Dark horses and desperate wives

It’s small, quirky, lacks star power and a big budget -- in short, the kind of film that might be ignored by the celebrity-obsessed Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. But “Sideways,” a buddy comedy about two losers whose road trip to the Santa Barbara wine country uncorks romantic misery, captured the lion’s share of the organization’s Golden Globe nominations Monday.

Noticeably missing was perennial favorite Mel Gibson, whose controversial blockbuster, “The Passion of the Christ,” was shut out of the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, which NBC will telecast on Sunday, Jan. 16. Also bypassed were Tom Cruise, another Globe darling, who gave an unflinching portrayal of a hired assassin in “Collateral,” and Kevin Bacon, who portrayed a paroled child molester in “The Woodsman.”

If anything, the scattershot nature of the choices -- 17 of the 30 films honored received just a single nomination -- underscored that there are no clear front-runners in the Oscar race, to which the Globes are often seen as a precursor. In fact, it is unlikely the Globes will have much effect on the Oscars this year, since the winners will be announced a day after Academy Award ballots are due. Although the organization has only 83 voting members, over the last 15 years the show has grown in stature, and studios and independent distributors will use the nominations to hype their films for Oscar consideration.

“Sideways” led this year’s competition with seven nominations, including best comedy or musical picture; best director for Alexander Payne, who also received a nomination for co-writing the screenplay; best actor for Paul Giamatti; and best supporting nods for Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen. The film is already a critics’ favorite, having picked up wins from the Los Angeles, New York, Boston and San Francisco film critics organizations.

It was also a big day for actor Jamie Foxx. The former “In Living Color” comic received three nominations, a first in Golden Globe history. He was singled out for best actor in a musical or comedy as singer Ray Charles in “Ray,” a somewhat surprising category, since the film played out more as a drama than a musical; for best supporting actor as an L.A. cabdriver in “Collateral”; and for best performance in a TV miniseries or movie as a prison inmate in “Redemption.”

One of the year’s most debated films, Michael Moore’s political documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11,” was technically not eligible for consideration since there is no documentary category. The organization would have had to make an exception to include “Fahrenheit” in the best picture category, which it did not.

For those who were nominated Monday, it was a time to bask in the glow of worldwide attention.

Previous two-time nominee Liam Neeson, nominated for best actor as famed sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in the biographical drama “Kinsey,” said the Globes “puts a wonderful focus on the movies ... and a lot more people will spend money to see your movie.”

“The Aviator,” Martin Scorsese’s epic biopic about Howard Hughes, received the second most nominations with six, including best picture and director and for its lead actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays the enigmatic young Hughes.

“Of course, there’s some significance in being nominated,” said DiCaprio, who has been nominated three previous times. “Anyone who says otherwise is lying.... He was a young man, with all the opportunities, resources and dreams at his disposal, who takes a tragic turn. That’s the stuff of great tragedy.”

Hilary Swank was making an appearance Monday on NBC’s “Today,” promoting her new movie “Million Dollar Baby,” when word came in from the West Coast that she had received two nominations -- for her role as a female boxer in the Clint Eastwood-directed drama as well as for her performance as a suffragette in the HBO movie “Iron Jawed Angels.”

“They told me, ‘We want to be on you [with the camera when the nominations are announced], but if they don’t say your name, we’ll pan off of you,’ ” Swank said, recalling the craziness of the morning. This was Swank’s second moment in the spotlight, having been nominated previously for 1999’s “Boys Don’t Cry,” for which she went on to capture an Oscar for best actress. “This time, I think people know who I am,” she said.

Eighteen-year-old Emmy Rossum, in New York on a promotional tour, was so rattled after she learned of her nomination for best actress for “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera” that she momentarily forgot the press junket downstairs.

“I started doing laundry,” she said. Rossum, who had previously appeared in smaller films such as “Mystic River,” said that “Phantom” was the first time “I really carried a movie of this size. It was a character that was so complex.”

Nerves got the best of Madsen, who said she woke up to hear the film’s publicist tell her, “You got it, Virginia!”

“I go, ‘Oh, my God!’ and then she goes ‘Congratulations!’ and then I look at the clock and it’s 4:15 a.m., and I realize it was a dream!” She didn’t get the real news for another hour.

Joining “The Aviator” for best motion picture drama is “Closer,” “Finding Neverland,” “Hotel Rwanda,” “Kinsey” and “Million Dollar Baby.” In the musical or comedy category, “Sideways” will be competing against “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Incredibles,” “Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera” and “Ray.”

One of the more unusual dramatic performances was turned in by best actor nominee Javier Bardem, who played quadriplegic Spanish writer Ramon Sampedro in “The Sea Inside.” Sampedro, who was confined to his bed for nearly three decades, waged a highly publicized campaign to end his life, a fight that galvanized his country.

“The challenge was to try and work out this series of emotions and expressions without the need of expressing them with my body ... ,” Bardem said from Madrid. “I have to say I’m not that kind of an actor. I’m much more compulsive, much more physical.”

Other actors nominated for drama are Don Cheadle for “Hotel Rwanda,” Johnny Depp for “Finding Neverland,” DiCaprio and Neeson.

Kevin Spacey, a nominee for best actor in a musical or comedy as crooner Bobby Darin in “Beyond the Sea,” received the news in Boston, where he had given a concert the previous night. “This has been a film on my mind for a long time,” said Spacey, who also directed. “It took a while to get going.... Now, I’ve just got a big grin on my face.”

Other nominees in this category are perennial Golden Globe winner Jim Carrey for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Foxx for “Ray,” Giamatti for “Sideways” and Kevin Kline as composer Cole Porter in “De-Lovely.”

Despite the fact that it has been considered a weak year for roles for women, the actress nominations include previous Golden Globe and Oscar winners.

In the drama category, nominations went to Swank for “Million Dollar Baby,” Scarlett Johansson for “A Love Song for Bobby Long,” Nicole Kidman for “Birth,” Imelda Staunton for “Vera Drake” and Uma Thurman for “Kill Bill Vol. 2.”

Kidman said she was “shocked” by her nomination as a widow who believes a 10-year-old boy is the reincarnation of her husband. She describes the little-seen “Birth” as a “renegade film,” so the nomination is especially important to her. “If you have whatever power you have, it is important to support the smaller things,” she said. In the musical or comedy category, the nominees are Annette Bening for “Being Julia,” Ashley Judd for “De-Lovely,” Rossum for “Phantom,” Kate Winslet for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and Renee Zellweger for “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason.”

Best director nominations went to Eastwood for “Million Dollar Baby,” Scorsese for “The Aviator,” Payne for “Sideways,” Marc Forster for “Finding Neverland” and Mike Nichols for “Closer.”

For those keeping score on the studio side, Miramax Films had the most nominations with 15 combined for “The Aviator,” “Finding Neverland,” “Kill Bill Vol. 2” and “The Chorus.”

“You go in with your fingers crossed,” said Bob Weinstein, co-chairman of Miramax Films. “I’m thrilled to be leading the pack.”