Golden Showdown
January 16, 2006 - 9:49AM

Will the Golden Globe go to the gay cowboy, the starving boxer with a big heart or the American literary great?

Heath Ledger, Russell Crowe and roly-poly New York art house actor Philip Seymour Hoffman battle for the Golden Globes best dramatic actor award in Beverly Hills tomorrow in what is a significant test run for the March 5 Academy Awards.

The winner will not only have an impressive Globe trophy to place in their trophy cabinet, but will likely emerge as the favourite in the actor's race for the March 5 Oscars ceremony.

Ledger, probably still a little damp after being sprayed by paparazzi armed with water pistols at the Sydney premiere of Brokeback Mountain, has flown to Los Angeles for the Globes ceremony with girlfriend Michelle Williams.

Williams has also been nominated, in the best supporting category, for Brokeback Mountain.

The Globes are decided by about 80 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Despite the small number of Globes voters -- the Oscars from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have about 6,000 voters and the Screen Actors Guild Awards have more than 100,000 voters -- the Globes are considered a key indicator for the Oscars.

Oscar pundits, including Los Angeles Times columnist and awards expert Tom O'Neil, believe Ledger and Crowe need to win to have a chance of claiming the Oscar.

Hoffman has the early momentum after winning most of the other lead-up awards for his portrayal of American literary great Truman Capote in the independent film, Capote.

"Philip Seymour Hoffman is an art house darling and he nailed Capote so perfectly," O'Neil said.

"What is so impressive about Brokeback is Heath's deeply felt suffering and anguish that really comes through on the screen."

O'Neil has tipped Hoffman to win the Globe.

Bookmakers agree.

Hoffman is the outright favourite at 8/11, while Ledger, who plays a gay Wyoming ranch hand in Brokeback, is on the second line of betting at 7/4.

The other nominees are given little chance, with Terrence Howard, for his performance in Hustle and Flow, and David Strathairn in Good Night, And Good Luck, equal third at 10/1.

New Zealand-born Crowe, for his demanding performance as struggling 1930s heavyweight boxing champion and devoted family man James Braddock in Cinderella Man, is the outsider at 12/1.

In past years Australians have filled both the film and TV categories at the Globes, but this year Australia's other hopes -- Eric Bana (Munich), Geoffrey Rush (Munich), Naomi Watts (King Kong), Anthony LaPaglia (Without a Trace) and Julian McMahon (Nip/Tuck) -- were all snubbed by Globes voters.

The Globes best actress in a film drama category nominees are: Maria Bello (A History of Violence), Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Gwyneth Paltrow (Proof), Charlize Theron (North Country) and Ziyi Zhang (Memoirs of a Geisha).

The hit TV drama Desperate Housewives received the most nominations of any TV show with five.

The show's four leads -- Marcia Cross, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria and Teri Hatcher -- filled up four of the five nominations for best actress in a comedy-musical TV series. Mary-Louis Parker, from the new TV series Weeds, filled the fifth slot.

The Golden Globes ceremony will be staged at the Beverly Hilton Hotel from midday Tuesday (AEDT).

AAP
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Local boys battle for a Globe
By Phillip McCarthy
January 16, 2006


In Australian terms, tomorrow morning's battle for best actor at the Golden Globes pits the Slugger against the Lover.

The Slugger is Russell Crowe, whose Depression era prize-fighter in Cinderella Man mixes it with Heath Ledger's turn as a love-crossed 1960s gay cowboy in this year's sleeper hit, Brokeback Mountain.

The "others" in the Globes match-up include Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote (Capote) and David Strathairn for his portrayal of the newsman Edward R. Murrow (Good Night and Good Luck).

The latest odds have Ledger and Hoffman in a tight race, with Hoffman a nose ahead. Crowe, whom the bookies put last, had a bad year and committed the sin of letting a personal meltdown - flinging a phone at a hotel worker - sabotage the launch of Cinderella Man. The film never recovered.

Just 90 full-time, part-time or barely employable scribes from the eccentric Hollywood Foreign Press Association decide the Globes. Usual form guide science is not as important as imponderables such as which contender signed more autographs for fawning association members.

Brokeback Mountain, with seven nominations, is the top contender.

"The fact is [Crowe] is not that popular among the rank and file Oscar voters," a studio insider with Australian credentials noted. "They don't like being lectured at their big event and he's done that ... but the Heath Ledger thing is irresistible: from this young and callow teenager to brave and, finally, articulate."

However, in the countdown to the Oscars, another Australian could feature.

Steven Spielberg's thriller Munich, in which Eric Bana plays a Mossad assassin, is hailed as his finest film in years.

It arrived too late to register as a Globes prospect but Hollywood insiders might be ready do something good on March 5 for their favourite son, particularly with a film that really showcases the town's long tradition of Jewish open-mindedness.


Australian Associated Press