Salmon fishing where? Globes snubs and surprises

photo This image released by CBS Films shows Ewan McGregor in a scene from the film, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen." The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for best comedy or musical, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. McGregor was nominated for best actor in the film. The 70th annual Golden Globe Awards will be held on Jan.
photo In this undated publicity image released by The Weinstein Company shows, from left, Christoph Waltz as Schultz and Jamie Foxx as Django in the film, "Django Unchained," directed by Quentin Tarantino. Waltz was nominated Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 for a Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his role in the film. The 70th annual Golden Globe Awards will be held on Jan. 13.

Read moreGlobes go big with heavy lineup of studio films

List of nominees for the Golden Globe AwardsNominees for the 70th annual Golden Globe Awards, announced Thursday in Beverly Hills, Calif.:MOTION PICTURES- Picture, Drama: "Argo," "Lincoln," "Life of Pi," "Django Unchained," "Zero Dark Thirty."- Picture, Musical or Comedy: "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," "Les Miserables," "Moonrise Kingdom," "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen," "Silver Linings Playbook."- Actor, Drama: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"; Richard Gere, "Arbitrage"; John Hawkes, "The Sessions"; Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"; Denzel Washington, "Flight."- Actress, Drama: Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"; Marion Cotillard, "Rust and Bone"; Helen Mirren, "Hitchcock"; Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"; Rachel Weisz, "The Deep Blue Sea."- Director: Ben Affleck, "Argo"; Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"; Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"; Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"; Quentin Tarantino, "Django Unchained."- Actor, Musical or Comedy: Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"; Jack Black, "Bernie"; Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"; Bill Murray, "Hyde Park on Hudson"; Ewan McGregor, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen."- Actress, Musical or Comedy: Emily Blunt, "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"; Judi Dench, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"; Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"; Maggie Smith, "Quartet"; Meryl Streep, "Hope Springs."- Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Argo"; Leonard DiCaprio, "Django Unchained"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"; Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"; Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained."- Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, "The Master"; Sally Field, "Lincoln"; Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"; Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"; Nicole Kidman, "The Paperboy."- Foreign Language: "Amour," "A Royal Affair," "The Intouchables," "Kon-Tiki," "Rust and Bone."- Animated Film: "Brave," "Frankenweenie," "Hotel Transylvania," "Rise of the Guardians," "Wreck-It Ralph."- Screenplay: Mark Boal, "Zero Dark Thirty"; Tony Kushner, "Lincoln"; David O. Russell, "Silver Livings Playbook"; Quentin Tarantino, "Django Unchained"; Chris Terrio, "Argo."- Original Score: Mychael Danna, "Life of Pi"; Alexandre Desplat, "Argo"; Dario Marianelli, "Anna Karenina"; Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek and Reinhold Heil, "Cloud Atlas"; John Williams, "Lincoln."- Original Song: "For You " (music and lyrics by Keith Urban), "Act of Valor"; "Not Running Anymore" (music and lyrics by Jon Bon Jovi), "Stand Up Guys"; "Safe & Sound" (music and lyrics by Taylor Swift, John Paul White, Joy Williams and T Bone Burnett), "The Hunger Games"; "Skyfall" (music and lyrics by Adel and Paul Epworth), "Skyfall"; "Suddenly" (music by Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyrics by Schonberg and Alain Boublil), "Les Miserables."TELEVISION- Series, Drama: "Boardwalk Empire," "Breaking Bad," "Downton Abbey," "Homeland," "The Newsroom."- Actor, Drama: Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"; Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"; Jeff Daniels, "The Newsroom"; Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"; Damian Lewis, "Homeland."- Actress, Drama: Connie Britton, "Nashville"; Glenn Close, "Damages"; Claire Danes, "Homeland"; Michelle Dockery, "Downton Abbey"; Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife."- Series, Musical or Comedy: "The Big Bang Theory," "Episodes," "Girls," "Modern Family," "Smash."- Actress, Musical or Comedy: Zooey Deschanel, "New Girl"; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Veep"; Lena Dunham, "Girls"; Tina Fey, "30 Rock"; Amy Poehler, "Parks and Recreation."- Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"; Don Cheadle, "House of Lies"; Louis C.K. "Louie", Matt LeBlanc, "Episodes"; Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory."- Miniseries or Movie: "Game Change," "The Girl," "Hatfields & McCoys," "The Hour," "Political Animals."- Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Nicole Kidman, "Hemingway & Gellhorn"; Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story: Asylum"; Sienna Miller, "The Girl"; Julianne Moore, "Game Change"; Sigourney Weaver, "Political Animals."- Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Kevin Costner, "Hatfields & McCoys"; Benedict Cumberbatch, "Sherlock (Masterpiece)"; Woody Harrelson, "Game Change"; Toby Jones, "The Girl"; Clive Owen, "Hemingway & Gellhorn."- Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Hayden Panettiere, "Nashville"; Archie Panjabi, "The Good Wife"; Sarah Paulson, "Game Change"; Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey"; Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family."- Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Max Greenfield, "New Girl"; Ed Harris, "Game Change"; Danny Huston, "Magic City"; Mandy Patinkin, "Homeland"; Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family."---Previously announced:Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Jodie Foster.

