George Clooney is nominated as Best Actor in a Drama for 'Up in the Air', which also was nominated for Best Picture and four other Golden Globes. (AP)

This year’s nominees for the Golden Globes
Photos of Golden Globes nominees

The recession-era tale “Up in the Air” led Golden Globe film contenders Tuesday with six nominations, among them best drama and acting honors for George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick.

Other drama picks were the space fantasy “Avatar,” the Iraq War tale “The Hurt Locker,” the World War II saga “Inglourious Basterds” and the Harlem drama “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

The musical “Nine” ran second with five nominations, including best musical or comedy and acting slots for Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz and Marion Cotillard.

Also competing for musical or comedy are the romance “(500) Days of Summer,” the bachelor-party bash “The Hangover” and two Meryl Streep films, “It’s Complicated” and “Julie & Julia.”

“Up in the Air” generally has been considered a comedy, but its inclusion in the drama category could give it more weight as a potential favorite for the Academy Awards, where dramatic films tend to dominate.

Playing a frequent-flyer junkie in “Up in the Air,” Clooney had a nomination for best dramatic actor, along with Jeff Bridges as a boozy country singer in “Crazy Heart,” Colin Firth as a grieving gay academic in “A Single Man,” Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela in “Invictus” and Tobey Maguire as a prisoner of war in “Brothers.”

Streep had two nominations for musical or comedy actress, as chef Julia Child in “Julie & Julia” and a woman in an affair with her ex-husband in “It’s Complicated.”

Sandra Bullock also had two nominations, as dramatic actress in the football story “The Blind Side” and as a dragon-lady boss forcing her assistant to pose as her fiance in “The Proposal.”

Other dramatic actress nominees were Emily Blunt as Britain’s monarch in her early reign in “The Young Victoria,” Helen Mirren as the imperious wife of Leo Tolstoy in “The Last Station,” Carey Mulligan as a 1960s British teen in an affair with an older man in “An Education” and Gabourey Sidibe as an illiterate, abused teen turning her life around in “Precious.”

The 67th annual Globes will be handed out Jan. 17 at ceremony hosted by British comic actor Ricky Gervais.

Hollywood’s second biggest film honors after the Academy Awards, the Globes are a key ceremony that sort out the prospects leading up to the Oscar nominations Feb. 2.

The Globes come six days before nomination voting closes for the Oscars. Globe winners can get a last-minute bump for an Oscar nomination, particularly on smaller films such as 1999′s “Boys Don’t Cry,” whose Globe triumph for Hilary Swank helped put her on the map for a best-actress win at the Oscars.

Last year’s best drama winner at the Globes, “Slumdog Millionaire,” went on to win best picture and dominate at the Oscars. Other Globe recipients who followed with Oscar wins included Heath Ledger as supporting actor for “The Dark Knight” and Kate Winslet, who won supporting actress at the Globes for “The Reader” and best actress for that film at the Oscars.

The Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 85 critics and reporters for overseas outlets.

The nominees are…

 Nominees for the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards, announced Tuesday in Beverly Hills, Calif.:

MOTION PICTURES

—Picture, Drama: “Avatar,” ”The Hurt Locker,” ”Inglorious Basterds,” ”Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” ”Up in the Air.”

—Picture, Musical or Comedy: “(500) Days of Summer,” ”The Hangover,” ”It’s Complicated,” ”Julie & Julia,” ”Nine.”

—Actor, Drama: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”; George Clooney, “Up in the Air”; Colin Firth, “A Single Man”; Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”; Tobey Maguire, “Brothers.”

—Actress, Drama: Emily Blunt, “The Young Victoria”; Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”; Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”; Carey Mulligan, “An Education”; Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

—Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”; James Cameron, “Avatar”; Clint Eastwood, “Invictus”; Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”; Quentin Tarantino, “Inglorious Basterds.”

—Actor, Musical or Comedy: Matt Damon, “The Informant!”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “Nine”; Robert Downey Jr., “Sherlock Holmes”; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “(500) Days of Summer”; Michael Stuhlbarg, “A Serious Man.”

