Clooney, Weisz win early Golden Globes

By Bob Tourtellotte

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) – George Clooney was
named best supporting actor in a drama and Britian’s Rachel
Weisz earned best supporting actress honors on Monday at the
Golden Globe Awards, the first major show of Hollywood’s award
season leading up to the Oscars.

Clooney won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of a veteran
CIA agent in oil and politics drama, “Syriana,” and Weisz took
her dramatic acting award for playing a political activist in
African thriller, “The Constant Gardener.”

A surprised Clooney took the stage saying he had expected a
competitor, Paul Giamatti, who played a boxing manager in
“Cinderella Man,” to take the award.

“This is early, I haven’t had a drink yet,” Clooney joked.
“I’m up here alone. I don’t know how to handle it.” He then
went on to acknowledge the film’s writer and director Stephen
Gaghan, as well as Warner Independent Pictures for releasing
such a politically charged film about the Middle East.

Golden Globe winners are chosen by the about 85 members of
the Hollywood Foreign Press Association annually and are widely
watched as a measure of which movies will later vie for Oscars,
the top U.S. film awards which are picked by some 6,000 members
of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In the past, winners of Golden Globe honors have often gone
on to win Oscars, and the show is widely watched for the parade
of stars who show up on the red carpet dressed in tuxedos,
gowns and dripping in diamonds to attend what amounts to one
big glamorous Hollywood party.

Russell Crowe, in black tuxedo, was on hand for his
nomination for best actor in a drama for boxing drama
“Cinderella Man,” and Johnny Depp paraded up the walkway ahead
of his nomination for best actor in a musical or comedy for
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Among the actresses parading by were Sarah Jessica Parker,
a nominee for best actress in a musical or comedy for “The
Family Stone,” and Charlize Theron, who is nominated for best
actor in a drama in “North Country.”

Actor Jeff Daniels said he was delighted his film “The
Squid and the Whale” was nominated for best comedy or musical
although it is a serious movie about a family coming apart.

“It is wonderful just to be included,” he said.

HOT RACES AHEAD

The Golden Globes’ major awards are for best film drama and
for best musical or comedy.

In the drama group, romance “Brokeback Mountain,” about a
pair of lonely cowboys who fall in love, was the early favorite
having come into the show with a leading seven nominations.

“Brokeback” faces competition for the closely watched
Golden Globe statuette from George Clooney’s “Good Night, and
Good Luck,” a black-and-white drama detailing newsman Edward R.
Murrow’s on-the-air battle against McCarthyism in the 1950s.

Also nominated are thriller “The Constant Gardener,” Woody
Allen’s twisting tale of fate, “Match Point,” and “A History of
Violence,” about a man trying to escape his past.

The best film musical or comedy is expected to be a close
battle among the five nominees, musicals “Walk the Line,” and
“The Producers,” and comedies “Pride & Prejudice,” “Mrs.
Henderson Presents” and “The Squid and the Whale.”

Among best dramatic actor nominees, Philip Seymour Hoffman
as novelist Truman Capote in “Capote” has topped many critics
lists and is seen an having an edge over “Brokeback” star Heath
Ledger. Also vying are David Strathairn in “Good Night, and
Good Luck,” Russell Crowe as a boxer in “Cinderella Man” and
Terrence Howard playing a pimp in “Hustle & Flow.”

As with Hoffman, critics have been floored by “Desperate
Housewives” star Felicity Huffman’s portrayal of a
transgendered character in “Transamerica,” and she is expected
to walk off with the trophy for best actress in a film drama.

Huffman’s competition includes Maria Bello for “A History
of Violence,” Gwyneth Paltrow in “Proof,” Charlize Theron for
“North Country” and Ziyi Zhang in “Memoirs of a Geisha.”

Unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globe voters also give awards
for television programs. In that arena, widely watched serial
“Lost” is competing for best TV drama against presidential show
“Commander in Chief,” hospital program “Grey’s Anatomy,”
ancient history recreation “Rome” and thriller “Prison Break.”

Best TV comedy nominees are “Desperate Housewives” competes
against five others: “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Entourage,”
“Everybody Hates Chris,” “My Name is Earl” and “Weeds.”