NEW YORK - The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is known for what you could call a certain quirkiness in its selection process. Any group that would see fit to nominate "Patch Adams" and "The Tourist" for best picture certainly marches to its own beat.

But in the nominations announced Thursday, the Golden Globes didn't throw too many wrinkles into the awards season horse race leading up to the Academy Awards (which has had its own questionable choices in the past). Still, in parsing the nominations, there were some intriguing surprises as well as some inevitable questions, most notably: Salmon fishing where?

Yemen. The answer is Yemen. Yes, Lasse Hallstrom's romantic comedy "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" reeled in three unlikely nominations: best picture, comedy or musical; Emily Blunt for best actress, comedy or musical; and Ewan McGregor for best actor, comedy or musical. The film, which had a small run in theaters in the spring, is about an eccentric Yemeni sheik (Amr Waked) who turns to a British salmon expert (McGregor) to bring thousands of salmon to his country. Most critics didn't bite.

The acclaimed, low-budget "Beasts of the Southern Wild" has generally been seen as a plucky underdog in the awards season, but the film and its young star, Quvenzhane Wallis, yielded no nominations from the Globes. Instead, the Globes - which tend to favor more seasoned stars - followed the lead of the New York Film Critics Circle, nominating Rachel Weisz for best actress for the little-seen "The Deep Blue Sea."

The HFPA responded strongly to Quentin Tarantino's Spaghetti Western-style slavery epic "Django Unchained," giving it five nominations: best picture, drama; best director (Tarantino); best screenplay (Tarantino); and two for best supporting actor (Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio). Though the academy may be more divided on the film, "Django" could be emerging similarly to Tarantino's last film, "Inglourious Basterds," which landed eight Oscar nominations.

Ang Lee's 3-D fantasy adventure "Life of Pi" also fared well, with nominations for best picture (drama), best director (Lee) and best score (Mychael Danna). Tarantino and Lee likely squeezed out directors David O. Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook") and Tom Hooper ("Les Miserables"). Hooper, who directed the Oscar-winning "The King's Speech," seemed a particularly likely nominee, but the HFPA didn't go crazy for the musical, which might have also yielded more supporting actor nominations.

Blockbusters did not find their way into the mix, as the Globes stayed clear of popular and somewhat acclaimed movies like "Skyfall," "Looper," "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Avengers." Perhaps that's no great shock, but "Skyfall" (which got a nomination for best song) could have also slid in with Javier Bardem's supporting role as an effete Bond villain.

By separating best picture and lead actor nominations between drama and comedy, the Globes - and this is one of the best things about them - give comedy the attention most film awards shirk. That suggested, Judd Apatow's "This Is 40" might have been assured some notice, but it went empty handed. Instead, "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" continued an upswing with nominations for best picture and best actress in a comedy (Judi Dench). That followed the film on Wednesday landing a best ensemble nomination from the Screen Actors Guild.

Also gaining momentum was Nicole Kidman, who was nominated for her supporting performance in Lee Daniels' fevered Southern melodrama "The Paperboy." (She was also nominated for the HBO film "Hemingway & Gellhorn."). Kidman, whose character famously pees on a jelly fish-stung Zac Efron in the film, also received an unexpected nomination from the Screen Actors Guild.

Robert De Niro's latest comedic turn as a football-obsessed father in "Silver Linings Playbook" didn't garner a nomination. Matthew McConaughey, whose year included lauded performances in "Bernie" and "Magic Mike," also escaped notice - a result fans surely considered definitely not alright, alright, alright.

Upcoming Events