—Actress, Musical or Comedy: Sandra Bullock, “The Proposal”; Marion Cotillard, “Nine”; Julia Roberts, “Duplicity”; Meryl Streep, “It’s Complicated”; Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia.”

—Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, “Invictus”; Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”; Christopher Plummer, “The Last Station”; Stanley Tucci, “The Lovely Bones”; Christoph Waltz, “Inglorious Basterds.”

—Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Nine”; Vera Farmiga, “Up in the Air”; Anna Kendrick, “Up in the Air”; Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”; Julianne Moore, “A Single Man.”

—Foreign Language: “Baaria,” ”Broken Embraces,” ”The Maid (La Nana),” ”A Prophet,” ”The White Ribbon.”

—Animated Film: “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” ”Coraline,” ”Fantastic Mr. Fox,” ”The Princess and the Frog,” ”Up.”

—Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp, “District 9″; Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker”; Nancy Meyers, “It’s Complicated”; Jason Reitman, “Up in the Air”; Quentin Tarantino, “Inglorious Basterds.”

—Original Score: Michael Giacchino, “Up”; Marvin Hamlisch, “The Informant!”; James Horner, “Avatar”; Abel Korzeniowski, “A Single Man”; Karen O, Carter Burwell, “Where the Wild Things Are.”

—Original Song: “Cinema Italiano” (written by Maury Yeston), “Nine”; “I Want to Come Home” (written by Paul McCartney); “Everybody’s Fine”; “I Will See You” (written by James Horner, Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell); “Avatar”; “The Weary Kind (Theme from ‘Crazy Heart’)” (written by Ryan Bingham, T Bone Burnett); “Crazy Heart”; “Winter” (written by U2), “Brothers.”

TELEVISION:

—Series, Drama: “Big Love,” HBO; “Dexter,” Showtime; “House,” Fox; “Mad Men,” AMC; “True Blood, HBO.

—Actor, Drama: Simon Baker, “The Mentalist”; Michael C. Hall, “Dexter”; Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”; Hugh Laurie, “House”; Bill Paxton, “Big Love”

—Actress, Drama: Glenn Close, “Damages”; January Jones, “Mad Men”; Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”; Anna Paquin, “True Blood”; Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer.”

—Series, Musical or Comedy: “30 Rock,” NBC; “Entourage,” HBO; “Glee,” Fox; “Modern Family,” ABC; “The Office,” NBC.

—Actor, Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”; Steve Carell, “The Office”; David Duchovny, “Californication”; Thomas Jane, “Hung”; Matthew Morrison, “Glee.”

—Actress, Musical or Comedy: Toni Collette, “United States of Tara”; Courteney Cox, “Cougar Town”; Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”; Tina Fey, “30 Rock”; Lea Michele, “Glee.”

—Miniseries or Movie: “Georgia O’Keeffe,” Lifetime Television; “Grey Gardens,” HBO; “Into the Storm,” HBO; “Little Dorrit,” PBS; “Taking Chance,” HBO.

—Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Joan Allen, “Georgia O’Keeffe”; Drew Barrymore, “Grey Gardens”; Jessica Lange, “Grey Gardens”; Anna Paquin, “The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler”; Sigourney Weaver, “Prayers for Bobby.”

—Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Kevin Bacon, “Taking Chance”; Kenneth Branagh, “Wallander: One Step Behind”; Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Endgame”; Brendan Gleeson, “Into the Storm”; Jeremy Irons, “Georgia O’Keeffe.”

—Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Jane Adams, “Hung”; Rose Byrne, “Damages”; Jane Lynch, “Glee”; Janet McTeer, “Into the Storm”; Chloe Sevigny, “Big Love,”

—Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie: Michael Emerson, “Lost”; Neil Patrick Harris, “How I Met Your Mother”; William Hurt, “Damages”; John Lithgow, “Dexter”; Jeremy Piven, “Entourage.”

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED

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