By Anthony Breznican
The Associated Press

The movie musical Chicago received a leading eight Golden Globe nominations Thursday, while The Hours earned seven and Adaptation six.

Along with Chicago and Adaptation, a comedy of in-jokes about its writers' attempts to fashion its screenplay, movies competing for best musical or comedy were the Dickens classic Nicholas Nickleby, Hugh Grant's About a Boy and the crowd-pleasing My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Besides The Hours - a three-tiered story about women whose lives are linked to a novel by Virginia Woolf - the contenders for best film drama were the Jack Nicholson road-trip saga About Schmidt, director Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York, the fantasy sequel The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Roman Polanski's The Pianist.

In television, The Sopranos and The West Wing competed again for best drama along with Six Feet Under, The Shield and 24. TV comedy nominees were The Simpsons, Will & Grace, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Friends.

Meryl Streep received two film nominations, competing with The Hours co-star Nicole Kidman for best dramatic actress, and in the supporting actress category for Adaptation.

Other dramatic actress nominees were Salma Hayek for Frida, Diane Lane for Unfaithful and Julianne Moore for Far From Heaven.

Mr. Nicholson's turn as a bedraggled widower in "About Schmidt" earned him a dramatic actor mention, along with Leonardo DiCaprio as a con artist in "Catch Me If You Can," Daniel Day-Lewis' crime lord in Gangs of New York, Michael Caine's weary journalist in The Quiet American and Adrien Brody as a musician evading Nazis in The Pianist.

"Thank God," Mr. Caine told E! . "I always feel it's a miracle."

The 69-year-old actor has been nominated for Golden Globes 11 times before, and won three: for 1983's Educating Rita, the 1988 TV movie Jack the Ripper and 1998's Little Voice.

Nicolas Cage's role as screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and his fictional twin brother in Adaptation placed him against Mr. Grant in About a Boy, Kieran Culkin in Igby Goes Down, Richard Gere in Chicago and Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love in the comedic or musical actor category.

Besides Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Chicago, nominees for actress in a musical or comedy were Nia Vardalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Goldie Hawn in The Banger Sisters and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary.

Golden Globe nominees are chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's roughly 90 members, who cover Hollywood for overseas publications. The awards are in 13 movie and 11 television categories, and will be awarded Jan. 19 during telecast on NBC.

They are regarded by some as indicators of front-runners for the Academy Award nominations in February.

HBO led television networks with 26 nominations for its shows The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the movies Path to War, Live from Baghdad and The Gathering Storm. NBC had 13, followed by Fox with seven and CBS and FX with three each. ABC and TNT had two apiece.

Nominees

This is the complete list of nominees for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Golden Globe Awards, to be presented Jan. 19:

Movies

Picture, Drama: About Schmidt, Gangs of New York, The Hours, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Pianist.

Actress, Drama: Salma Hayek, Frida; Nicole Kidman, The Hours; Diane Lane, Unfaithful; Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven; Meryl Streep, The Hours.

Actor, Drama: Adrien Brody, The Pianist; Michael Caine, The Quiet American; Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York; Leonardo DiCaprio, Catch Me If You Can; Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt.

Picture, Musical or Comedy: About a Boy, Adaptation, Chicago, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nicholas Nickleby.

Actress, Musical or Comedy: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Secretary; Goldie Hawn, The Banger Sisters; Nia Vardalos, My Big Fat Greek Wedding; Renee Zellweger, Chicago; Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago.

Actor, Musical or Comedy: Nicolas Cage, Adaptation; Kieran Culkin, Igby Goes Down; Richard Gere, Chicago; Hugh Grant, About a Boy; Adam Sandler, Punch-Drunk Love.

Foreign Language: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, France; City of God, Brazil; The Crime of Father Amaro (El Crimen del Padre Amaro), Mexico; Hero, China; Nowhere in Africa, Germany; Talk to Her, Spain.

Supporting Actress: Kathy Bates, About Schmidt; Cameron Diaz, Gangs of New York; Queen Latifah, Chicago; Susan Sarandon, Igby Goes Down; Meryl Streep, Adaptation.

Supporting Actor: Chris Cooper, Adaptation; Ed Harris, The Hours; Paul Newman, Road to Perdition; Dennis Quaid, Far From Heaven; John C. Reilly, Chicago.

Director: Stephen Daldry, The Hours; Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; Spike Jonze, Adaptation; Rob Marshall, Chicago; Alexander Payne, About Schmidt; Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York.

Screenplay: Bill Condon, Chicago; David Hare, The Hours; Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven; Charlie Kaufman and Donald Kaufman, Adaptation; Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, About Schmidt.

Original Score: Elmer Bernstein, Far From Heaven; Terence Blanchard, 25th Hour; Peter Gabriel, Rabbit-Proof Fence; Philip Glass, The Hours; Elliot Goldenthal, Frida.

Original Song: "Die Another Day" from Die Another Day by Madonna; "Father and Daughter" from The Wild Thornberrys Movie by Paul Simon; "The Hands That Built America" from Gangs of New York by U2; "Here I Am" from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron by Hans Zimmer, Bryan Adams and Gretchen Peters; "Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile, by Eminem.

Television

Drama Series: 24, Fox; The Shield, FX; Six Feet Under, HBO; The Sopranos, HBO; The West Wing, NBC.

Actress, Drama: Edie Falco, The Sopranos; Jennifer Garner, Alias; Rachel Griffiths, Six Feet Under; Marg Helgenberger, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; Allison Janney, The West Wing.

Actor, Drama: Michael Chiklis, The Shield; James Gandolfini, The Sopranos; Peter Krause, Six Feet Under; Martin Sheen, The West Wing; Kiefer Sutherland, 24.

Musical or Comedy Series: Curb Your Enthusiasm, HBO; Friends, NBC; Sex and the City, HBO; The Simpsons, Fox; Will & Grace, NBC.

Actor, Musical or Comedy Series: Larry David, Curb Your Enthusiasm; Matt LeBlanc, Friends; Bernie Mac, The Bernie Mac Show; Eric McCormack, Will & Grace; Tony Shalhoub, Monk.

Actress, Musical or Comedy Series: Jennifer Aniston, Friends; Bonnie Hunt, Life With Bonnie; Jane Kaczmarek, Malcolm in the Middle; Debra Messing, Will & Grace; Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City.

Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: The Gathering Storm, HBO; Live From Baghdad, HBO; Path to War, HBO; Shackleton, A&E; Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken, Sci Fi.

Actress, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: Helena Bonham Carter, Live From Baghdad; Shirley MacLaine, Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay; Helen Mirren, Door to Door; Vanessa Redgrave, The Gathering Storm; Uma Thurman, Hysterical Blindness.

Actor, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: Albert Finney, The Gathering Storm; Michael Gambon, Path to War; Michael Keaton, Live From Baghdad; William H. Macy, Door to Door; Linus Roache, RFK.

Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: Kim Cattrall, Sex and the City; Megan Mullally, Will & Grace; Cynthia Nixon, Sex and the City; Parker Posey, Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay; Gena Rowlands, Hysterical Blindness.

Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or Movie Made for Television: Alec Baldwin, Path to War; Jim Broadbent, The Gathering Storm; Bryan Cranston, Malcolm in the Middle; Sean Hayes, Will & Grace; Dennis Haysbert, 24; Michael Imperioli, The Sopranos; John Spencer, The West Wing; Donald Sutherland, Path to War; Bradley Whitford, The West Wing.