When it rains it pours and we're in the midst of the torrential awards season. The Golden Globes are the latest to announce their nominations with "The King's Speech" leading the pack.
The Golden Globe Award nominations were announced this morning in Hollywood. "The King's Speech," a look at the unexpected friendship between Britain's King George VI and his speech therapist, led the field with seven nominations. Following close behind were "The Social Network" and "The Fighter," each received six. "Black Swan," "Inception" and "The Kids Are All Right" had four each. They also present awards for television.
The Golden Globes have been around almost as long as the Oscars. The Globes are on their 68th year while Oscar is on his 82nd. The Globes are given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press. The HFPA is an organization composed of working journalists covering the U.S. film industry for media outlets in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Currently, there are 90 members in the HFPA representing some 55 countries with a combined readership in the hundreds of millions. So with that small a pool of voting members you can understand why the Golden Globes sometimes have odd results -- like Pia Zadora winning a Golden Globe in 1982.
Here's what they list as part of their mission statement: "To establish favorable relations and cultural ties between foreign countries and the United States of America by the dissemination of information concerning the American culture and traditions as depicted in motion pictures and television through news media in various foreign countries... To recognize outstanding achievements by conferring annual Awards of Merit, (Golden Globe® Awards), serving as a constant incentive within the entertainment industry, both domestic and foreign, and to focus wide public attention upon the best in motion pictures and television..."
This year's nominations are fairly predictable with some exceptions: "Burlesque" received a Best Comedy/Musical nom, and Johnny Depp will compete against himself in the Best Actor Comedy/Musical for "The Tourist" (I guess you were meant to laugh at it) and "Alice in Wonderland."
But the fun thing about watching the Golden Globes (this year to be televised on January 16, 2011) is that they serve food and alcohol during the awards ceremony so there's always the chance for amusing unscripted moments as the evening progresses. The Oscars for the 2010 film year will be held on February 27.
Here is a complete list of this year's nominees.
