If, as it's often suggested, the Golden Globes are a harbinger of the Academy Awards, then "Chicago," "The Hours" and Jack Nicholson could have an eventful March.
The brash movie musical, the tale of three women whose lives are intertwined over time and the "About Schmidt" star were as good as golden at Sunday night's 60th annual Golden Globe Awards.
"Chicago," the big screen adaptation of Bob Fosse's 1975 Broadway production, was named best picture in a musical or comedy, while Richard Gere was named best actor and Renee Zellweger best actress for their pitch-perfect roles in the film.
"The Hours" was named best dramatic picture, and it also netted Nicole Kidman a best actress trophy for her role as author Virginia Woolf.
A serene-looking Kidman, 35, had a word of advice after pointing out that last year was an excellent one for providing dramatic roles to women. "I say to the writers, please keep writing for us, because we're very interesting," she said.
When "The Hours" producer Scott Rudin won the best dramatic picture Globe, he brought his stars -- Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore -- to the stage.
"If you want to win a best picture award," he told the audience, "have these three actresses in your movie."
Jack Nicholson was named best actor in a drama for his restrained role as a newly widowed Midwestern retiree in "About Schmidt."
"I don't know whether to be happy or to be ashamed," said Nicholson, 65, "because I thought we were making a comedy."
Still refusing to play it seriously, Nicholson, admitting that he knew the evening was going to be a long one, also said, "I took a Valium" so he could remain calm through the night.
In addition to "The Hours," three other pictures won two Globes each. They were "Adaptation," for supporting players Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper; "Gangs of New York," for director Martin Scorsese and the U2 song "The Hands That Built America"; and "About Schmidt," which, besides Nicholson's award, received the Globe for screenwriting. (Check out the complete list of Golden Globe winners.)
Sunday night's three-hour extravaganza (not counting the hour that NBC devoted to red-carpet arrivals) at the Beverly Hilton also honored TV shows.
Although the familiar Jennifer Aniston was named best actress in a comedy series for "Friends" and Kim Cattrall was cited for her supporting role on "Sex and the City," several fairly new names rounded out the winners' circle.
These included Michael Chiklis for FX's "The Shield" -- which was also named best dramatic series -- Larry David, whose HBO show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" won best TV comedy series, and Tony Shalhoub, who was named best actor in a comedy for his USA Network series "Monk."
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