Golden Globe nominees announced

NEW YORK - "Birdman" is soaring. "Boyhood" keeps growing. "Selma" is on the march. And "Unbroken" is . . . missing in action.

In nominations for the 72nd annual Golden Globes announced yesterday in Beverly Hills, Calif., the season's Oscar favorites largely stayed on course, with Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Birdman" spreading its wings the widest. The comedy, starring Michael Keaton as a has-been Hollywood star trying to mount a serious play on Broadway, led all films with seven nominations, including best picture (comedy or musical), best actor for Keaton and nods for supporting players Edward Norton and Emma Stone.

"Although at times it felt we were flying without a net in this crazy film experiment, this has brought enormous joy to me," said Inarritu, who stitched together the backstage drama with lengthy, graceful shots.

But Richard Linklater's coming-of-age drama "Boyhood," critical darling and perceived Academy Awards front-runner, was close behind with five nominations including best picture (drama), as were the five nods for the World War II code breaker drama "The Imitation Game."

Though the Globes don't have much relevance to Academy Awards, some fortunes did shift.

Jennifer Aniston, fresh off a nomination by the Screen Actors Guild for "Cake," seemed to clearly join the best-actress fray with a nod from the Globes, too. Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel," also honored by SAG, picked up a surprising four nominations, including best picture (comedy or musical) and best actor for Ralph Fiennes. And Angelina Jolie, long a favorite of the Hollywood Foreign Press with seven previous nods, saw her highly touted World War II prestige drama "Unbroken" shut out entirely.

"Selma," the story of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1965 march, netted four nods including best picture (drama) despite losing out in Wednesday's SAGs. The "Selma" team, which also earned a best-actor nomination for David Oyelowo, watched the nominations together while promoting the film yesterday at a Toronto hotel.

Director Ava Duvernay, who became the first black woman nominated for best director by the Globes, has previously attended the awards as a publicist for films like "Dreamgirls."

"This year I'll be at the party with a seat in an actual chair instead of standing on the side. It's going to be thrilling," Duvernay said.

Thus far, "Boyhood," which Linklater filmed intermittently over 12 years to capture the passage of time, has cleaned up with critics and been thrust to the fore by its remarkable time-lapse production. It was nominated for Linklater's direction and script, as well as the supporting performances of Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette.

There were quirks, as there often is with the Hollywood Foreign Press. For her leading turn in "Annie," 11-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis surprisingly landed amid a best actress (comedy or musical) group that includes Julianne Moore ("Maps to the Stars"), Helen Mirren ("The Hundred-Foot Journey"), Amy Adams ("Big Eyes") and Emily Blunt ("Into the Woods").

Moore is considered the favorite for best actress thanks to her performance as a woman with early on-set Alzheimer's in "Still Alice." Along with her and Aniston are Reese Witherspoon ("Wild"), Rosamund Pike ("Gone Girl") and Felicity Jones ("The Theory of Everything") .

Jones' "Theory" co-star, Eddie Redmayne, who stars as Stephen Hawking, was also nominated for best actor. Joining Redmayne and Oyelowo are Steve Carell ("Foxcatcher"), Jake Gyllenhaal ("Nightcrawler") and Benedict Cumberbatch ("The Imitation Game").

The tragic wresting drama "Foxcatcher," which also won Mark Ruffalo a supporting actor nod, rounded out the best drama field.

In the best picture, comedy or musical, category, "Birdman" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" were joined by "St. Vincent," "Into the Woods" and - in a surprise - the independent British film "Pride."

On the outside was Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper," starring a beefed-up Bradley Cooper as Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. It went unnoticed, as did Mike Leigh's J.M.W. Turner biopic "Mr. Turner." Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic "Interstellar" landed a nomination for Hans Zimmer's score.

Fiennes and Keaton were joined in the best actor, comedy or musical, category, by Bill Murray ("St. Vincent") and a few less-expected choices - Joaquin Phoenix for "Inherent Vice" and Christoph Waltz for "Big Eyes."

The Globes, though known for sometimes idiosyncratic choices like "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" or "The Tourist" in years past, secured the attendance of one star - George Clooney - ahead of Thursday's nominations by selecting the actor-director for its honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award.

Meryl Streep added her 26th nomination (eight wins) with a best supporting actress nod for the Stephen Sondheim musical "Into the Woods." She joins Stone, Arquette, Knightley and Jessica Chastain for "A Most Violent Year."