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Scorsese eyes Golden Globes glory as Oscars countdown begins
2007-01-12
Powerful drama "Babel" and Martin Scorsese's bloody crime thriller "The Departed" are tipped to dominate the 64th Golden Globes here Monday as the race for next month's Oscars heats up. "Babel" and "The Departed" share 13 nominations between them heading into the star-studded extravaganza in Beverly Hills, which has increasingly come to be seen as a gauge of likely Oscars winners. In the major categories, "The Departed," which has six nominations against "Babel's" seven, could deliver Scorsese his second Golden Globes best director prize in four years following his 2003 win for "Gangs of New York." Scorsese, who has never won an Oscar despite being nominated five times, is seen as a lock for the major directing prizes of the 2007 awards season, which culminates with the Academy Awards in Hollywood on February 25. In the past three years, the winner of the best director prize at the Golden Globes has gone on to win the equivalent Oscar. But pundits are uncertain whether "The Departed" -- which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson in a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film "Infernal Affairs" -- will emulate the anticipated success of its director. "It's Scorsese's year -- the question is, does his film go with him?," Tom O'Neil, a columnist with the Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com, told AFP. "The race for best drama really is wide open. It could be 'The Departed,' but it could be 'Babel,'" O'Neil told AFP. According to Lew Harris, editorial director at Movies.com, "Babel," Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's moving ensemble piece shot in four languages on three continents, has rallied strongly. "The interesting thing to me is the strength of 'Babel,'" Harris said. "I don't know if it's going to win because there's so much spin about Scorsese and 'The Departed,' but 'Babel' has done very, very well. That's a big surprise." In the best director category, Scorsese faces competition from Inarritu, Britain's Stephen Frears ("The Queen") and perennial favorite Clint Eastwood. Eastwood has been double-nominated for his back-to-back World War Two dramas "Flags of our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima," which tell the story of the battle for Iwo Jima from the perspective of US and Japanese soldiers. Neither of Eastwood's movies are in the running for best motion picture in the drama category, however, which sees "The Departed" and "Babel" up against "Bobby," "Little Children" and "The Queen." "The Queen," a behind-the-scenes, fictionalized dramatization of Queen Elizabeth II's reaction to the 1997 death of Princess Diana, is expected to earn Helen Mirren a Golden Globe for best performance by an actress in a drama. Mirren is one of three British actresses nominated, along with Judi Dench ("Notes on a Scandal") and Kate Winslet ("Little Children"). Spain's Penelope Cruz ("Volver") and Maggie Gyllenhaal ("Sherrybaby") round out the nominees. In the best actor category, heart-throb DiCaprio has earned two nods for "The Departed" and "Blood Diamond." But DiCaprio faces stiff competition from Forest Whitaker, superb as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland," and 74-year-old Irish legend Peter O'Toole, an aging actor who falls for a young woman in "Venus." Will Smith ("The Pursuit of Happyness") completes the nominees. While both "Babel" and "The Departed" are expected to fare well in the major categories, movie pundits are tipping independent feel-good movie "Little Miss Sunshine" and mockumentary "Borat" as possible surprise packages elsewhere. According to O'Neil, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" could score an upset over "Dreamgirls" in the best comedy or musical category. "The wild card, literally, is that rascal Borat," said O'Neil, saying British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's blundering Kazakh journalist had struck a chord with Globes voters, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). "Think about who Borat is -- he's a foreign journalist who feels out of sorts in America: and that's the Hollywood foreign press," O'Neill told AFP. "He has an extraordinary connection to the voting group and they love him. They are Borat crazy at the Globes -- I've spoken with many of the voters and I can tell you that first hand." Harris said "Dreamgirls," the musical loosely based on soul divas The Supremes, remained the favorite. "But I would love to see them give it to 'Borat,'" he said.
Stars colorful, cold on Globes carpet (2007-01-15)Movie veterans set for Golden Globe honors (2007-01-13)Scorsese eyes Golden Globes glory as Oscars countdown begins (2007-01-12)'The Queen,' 'Casino Royale' scoop nominations for British awards (2007-01-12)"The Queen" takes on Bond at British film awards (2007-01-12)
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