by DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - A Beautiful Mind and Moulin Rouge led nominations for the Golden Globes on Thursday with six apiece including best picture bids and honors for actors Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.
A Beautiful Mind, starring Crowe as schizophrenic math genius John Nash, was nominated for best picture in the dramatic film category. Moulin Rouge, a tragicomic musical set in 1899 Paris, had its best picture nod in the musical or comedy category.
Kidman, nominated for best actress in a comedy or musical, also received a best-actress nomination for drama for her ghost story The Others. Billy Bob Thornton received two acting nominations, in drama for the noirish thriller The Man Who Wasn't There and in musical or comedy for the bank-robbery flick Bandits.
Robert Altman's murder mystery Gosford Park received five nominations including best musical or comedy and supporting-actress nominations for Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith.
David Lynch's enigmatic Hollywood tale Mulholland Drive and the fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring had four nominations each including best dramatic picture.
Nominees in 13 movie and 11 television categories for the 59th annual Golden Globes were announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The awards often serve as indicators for how movies will fare when the Academy Award nominations come out in February.
The other two dramatic best picture nominees were In the Bedroom and The Man Who Wasn't There. The other musical or comedy best picture choices were Bridget Jones's Diary, Legally Blonde and Shrek.
The most notable omission was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which received no nominations even while it's on its way to becoming the year's top-grossing film. Another snub was Sean Penn, who had caught solid awards buzz for his role as a retarded father in I Am Sam.
Besides Crowe and Thornton, the dramatic actor nominees were Will Smith as Muhammad Ali in Ali, Kevin Spacey as a dour widower in The Shipping News and Denzel Washington as a corrupt cop in Training Day.
Along with Kidman, the dramatic actress choices were Halle Berry as a death-row widow in Monster's Ball, Judi Dench as writer Iris Murdoch in Iris, Sissy Spacek as a vengeful mother in In the Bedroom and Tilda Swinton as a blackmailed housewife in The Deep End.
Spacek, a five-time Academy Award nominee who won the best-actress Oscar for Coal Miner's Daughter, could become the front-runner for another Oscar. Spacek has been a top pick among critics groups and other early film honors for In the Bedroom, an independent film shot on a tiny budget of just under $2 million.
"There's so many fabulous actresses from my generation, and there really aren't enough roles to go around," said Spacek, 51. "Maybe a film like In the Bedroom will make people think of us older gals, sharpen their pencils and start writing more great roles for us."
Along with Kidman, musical or comedy best actress nominees were Thora Birch for Ghost World, Cate Blanchett for Bandits, Reese Witherspoon for Legally Blonde and Renee Zellweger for Bridget Jones's Diary.
Besides McGregor and Thornton, the nominees for best actor in a musical or comedy were Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums, Hugh Jackman in Kate & Leopold, and John Cameron Mitchell for Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
"I owe my wife a hundred bucks now," said Jackman, who had not figured on a nomination. "As an Aussie all these things like the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards are a big part of our culture. To be here, it feels a little bit surreal."
Supporting actress nominees were Connelly for A Beautiful Mind, Cameron Diaz of Vanilla Sky, Marisa Tomei of In The Bedroom and Kate Winslet of Iris.
Supporting actor nominees were Jim Broadbent of Iris, Steve Buscemi of Ghost World, Hayden Christensen of Life as a House, Ben Kingsley of Sexy Beast, Jude Law of A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Jon Voight of Ali.
Christensen said he was thrilled to have his name alongside such seasoned performers, but he had doubts about his prospects.
"My money's on Ben Kingsley," he joked. "I remember watching his perfomance and thinking, 'He's got the Oscar and everything right there.'"
Kingsley also was nominated as best actor in a TV movie or miniseries for "Anne Frank".
Altman, Lynch and Jackson were nominated for best director, along with Ron Howard for A Beautiful Mind, Baz Luhrmann for Moulin Rouge and Steven Spielberg for A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
"It is a wonderful acknowledgment of what has been a six-year journey to make and release this first film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy," Jackson said.
Competing for best TV drama series will be Fox's "24", ABC's "Alias", CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", HBO's "Six Feet Under", HBO's "The Sopranos" and NBC's "The West Wing".
Nominees for best TV musical or comedy series were Fox's "Ally McBeal", NBC's "Frasier", NBC's "Friends", HBO's "Sex and the City" and NBC's "Will & Grace".
HBO led the networks with 19 TV nominations, followed by NBC with 15 and ABC with 11.
Golden Globe nominees are chosen by the association's roughly 90 members, who cover Hollywood for overseas publications. The awards will air live on Jan. 20 on NBC.
© 2001 Associated Press