Rocker

Posted: 19 years ago

With a panoply of stars parading down the red carpet, the 63rd annual Golden Globe Awards kicked off at the Beverly Hills Hilton, sending the Hollywood award season into high gear in the run-up to the Oscars.

Stars like Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron, Russell Crowe and Hillary Swank looked relaxed Monday night as they entered the awards show, considered second only to the Oscars in the prestige it commands in the US film industry.

Black movie star Queen Latifah hosted the show, which she hailed as the "party of the year".

The controversial gay cowboy movie 'Brokeback Mountain' was the top contender with seven nominations, including best drama, best director for Ang Lee and best actor for Heath Ledger.

The film was leading a field filled with independent and low budget movies with its main competition coming not from big budget studio spectaculars like 'Memoirs of a Geisha' or 'King Kong', but from other indie movies, 'The Constant Gardener', 'Good Night, and Good Luck', 'Mrs Henderson Presents', 'A History of Violence', Woody Allen's 'Match Point' and 'The Squid and the Whale'.

"This is the first time in the history of the Golden Globes that all of the best (dramatic) film nominees are independent movies made for under $30 million," said Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which presents the awards.

In the television categories, 'Desperate Housewives' led with five nominations for its second season, despite lukewarm reviews from critics and falling TV ratings.

Besides Lee, the nominees for best director were George Clooney, Woody Allen, Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and Fernando Meirelles.

In the best musical or comedy shortlist, the contenders were 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Mrs Henderson Presents', the Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk The Line', 'The Producers' and 'The Squid and the Whale'.

The best actor nominees saw Russell Crowe ('Cinderella Man') vying with Ledger, Philip Seymour Hoffman in 'Capote', David Straithairn in 'Good Night and Good Luck' and Terrence Howard in 'Hustle and Flow'.

Nominees in the best actress category included Gwyneth Paltrow, Charlize Theron, Maria Bello, Ziyi Zhang and Felicity Huffman.

British actor Sir Anthony Hopkins was to receive the Cecil B. Demille award for lifetime achievement.

The awards are widely seen as a predictor of Oscar victory. Two years ago, the Golden Globes correctly predicted winners in all key categories. But last year the Globes missed the mark, picking 'The Aviator' as best picture, an honour that went to 'Million Dollar Baby' at the Oscars.