Golden Globes nominations: Lead actors Redford, Isaac earn nods

Don’t get him wrong: Even after more than 50 years in the business, Robert Redford was thrilled early Thursday to hear he was nominated for a Golden Globe award. But that didn’t mean he was ready to let the news interrupt his sleep schedule.

When news broke that Redford had received a nod for his nearly silent performance in the survival drama “All Is Lost,” his publicist immediately gave him a call at his home in Santa Fe. He said was pleased, but he would be going back to bed.

A few hours later, however, he was ready to face the press, insisting he never saw the recognition coming.

“I’ve always been wary of expectations. I think that’s a dangerous thing to rely on,” the 77-year-old said. “The only time I’ve seen the film was at Cannes, and when it was over, I thought, ‘I thought they booed things here. This could go either way.’”

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A day after he was snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild, Redford found himself among the Globes’ lead drama nominees. His competition includes Tom Hanks as a seaman trying to save his ship from Somali pirates in “Captain Phillips,” Idris Elba as the late South African politician Nelson Mandela in “Mandela: Long Road to Freedom,” Matthew McConaughey as a man with AIDS who hunts for helpful drugs and Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free man sold into slavery in “12 Years a Slave.”

In the comedy and musical category, the nominated actors are Christian Bale as a small-town con man who is recruited by the FBI in “American Hustle,” Bruce Dern as an elderly man convinced he has won a major sweepstakes prize, Leonardo DiCaprio as a hard-partying Wall Street operator in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Joaquin Phoenix as a man who falls in love with an operating system and Oscar Isaac as an aspiring singer-songwriter trying to break into the 1960s folk scene.

Isaac, who was about to jump on a plane from New York to Los Angeles, had learned of the news just before he was slated to appear on “Today.”

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“They took a gamble and had me on,” he said. “If I hadn’t been nominated, it would have been a little more intense. They would have fully shamed me.”

The relative newcomer, 33, said he was looking forward to the actual Globes telecast because “there isn’t a whole lot to do” at that point. Even Redford -- who has won six of the prizes before -- said he was excited about the event.

“I have not been to many awards shows over the years, contrary to what you may believe,” he said. “It’ll be something new.”

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