Three with N.C. ties get Globe nods

The British historical romance "Atonement" and the U.S. foreign-policy romp "Charlie Wilson's War" led the film competition in the Golden Globe Award nominations announced Thursday.

In the Globes' TV categories, meanwhile, a trio of stars with North Carolina ties received nods.

Michael C. Hall, who grew up in Raleigh and graduated from Ravenscroft School, was nominated for best actor in a TV drama for his role as the serial-killer police investigator in Showtime's "Dexter."

Kinston native Jaime Pressly received a supporting TV actress nomination as the sassy Joy on "My Name Is Earl." She won her first Emmy Award for the part earlier this year.

And Mary-Louise Parker, a graduate of the N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, was nominated as best actress in a TV comedy for her turn as a marijuana-dealing suburban mother in Showtime's "Weeds."

In the best movie drama category, nominations in addition to "Atonement" are the crime sagas "American Gangster," "Eastern Promises" and "No Country for Old Men," the inspirational college drama "The Great Debaters," the legal drama "Michael Clayton" and the California oil-boom epic "There Will Be Blood." Because of a tie in voting, seven dramatic nominees were picked, rather than the usual five.

Nominated for best comedy or musical film, along with "Charlie Wilson's War," are the movie adaptations of Broadway musicals "Hairspray" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," the teen-pregnancy comedy "Juno" and the Beatles musical "Across the Universe," which starred Raleigh native Evan Rachel Wood.

Adapted from the novel by Ian McEwan, "Atonement" had a leading seven nominations, including dramatic actress and actor for Keira Knightley and James McAvoy,

Joining Knightley in the dramatic actress category are Cate Blanchett for her title role as the British monarch in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." Blanchett also had a supporting-actress nomination for her gender-bending role as an incarnation of Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There." (A cross-dressing role earned John Travolta a supporting-actor nomination for "Hairspray," in which he plays an overweight, homebody housewife.)

Also earning two nominations was Philip Seymour Hoffman, for lead actor in a comedy or musical in the sibling tale "The Savages" and supporting actor for "Charlie Wilson's War."

"Charlie Wilson's War" is a comic look at a congressman (Tom Hanks), a Texas socialite (Julia Roberts) and a slovenly CIA man (Hoffman) who engineered the covert U.S. response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Hanks was cited for best actor in a comedy or musical, while Roberts was nominated as supporting actress.

Denzel Washington, director of "The Great Debaters," had a best dramatic actor nomination for "American Gangster," in which he plays a 1970s Harlem heroin baron. Along with Washington and McAvoy, dramatic-actor nominees are George Clooney in "Michael Clayton," Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" and Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises."

Joining Knightley and Blanchett in the dramatic-actress category are Julie Christie in "Away From Her," Jodie Foster in "The Brave One" and Angelina Jolie in "A Mighty Heart."

Actresses who became instant box-office stars in 2007 earned nominations for best actress in a musical or comedy: Nikki Blonsky as a vivacious Baltimore teen in "Hairspray," Amy Adams as an exiled fairy-tale princess in "Enchanted" and Ellen Page as a sardonic pregnant teen in "Juno." The other nominees in the category are Helena Bonham Carter in "Sweeney Todd" and Marion Cotillard in "La Vie En Rose."

Joining Hanks and Hoffman in the comedic actor category are Johnny Depp as the vengeful barber in "Sweeney Todd," Ryan Gosling as a man in an unusual relationship in "Lars and the Real Girl" and John C. Reilly in the biopic spoof "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story."

The TV categories have a distinct cable feel, with seven of the 11 nominated comedy and drama series hailing from nonbroadcast networks. Series nominees include usual suspects like HBO's "Entourage," along with unexpected contenders like AMC's "Mad Men," FX's "Damages" and Showtime's "Californication."

ABC's critical favorite "Pushing Daisies" was a bright spot for the traditional networks, picking up nominations for best comedy series and for stars Lee Pace and Anna Friel.

The Globes being what they are, the nominations offered up more than a couple of surprises. "Eastern Promises," which hasn't been on the radar for many critical honors, has three nominations. Two of the year's biggest and best-reviewed comedies, "Knocked Up" and "Superbad," were shut out, and aside from a lone nomination for Edie Falco, "The Sopranos" is out of sight, out of mind.