'Carol,' 'Spotlight,' 'The Big Short' lead Golden Globes

Todd Haynes 1950s romance "Carol" landed a leading five nominations, including best dramatic picture, in nominations for the 73rd annual Golden Globes.

Hollywood Foreign Press Association's nominations, announced Thursday in Beverly Hills, California, spread nods around to a widespread field. Surging was Adam McKay's finance farce "The Big Short," which earned four nominations, including best picture, comedy.

Also with four nods is Alejandro Inarritu's follow-up to his Oscar-winning "Birdman": the frontier epic "The Revenant," which was nominated for best picture, drama, and best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio. A four-time Oscar nominee, DiCaprio — a one-time Globe winner — is gunning for his first Academy Award.

Tied with four is the Aaron Sorkin-scripted "Steve Jobs," though it failed to join the best picture nominees. Along with "Carol" and "The Revenant," they are: "Mad Max: Fury Road," ''Room" and "Spotlight."

Streaming series from Netflix, Amazon and Hulu dominated the TV awards, which jumped all over the dial. Six shows tied for the most nominations: "Fargo," ''Mr. Robot," ''Outlander," ''Transparent," ''American Crime" and "Wolf Hall."

In an awards season that has so far failed to produce a definite heavyweight, Tom McCarthy's acclaimed Boston Globe drama "Spotlight" came into the Globe nominations as the Oscar favorite. While it took three top Globe nominations Thursday, including best director for McCarthy and best screenplay, its ensemble cast is failing to stand out from the pack.

After the Screen Actors Guild Awards passed over Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo on Wednesday, the Globes did, too. Ruffalo, however, was nominated for best actor in a comedy for his performance as a bipolar father in "Infinitely Polar Bear."

Most of the expected contenders came away with something to show from the Globes, including the scientific space adventure "The Martian" (including nods for star Matt Damon and director Ridley Scott), David O. Russell's matriarch portrait "Joy" (best picture, comedy and best actress Jennifer Lawrence), George Miller's apocalyptic romp "Mad Max: Fury Road" (including best director for Miller) and "Room," the Emma Donoghue novel adaptation "Room," starring Brie Larson (nominated for best actress, drama) as a captive mother.

Left largely on the outside were Steven Spielberg's Cold War thriller "Bridge of Spies," which was only nominated for Mark Rylance's supporting performance; the Irish immigrant drama "Brooklyn," just nominated for Saoirse Ronan's leading performance; and "Straight Outta Compton," the popular N.W.A biopic, which landed nothing the day after the SAG Awards gave it a best ensemble nomination.

Will Smith, whose upcoming "Concussion" has drawn headlines for its depiction of head trauma in football, joined the best actor, drama, nominees. Also nominated were Michael Fassbender ("Steve Jobs"), Eddie Redmayne ("The Danish Girl"), DiCaprio and Bryan Cranston ("Trumbo"). Apparently displaced was Johnny Depp's chilly Whitey Bulger in "Black Mass."

Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, the two stars of the Patricia Highsmith adaption "Carol," crowded the best actress, drama, category along with Larson, Ronan and Alicia Vikander ("The Danish Girl").

Though some questionable category decisions left less-comedic films competing for best comedy or musical, two of comedy's top stars will crash the particularly somber awards season: Melissa McCarthy and Amy Schumer. Both were nominated for best actress in a comedy, and their films __ "Spy" and "Trainwreck," respectively __ will compete for best comedic film.

A number of performers came away with multiple nods. Vikander will also compete for best supporting actress for her performance as an artificial intelligence in the sci-fi indie "Ex Machina." Rylance added a second for his TV role on the costume drama "Wolf Hall." Idris Elba also spanned both film and TV with nods for his West African rebel commander in "Beasts of No Nation," as well as the British crime series "Luther."

In the best animated film category, the Charlie Kauffman-scripted, stop-motion drama "Anomalisa" slotted in alongside a quartet of more family-friendly releases: "Inside Out," ''The Good Dinosaur," ''The Peanuts Movie" and "Shaun the Sheep Movie."

Ricky Gervais will return as host for the Globes on Jan. 10. His third time in the gig follows three straight years of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as hosts. Last year's NBC telecast dipped slightly from 2013's 10-year high, drawing 19.3 million viewers. Best drama went to Richard Linklater's "Boyhood," while Wes Anderson's "Grand Budapest Hotel" captured the comedy category.

By Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer. Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Gayly – December 10, 2015 @ 9:10 a.m.