Facebook film hot for Oscars

The Facebook tale The Social Network won top honours yesterday at the Golden Globes with four prizes, including best drama and director, solidifying its prospects as an Academy Awards favourite.

Winning the dramatic lead-acting prizes were Colin Firth for the British monarchy saga The King's Speech and Natalie Portman for the psychosexual thriller Black Swan.

Lead-acting honours for the Globes' musical or comedy categories went to Annette Bening for the lesbian-family story The Kids Are All Right and Paul Giamatti for the curmudgeon tale Barney's Version.

Boxing drama The Fighter earned both supporting acting Globes, for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.

David Fincher, directing winner for The Social Network, said he thought it was strange when the film's script came to him, since he usually makes dark character studies about misanthropes or films about serial killers. His films include the murder tales Seven and Zodiac.

"I'm personally loath to acknowledge the kind of wonderful response this film has received for fear of becoming addicted to it, so suffice it to say, it's been really nice," said Fincher, whose film also won the Globes for screenplay for Aaron Sorkin and musical score for Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Sorkin, creator of TV's The West Wing, had kind words for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network.

"Mark Zuckerberg, if you're watching, Rooney Mara makes a prediction at the beginning of the movie. She was wrong. You turned out to be a great entrepreneur, a great visionary and an incredible altruist," he said.

But it was a night with something for almost everybody, as most key films came away with prizes. The main snub was for the sci-fi blockbuster Inception, a best-drama contender that had four nominations but lost them all. Johnny Depp, who had two nominations for best musical or comedy actor, also left empty-handed.

Portman's win as a ballerina coming unhinged amid a production of Swan Lake sets her up for a two-woman showdown for best actress at next month's Oscars with Bening.

Portman thanked the film's choreographer, her fiance Benjamin Millepied, with whom she's expecting a child. He also appears in the movie.

The buzz on Globes weekend was not only about likely winners, but also about a lawsuit filed last week by a former longtime publicist for the Globes claiming the organisation that runs the show, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, engages in payola schemes for nominations and awards.

The HFPA, a group of about 90 reporters covering show business for overseas outlets, has denied the claims.

Ricky Gervais returned as Globes host for the second-straight year, pulling few punches as the night progressed.

As well as joking that Globe voters accepted bribes, he mocked Hugh Hefner, Charlie Sheen, Cher, Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Scientologists and Robert Downey jnr, among others.

- AP