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‘Up in the Air,’ ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and ‘Glee’s’ Lea Michele nab top Golden Globe honors

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December 15, 2009

Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” is the leading Golden Globe contender this year nabbing 6 nominations, including best motion picture drama and the top acting awards for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick.

(Read more about Jason Reitman and his last award winning film, “Juno” and what it was like following his father into the movie business.)

Also nabbing top honors was Quentin Tarantino’s WWII revenge fantasy, “Inglourious Basterds” which received four nominations, including best motion picture drama.

(Read Quentin Tarantino’s take on rewriting Jewish history in his cover story interview with The Jewish Journal. And don’t miss his Jewish producer, Lawrence Bender’s take on the death of Hitler.)

And in television, actress Lea Michele, the star singer of Fox’s hit show “Glee” was nominated for best performance by an actress in a television series, comedy or musical.

Michele was born in the Bronx as Lea Michele Sarfati, the daughter of an Italian American Catholic mother and a Jewish father. According to Wikipedia, her father is of Spanish-Sephardic Jewish ancestry. Michele is open about discussing her mixed Jewish-Italian roots. Last summer, she told the NY Daily, “I never really thought there would be a place on television for me. I have a very specific look. I’m Jewish. I’m Italian.” But Jewish singing diva Barbra Streisand’s success gave her hope. “I remember looking up to Barbra Streisand, and thinking, ‘Finally, someone who has a Jewish nose, who didn’t get a nose job.’”

More on the Golden Globe noms from The New York Times:

By BROOKS BARNES

Vera Farmiga and George Clooney in “Up in the Air.”Paramount Pictures Vera Farmiga and George Clooney in “Up in the Air.”

“Up in the Air” continued its award season march Tuesday morning, as Golden Globe voters nominated the Paramount Pictures film for six trophies, including best picture drama. The musical “Nine” also emerged as a front-runner at the Globes with five nods, including one for best comedy or musical.

“Up in the Air,” about an executive who travels the country to fire people for companies too cowardly to do it themselves, also earned nominations for George Clooney (best actor in a drama), Jason Reitman (director), Mr. Reitman and Sheldon Turner (screenplay), and Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick (supporting actress).

The expensive “Avatar,” James Cameron’s $230 million 3-D space adventure, tied Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”, with four nominations each, including best motion picture drama. The other nominees in that category were “The Hurt Locker” and “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

In the best comedy or musical category, “Nine” was joined by “The Hangover,” “(500) Days of Summer,” “It’s Complicated” and “Julie & Julia.”

Among the acting categories, Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock will be receiving double floral deliveries this morning. Ms. Streep was nominated twice for best actress in a comedy or musical for “It’s Complicated” and “Julie & Julia,” and Ms. Bullock received honors in both the comedy (for “The Proposal”) and drama (for “The Blind Side”) categories.

Joining Mr. Clooney in the best actor drama category are Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”), Colin Firth (“A Single Man”), Morgan Freeman (“Invictus”) and Tobey Maguire (“Brothers.”)

“Glee,” the Fox show about a group of misfits in a high school singing club, was the big winner in television, picking up four nominations, including best comedy.

The Golden Globes, given by the 90-member Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are not taken seriously as artistic milestones, and studios complain that the organization nominates based on star wattage instead of performance, in part so it can curate a red carpet spectacle.

Still, the Globes are considered important Academy Awards tea leaves. The best picture Oscar has mirrored the association’s choice for best drama or best comedy-musical in 15 of the last 22 years, including last year with “Slumdog Millionaire.” The Globes can also inject fresh momentum to Oscar campaigns or effectively end others.

The 67th Golden Globes will be presented on Jan. 17 at a ceremony to be broadcast on NBC.

The musical “Nine” ran second with five nominations, including best musical or comedy and acting slots for Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard.

Also competing for musical or comedy are the romance “(500) Days of Summer,” the bachelor bash “The Hangover” and Meryl Streep’s “It’s Complicated” and “Julie & Julia.”

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