12 Years a Slave & American Hustle top Globe nods

(AFP) Historical drama "12 Years a Slave" and crime caper "American Hustle" won most nominations for the Golden Globes with seven nods each on Thursday, as Hollywood's awards season heats up.

In one of the most crowded fields for years, the black and white road movie "Nebraska" was next in line with five nominations for the Globes, to be handed out on January 12 ahead of the season-climaxing Oscars.

Somali piracy movie "Captain Phillips" starring Tom Hanks, and "Gravity", with Sandra Bullock as an astronaut abandoned in space with George Clooney, won four nods apiece.

Both frontrunner movies garnered nominations for their main actors, including Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o and Michael Fassbender for "12 Years a Slave," and Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence for "American Hustle."

Other stars nominated include veterans actors Meryl Streep - for "August: Osage County" - and Leonardo DiCaprio for "The Wolf of Wall Street".

"The Butler" snubbed

But there was a snub for "Lee Daniels' The Butler," another historical epic that had been widely tipped for honors for Oprah Winfrey, while on the small screen "Homeland" and "Mad Men" also went home empty handed.

Nominees for best motion picture drama, revealed in a pre-dawn announcement in Beverly Hills, were "12 Years a Slave", "Captain Phillips", "Gravity", "Philomena" and "Rush".

Best drama actor nods went to Ejiofor for "12 Years A Slave", Idris Elba for "Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom", Tom Hanks for "Captain Phillips", Matthew McConaughey for "Dallas Buyers Club" and Robert Redford for "All Is Lost".

Elba's nomination, for a film which had its London premiere on the day the South African anti-apartheid hero died, drew applause from the media and Hollywood watcher audience.

The best actress in a drama shortlist included three Britons: Judi Dench for "Philomena", Emma Thompson for "Saving Mr. Banks" and Kate Winslet for "Labor Day".

They are up against Australia's Cate Blanchett in Woody Allen's latest film "Blue Jasmine" and Bullock for "Gravity".

Nominees for best musical or comedy film were "American Hustle", "Her", "Inside Llewyn Davis", "Nebraska" and "The Wolf of Wall Street".

12 Years a Slave also tops SAG nominations

On the foreign film front, sexually explicit Cannes-winning French movie "Blue is the Warmest Color" is up against Iran's "The Past", Italy's "The Great Beauty", Denmark's "The Hunt" and animated Japanese film "The Wind Rises".

Best director nominees were Alfonso Cuaron for "Gravity", David O Russell for "American Hustle", Martin Scorsese for "The Wolf of Wall Street", Paul Greengrass for "Captain Phillips" and Steve McQueen for "12 Years a Slave".

The latter film, about a free man sold into slavery in 19th century America, had already got an early boost on the eve of the Globe nominations, topping the Screen Actors Guild (SAGs) nods Wednesday with four.

"It's been an incredible kind of time," its star Ejiofor said after Thursday's Globe announcements. "I just couldn't be more happy with the way the film has been received, and the way people are sort of coming to it."

"This is easily the best year I've seen"

On the small screen, nominations for best TV drama went to "Breaking Bad", which appeared to be the frontrunner, as well as to "Downton Abbey", "The Good Wife", "House of Cards" and "Masters of Sex".

The quality and number of films in the awards race this year has astonished industry watchers, with the Globes setting the stage for the Oscar nominations on January 16, and Tinseltown's top awards show itself on March 2.

"This is easily the best year I've seen," Variety's awards editor Tim Gray, who has worked at the industry journal since 1981, told AFP.

"Usually there are three or four films that are certain to be nominated for best picture, and then you guess what films will fill the other slots. This year, there are at least 15 films that deserve a best picture nomination."

For a full list of nominees visit goldenglobes.com