AceShowbiz -

Continuing its annual tradition in giving honors to talented figures in show business, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has finally unveiled yesterday, December 14, in Beverly Hills, California, the nominees for the 2007 Golden Globe Awards of which ceremony will take place at The Beverly Hilton with a live telecast airing on NBC on January 15.

Leading the contenders, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's multinational ensemble drama "Babel" gloriously scored seven nominations, notably that of Best Motion Picture- Drama alongside "Bobby", "The Departed", "Little Children", and "The Queen." Other major nods secured by the picture included those in supporting categories for its three stars namely Brad Pitt, Adriana Barraza, and Rinko Kikuchi.

For the Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical slot, the organization surprisingly picked up controversial mockumentary "Borat" as one of the contenders, lining it up with acclaimed indie flicks "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Thank You for Smoking" also DreamWorks' musical drama "Dreamgirls" and Fox's box-office hit movie "The Devil Wears Prada."

Meanwhile, among the stars rounding out the nominations, Helen Mirren, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Clint Eastwood probably were the main attention-grabbers this time as the threesome amazingly landed multiple nominations each; Mirren for her film role in "The Queen" and TV performances in "Elizabeth I" also "Prime Suspect: The Final Act", DiCaprio for "The Departed" and "Blood Diamond", and Eastwood for his directorial efforts in both "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima."

In addition, for the first time, HFPA members delightfully invented an award for animated picture for they have added a new category of Best Animated Feature Film with "Cars", "Happy Feet" and "Monster House" as the contenders for the categories.

For small screen productions, the association has chosen five titles each to compete in the top categories of Best Television Series - Drama and that of Comedy or Musical, gathering up FOX's "24", ABC's "Grey's Anatomy", and NBC's "Heroes" in the former slot while listing ABC's "Desperate Housewives", NBC's "The Office", and HBO's "Entourage" in the latter one.

Other notable names deemed as the nominees included strong contenders like Jennifer Hudson of "Dreamgirls", Forest Whitaker of "The Last King of Scotland", Sacha Baron Cohen of "Borat", Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Housewives", and Kiefer Sutherland of "24." Complete list of nominations can be accessed on HFPA's official site at https://www.hfpa.org/news/id/42.