Hollywood's biggest stars turn out for Golden Globes

Jan 12, 2009, 1:27 GMT

US actor Brad Pitt arrives for the The 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, USA, 11 January 2009. The Golden Globes honor excellence in film and television. EPA/PAUL BUCK

Los Angeles - Hollywood's biggest stars turned out for the Golden Globes awards Sunday night, setting the Oscar season into its final frenzied phase.

The star-studded show, which is sometimes called Hollywood's biggest party, was in marked contrast to last year's drab affair, when the picket threat from the striking screenwriters' union reduced the usually lavish affair to a functional press announcement.

From lifetime achievement award winner Steven Spielberg to Jennifer Lopez, who opened the show in a shimmering gold dress, the Beverley Hills Hilton was filled with a roster of the biggest names in the movie and television world.

Among the early winners were Kate Winslet, who won a best supporting actress prize for her role as a former Nazi in The Reader. Bruce Springsteen won the award for best movie song for his music in The Wrestler.

Leading the nominations field are Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, about a man born old who grows young, and Frost/Nixon, about a series of revealing television interviews of the notorious US president, both of which were nominated for best drama. Doubt, starring Meryl Streep in a searing tale about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, also claimed five nods.

Other best drama nominees are The Reader, a World War II-based drama about a romance between a young law student and a female SS guard, and Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in a drama about the challenges facing 1950s suburbanites.

The nominees for best musical or comedy are the Abba-based musical Mamma Mia!, Burn After Reading, Happy-Go-Lucky, In Bruges and Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Mumbai-based Slumdog Millionaire was also hoping to pick up several awards.

The best foreign language nominees are Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany), Everlasting Moments (Sweden), Gomorrah (Italy), I've Loved You So Long (France), and Waltz With Bashir (Israel). The animated film prize will go to Bolt, Kung Fu Panda or WALL-E.

Presenters include the Jonas Brothers, Hayden Panettiere, Martin Scorsese, Drew Barrymore, Sacha Baron Cohen, Salma Hayek, Jessica Lange, Amy Poehler and Seth Rogen, as well as Ricky Gervais, Johnny Depp, David Duchovny, Megan Fox, Eva Longoria, Sting, Sean Combs and Mark Wahlberg.