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'Rings,' 'Translation' Rule the Globes

By Mark Armstrong

Sunday January 25, 2004 01:00 PM EST

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7 p.m.: The Stars Arrive
Red carpet? Check. Nicole and Jude? Check. Offensive comments from Joan Rivers? Check.

It's a bit early this year, but all the elements were in place Sunday night for the 61st annual Golden Globe Awards, airing on NBC at 8 p.m. ET from the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Nominees Tom Cruise, Scarlett Johansson, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law and Renee Zellweger were among the stars on hand just before the ceremony got under way. Even Jennifer Lopez showed up on the red carpet, despite her high-profile break from Ben Affleck just days ago.

Though this year's Oscar race has been accelerated (the Academy Awards go down on Feb. 29, rather than the usual March date) the Hollywood Foreign Press Association still expects to play a major role in picking the big-screen front-runner with Sunday's ceremony.

Leading the way is the Civil War romance "Cold Mountain," which picked up eight nominations including best drama, best actor and actress (for Law and Kidman), best supporting actress (Zellweger) and best director (Anthony Minghella). Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" follows with five nominations, including best drama, alongside Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" -- which scored nods for best comedy, actor Bill Murray and actress Scarlett Johansson (who also is nominated for best actress in a drama for "Girl with a Pearl Earring").

Other front-runners coming into Sunday night: Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" and Tim Burton's "Big Fish," which each scored four nominations.

On the TV side, HBO's miniseries "Angels in America" led the way with seven nominations, followed by "Sex and the City" and "Will & Grace" (with five nods apiece).

Best drama series nominees are "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "24," "Nip/Tuck," "Six Feet Under" and "The West Wing." Meanwhile, Matt LeBlanc is the lone nominee from the "Friends" posse, while the show, in its final season, was not even nominated for best comedy. (The contenders there are "Arrested Development," "Monk," "The Office," "Sex and the City" and "Will & Grace.")