The race for Hollywood's top film honors, the Oscars, turned into a three-way contest on Sunday when The Aviator, Sideways and Million Dollar Baby, took top Golden Globe Awards. 

Veteran director Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, about the life of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, earned three Golden Globe honors, more than any other film, including best film drama, best dramatic actor for Leonardo DiCaprio playing Hughes, and best original score for composer Howard Shore.

But Scorsese lost best director honors to Clint Eastwood, whose female boxing drama Million Dollar Baby has been a hit with critics. The movie also earned Hilary Swank the Golden Globe for best dramatic actress playing a woman pugilist.

Coming into the Golden Globes, Sideways had been the most nominated movie with seven nominations overall to six for The Aviator.

Sideways walked off with two awards, one for best musical or comedy and a second for best screenplay for director Alexander Payne and his writing partner Jim Taylor.

The Golden Globes, given out by the 93-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are Hollywood's first major show of the awards season. They often tip movie fans on which films might go on to win Oscars, given on February 27 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Onstage, DiCaprio said he had led a privileged life in show business, but his greatest honor has been to work with Scorsese, director of Raging Bull and Goodfellas.

"The pinnacle of all has been to work alongside one of the greatest contributors to the world of cinema of our time," he said, talking about Scorsese.

Matchups in the making

Likewise, Swank waxed eloquent about Eastwood who in his 70s appears to be near the top of his game.

"You guided us so brilliantly while you also, in my humble opinion, gave the performance of your career," she said about the director who also played her trainer in the film.

Eastwood's victory sets up a likely head-to-head Oscar race with Scorsese, who has never won an Oscar. Nominations for the top film awards will be announced on January 25.

The other intriguing match will be Swank against Annette Bening, who won the Golden Globe for best actress in a comedy playing a 1930s stage actress in a mid-career crisis in Being Julia.

The two competed against each other in 1999 when Swank won the best actress Oscar for Boys Don't Cry over a favored Bening in American Beauty.

But backstage, Swank told reporters she didn't think about the competition, and she complimented Bening who, she said, gave her advice when she was a young actress.

"I think it's unfortunate that things are seen as winners or losers because in the end, it's the performance that matters," Swank said.

Jamie Foxx won the award for best actor in a musical or comedy, playing blind soul singing legend Ray Charles, who died last year. The comedian-turned-actor led the audience in a Charles-like chant, then joked about a recent trip to Miami and advice from his publicist to avoid partying too much.

Closer surprises

Meanwhile, drama Closer, about two cheating couples, also earned two Golden Globes, but in minor categories.

Britain's Clive Owen was named best supporting actor and Natalie Portman took the best supporting actress prize.

Spain's The Sea Inside, about a quadriplegic's battle to take his own life, was named best foreign language film.

As much as they are an Oscar indicator, the Golden Globes also have a reputation for attracting a show business who's who and allowing them to be fast-and-loose with their onstage "thank you's."

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and actor and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger both turned out.

Robin Williams, who collected the Cecil B. DeMille award for career achievement, joked that he was glad to come to a show with an open bar, and he noted the stars in the audience.

He thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press for having William Shatner, Prince, Puff Daddy and Mick Jagger on the same stage, saying, "That is the sign of The Apocalypse ... This is the end of the world as we know it."

Backstage he was asked why Brad Pitt, star of the recent film Troy, and Jennifer Aniston split up. Without missing a beat, he said, "When you play Achilles, you are vulnerable."

(China Daily January 18, 2005)