US: The lines have been drawn and the battle joined for the 2003 Oscars as one of the hottest contests for Hollywood's top honours narrowed at the Golden Globes awards in Los Angeles with the drama, The Hours, and the musical, Chicago, taking top honours.
Gangs of New York, the Martin Scorsese film that tells the story of how Irish immigrants established themselves in the city in the 19th century, won best director for him and best original song for U2 for The Hands That Built America.
Gangs' showing at the Globes on Sunday night suggests that it will almost certainly figure in the Oscar nominations on February 11th. Oscar night is March 23rd.
The Hours claimed the title of best dramatic film and earned Nicole Kidman the award for best actress in a drama for playing writer Virginia Woolf fighting mental illness.
Chicago, based on the popular stage show about an aspiring actress whose murderous ways make headlines, claimed three awards, more than any film. It won for best musical or comedy, while Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger won for best actor and actress in a musical or comedy.
Jack Nicholson was named best dramatic actor, his sixth Golden Globe for acting, as a retired insurance actuary pondering if his life was wasted in About Schmidt.
In television awards, the cop show, The Shield, won the Golden Globe for drama, The Beverly Hills satire, Curb Your Enthusiasm, was best comedy and The Gathering Storm, about Winston Churchill, was named best TV movie or mini-series.
The movie categories, however, enjoy the Sunday-night spotlight because they come at the start of Hollywood's long awards season and are often a strong indicator of who will win Oscars.
To play Virginia Woolf, Kidman wore a prosthetic nose that gave even her most ardent fans a hard time recognizing her.
Onstage, Nicholson took note of the difference in Kidman: "Doesn't Nicole look lovely with her own nose," he said.
As for his own award, Nicholson said: "I don't know whether to be happy or ashamed because I thought we made a comedy." But About Schmidt is a serious drama that now has a real shot at doing well in the Oscars along with the offbeat comedy, Adaptation, which earned awards for Meryl Streep as best supporting actress and co-star Chris Cooper as best supporting actor.
Streep, who also has a starring role in The Hours, said she had more fun in Adaptation than The Hours, which dealt with suicide and AIDS.
"Adaptation was just a joy from beginning to end. The Hours was different," she said. "I had a nervous breakdown in every scene. That's hard. It was heavy going."
Screenwriting honours went to Schmidt's Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, and best original score went to Elliot Goldenthal for Frida, marking the only Golden Globe for the movie about the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.
The major winner of the night proved to be Miramax Films and its hard-charging chief, Mr Harvey Weinstein, whom stars thanked profusely throughout the night.
Along with its reputation as an Oscar predictor, the Globes have become a hotbed for fashion, and the gowns worn by many top actresses had plunging necklines or were strapless. The outrageous statement of the night came from Lara Flynn Boyle, who slipped into a pink tu-tu that had tongues wagging. - (Reuters)