Golden Globes: No ‘True Grit’ but lots of potential surprises

One thing that’s certain come Sunday evening at the 68th annual Golden Globe Awards — Joel and Ethan Coen’s remake of “True Grit” will not be taking home any honors because the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. snubbed the box office hit.

On the other side of the coin, the HFPA did embrace two critically lambasted films that didn’t exactly set the box office on fire — “The Tourist” is nominated for best motion picture comedy or musical (as are its two stars, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie) and the campy musical “Burlesque” has a nod in the same category with three of it songs in contention for best of the year.

The dramatic feature film nominations are in step with what has won critics’ awards and guild nominations so far with “The King’s Speech” leading the pack with seven and “The Fighter” and “The Social Network,” which has already dominated this awards season, following close behind with six each. Other nominees for best motion picture drama are “Black Swan” and “Inception,” with “Alice in Wonderland,” “The Kids Are All Right” and “Red” rounding out the comedy or musical motion picture category.

In the actor, drama race, Jesse Eisenberg for “The Social Network” and Colin Firth for “The King’s Speech” are the front-runners. Actress in a drama is a bit harder to pin down, but it will probably be a battle between Nicole Kidman for “Rabbit Hole,” Jennifer Lawrence for “Winter’s Bone” and Natalie Portman for “Black Swan.” And in the actor in a comedy or musical category, Depp is competing against himself. Not only is he nominated for “The Tourist,” he’s also up for his eccentric turn as the Mad Hatter in “Alice in Wonderland.” The stars of “The Kids Are All Right” — Annette Bening and Julianne Moore — are the clear front-runners for actress in a comedy or motion picture with Bening having an edge over Moore. Joining Bening, Moore and Jolie in the category are Oscar co-host Anne Hathaway for “Love & Other Drugs” and dark horse Emma Stone for “Easy A.”

The Globes, which air live Sunday at 5 p.m. on NBC from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, also give out awards in several TV categories with the usual suspects — “Glee,” “Mad Men” and “30 Rock” — among the top series contenders, along with such HBO movies and miniseries as “The Pacific,” “Temple Grandin” and “You Don’t Know Jack.”

The Globes are often considered a guide to what will win the Academy Award, but the HFPA and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences often do diverge in some categories. Last year, the Globes awarded the best dramatic film to “Avatar” with its director James Cameron winning in the directing category, while the academy gave those honors to “The Hurt Locker” and its director, Kathryn Bigelow.

As previously announced, Robert De Niro is set to receive the prestigious Cecil B. DeMille Award. And the acerbic and newly slimmed down Ricky Gervais returns as host of the three-hour show.

susan.king@latimes.com