TRIPLE THREAT
JAMIE FOXX
While casting the lead in his Ray Charles biopic Ray, director Taylor Hackford wasn't sure Jamie Foxx, best known as a comedian, had the acting skills for the part. "Jamie never had a role like this, and there was nothing in his past to prove that he could," says Hackford of Foxx's In Living Color and Booty Call résumé. "One never knows what an artist can do until they are given an opportunity to prove it." In 2004 Foxx proved himself three times over: as a mild-mannered cabbie swept up in Tom Cruise's killing spree in Collateral; as incarcerated L.A. Crips cofounder-turned-antiviolence activist Stanley "Tookie" Williams in the FX film Redemption; and most notable, with his pitch-perfect channeling of Charles in Ray. The hat trick impressed Globle voters, who recognized him for all three turns, making him the first performer to earn a trio of Globe acting nods in single year. "When the stars all line up and everything is on your side, you can't miss," says Foxx, 37, who refuses to play blasé about buzz that places him as a Golden Globe--and Academy Award--front-runner for Ray. "I always watch people who say, 'Oh, I don't want people to say that.' Of course I want an Oscar!" Adds Hackford: "If there is any justice in Hollywood, he should win it. For years to come, people will see this performance and remember it."
DOUBLE THREAT
HILARY SWANK
The 1999 Oscar winner (Boys Don't Cry) came back swinging with both fists this year: She landed dual nominations as a suffragette imprisoned during the fight for women's rights in HBO's Iron Jawed Angels and as the would-be boxer who strikes up a deep, paternal bond with her trainer in Clint Eastwood's critic-wowing powerhouse Million Dollar Baby. Preparing for Baby required real physical commitment, starting with three months of training three to four hours daily. "I was sparring with professional boxers all the time," says Swank, 30. "The first time I hit someone, I said, 'Oh—sorry!' " She packed 19 lbs. onto her 110 lb. frame through a diet of protein shakes and egg whites. (Needing at least nine hours of sleep to let her muscles recuperate and grow, she even set her alarm so she could wake up at night for another meal.) That's no body double in the ring, either. "Hilary did every single fight herself," says producer Al Ruddy. "She got clipped a couple of times, swollen lips and black eye. But she never got out. She stayed in there and trusted Clint." The more glamorous version of the actress, married since 1997 to actor Chad Lowe, will be the one turning up at the ceremonies. "I've actually dropped most of the weight," she says. "I'm not in the gym lifting anymore, and I'm not drinking egg whites."
WHO IS IMELDA STAUNTON?
Uma. Nicole. Imelda Staunton? She isn't a household name, but the star of Vera Drake, the acclaimed British drama about a sweet little beetle of a woman who performs illegal abortions in postwar London, could nab a Globe from under the glamor girls' noses. Voted best actress at the Venice Film Festival, the London-born stage and screen veteran, 49, is enjoying the attention, "but this has happened at a time in my life when I've been acting for 28 years," says Staunton, who has peppered British period films in supporting roles (Gwyneth Paltrow's nurse in Shakespeare in Love). Among friends and family—she has a daughter with her husband, actor Jim Carter—"I've been the one keeping people calm."
TUBE
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
The ABC sensation's five Globe nominations (more than any other show), including one for best musical or comedy series, should have been cause for celebration. But what would Desperate Housewives be without a bit of scandal? While Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher and Felicity Huffman all nabbed best actress nominations, and Nicollette Sheridan won a nod for supporting actress, the fifth lady of Wisteria Lane, Eva Longoria, got...zilch. Unlike her TV alter ego, Longoria is keeping her claws in check. Her castmates "have all paid their dues and are so awesome to work with," she told Access Hollywood. "It couldn't have happened to better women." Meanwhile, Hatcher called the snub "horrible" in the Los Angeles Times, adding, "Maybe they just decided to nominate actresses over 40." (Longoria is 29, white Hatcher is 40, Sheridan is 41 and Huffman and Cross are 42.) Longoria "was a little disappointed," says the show's creator and executive producer Marc Cherry, "but she is cognizant that her life has no problems. She's young, she's gorgeous, she's amazingly talented, and she'll be getting nominated in the future."
UPDATE THOMAS HADEN CHURCH
He plays a washed-up actor in Sideways, but Thomas Haden Church—who had been largely MIA since leaving TV's Wings in 1995—insists that art was not imitating life. "I went away, but on my own volition," says the actor, 43, who dabbled in directing and writing (his comedy Rolling Kansas played at Sundance in 2003) but primarily enjoyed life on his Kerrville, Texas, ranch. "I was swirling off into a different particle field." Now, Church is savoring his return, capped by his supporting actor nomination. "It's nice to come back," he says. "If you don't, then you just show up on VHl's Where Are They Now? along with the lead singer from Skid Row."
INTRODUCING
KATHRYN EASTWOOD
Clint Eastwood will have plenty to be nervous about on Globes night, and not just because his film Million Dollar Baby is up for five awards. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association chose his daughter Kathryn to be this year's Miss Golden Globes, ferrying trophies to the evening's winners. "Her dad is very happy and very proud of her," says HFPA president Lorenzo Soria. "It will be an interesting night for the Eastwood family." Kathryn, 16, will carry on the longstanding tradition of celebrity offspring serving as Miss Golden Globes. Alums include Melanie Griffith, Laura Dern, Joely Fisher and 1996's Mr. Golden Globes, Freddie Prinze Jr. The daughter of Eastwood and his former girlfriend Jacelyn Reeves, 53, Kathryn lives in Hawaii, where she performs in local dance and theater productions. However, she plans to capitalize on her gig by moving to California this month to follow in her father's showbiz footsteps. "Hopefully the Globes will give her exposure and help her," says Soria. "It's a big burden to carry, but a big opportunity as well."
CONTROVERSY CATE BLANCHETT
When she agreed to play movie icon Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator, Cate Blanchett knew she was treading on hallowed ground. "People have a sense of ownership about the actors they love," Blanchett, 35, told The New York Times. "When someone plays them, of course there will be dissent." Indeed, her in-your-face take on Hepburn charmed Globe voters—who nominated her for best supporting actress—but has polarized critics. The Los Angeles Times said she "comes on so strong...that the performance is uncomfortably close to caricature," while Roger Ebert praised Blanchett, noting that Hepburn "was herself so close to caricature that to play her accurately involves some risk." Blanchett "was nervous about playing such a legend," says Aviator producer Graham King, but "she did a lot of homework," studying Hepburn's movies and TV interviews to absorb her mannerisms. Says King: "Cate adds so much spice and life to this movie."
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