The Golden Globes may be a bit of a pointless dog & pony show (it’s essentially about Hollywood trying to line up Oscar nominations, with the rest of us caught up in that), but they’ve certainly grown into a big deal in the public consciousness. The nominations for the 2012 ceremony have now been announced and there’s a pretty good showing for LGBT-themed movies.

Overall, the most notable thing is how ecumenical the nominations list is, with a large amount of films getting a look in and nothing jumping forward as an obvious frontrunner. The Artist got the most noms though, with six, and so now has to be seen as having a good shot of picking up the big gong, although whether the silent movie can go on to Oscar success is less certain.

On the LGBT front, Christopher Plummer scored a Best Supporting Actor nomination as an elderly gay man in Beginners, continuing a march many believe could end with him picking up an Oscar. Also making a decent Golden Globe showing was Albert Nobbs, with Glenn Close nominated for Best Actress – Drama for playing the title character, who was born female but lives as a man in 19th Century Ireland. Janet McTeer was also nominated for the movie in the Best Supporting Actress category. And just to ensure an even stronger LGBT showing in the acting categories, Leo DiCaprio was nominated for playing the closeted J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood’s biopic of the FBI chief.

As for real-life LGBT actors, bisexual Tilda Swinton was nominated for Best Actress in We Need To Talk About Kevin, Jodie Foster scored a nomination for Carnage and Pedro Almodovar’s The Skin I Live In picked up a nod in the Best Foreign Language Film category,

Take a look at all the nominations in the film categories below:

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
The Artist
Bridesmaids
50/50
Midnight in Paris
My Week with Marilyn

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
George Clooney for The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio for J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender for Shame
Ryan Gosling for The Ides of March
Brad Pitt for Moneyball

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Nominees:
Glenn Close for Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis for The Help
Rooney Mara for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Jean Dujardin for The Artist
Brendan Gleeson for The Guard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for 50/50
Ryan Gosling for Crazy, Stupid, Love.
Owen Wilson for Midnight in Paris

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy
Nominees:
Jodie Foster for Carnage
Charlize Theron for Young Adult
Kristen Wiig for Bridesmaids
Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn
Kate Winslet for Carnage

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Kenneth Branagh for My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks for Drive
Jonah Hill for Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen for A Dangerous Method
Christopher Plummer for Beginners

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Nominees:
Bérénice Bejo for The Artist
Jessica Chastain for The Help
Janet McTeer for Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer for The Help
Shailene Woodley for The Descendants

Best Director – Motion Picture
Nominees:
Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris
George Clooney for The Ides of March
Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist
Alexander Payne for The Descendants
Martin Scorsese for Hugo

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Nominees:
The Artist: Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Ides of March: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Midnight in Paris: Woody Allen
Moneyball: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
Nominees:
Albert Nobbs(“Lay Your Head Down”)
Gnomeo & Juliet: Elton John, Bernie Taupin(“Hello Hello”)
The Help: Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Harvey Mason Jr.(“The Living Proof”)
Machine Gun Preacher(“The Keeper”)
W.E.(“Masterpiece”)

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
Nominees:
The Artist: Ludovic Bource
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Hugo: Howard Shore
War Horse: John Williams
W.E.: Abel Korzeniowski

Best Animated Film
Nominees:
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
Arthur Christmas
Cars 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Best Foreign Language Film
Nominees:
The Flowers of War
In the Land of Blood and Honey
The Kid with a Bike
A Separation
The Skin I Live In

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