Stars arrive for Golden Globe Awards

Leonardo DiCaprio arriving at the Golden Globes Awards.

A parade of limousines pulled up outside the Golden Globe Awards today spilling stars like Leonardo DiCaprio onto the red carpet for the first major show of Hollywood's award season.

The Golden Globes, given out by about 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are seen around the world and often provide hints on which films might be nominated for Oscars, the top film honors in the United States given in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In the past, many winners here have also earned Oscars, and this year the race for awards has been particularly wide open, with several films competing for top honors.

Unlike the Oscars, which has one category for the year's best film, Golden Globe voters divide top movie honours into two categories, best film musical or comedy, and best film drama.

Road comedy Sideways, about two middle-aged men looking for love in California's wine country, has been a favorite of critics, but at the Golden Globes it is seeing competition for best musical or comedy film from animated film The Incredibles and musical Ray, which stars Jamie Foxx as the soul singing legend Ray Charles.

Also competing for best film musical or comedy are quirky romance, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Phantom of the Opera, based on the popular stage play.

Sideways is the most-nominated film at the Golden Globes, with seven nominations to six for The Aviator, a biographical tale of eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, which is competing for best film drama.

Leonardo DiCaprio, who portrays Hughes, told reporters on the red carpet that what fascinated him most about Hughes were the varied paths Hughes took in life, from Hollywood director to record-setting pilot and billionaire businessman.

"He was one of the most ready-made complicated characters I'd read about in my life," DiCaprio said. "He fit 20 lifetimes into one."

Aviator faces tight competition from actor/director Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, about the struggle of a female boxer, portrayed by Hilary Swank, to become a champion, and from another critical hit, Finding Neverland, about the writing of Peter Pan.

Also in that category are relationship drama Closer, African genocide movie, Hotel Rwanda, and Kinsey, about the life of sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, starring Liam Neeson.

Awards website Goldderby.com, which polls movie writers, tips The Aviator to win best drama at 6:5 odds, followed by Finding Neverland at 5:2 and Million Dollar Baby at 3:1. For best musical or comedy, the website has Sideways at 4:5 odds, The Incredibles at 5:2 and Ray at 5:1.

Golden Globe voters also give awards to film actors and actresses; unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes also honours television shows, actors and actresses.

- REUTERS