`Chicago' receives a leading 8 Golden Globe nominations; `The Hours' 7 and `Adaptation' 6

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) _ The movie musical ``Chicago'' received a leading eight Golden Globe nominations Thursday, while ``The Hours'' got seven and ``Adaptation'' six. <br><br>Along

Thursday, December 19th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) _ The movie musical ``Chicago'' received a leading eight Golden Globe nominations Thursday, while ``The Hours'' got 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, perennial award nominees ``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.''

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,'' Caine told E! in a phone interview from England. ``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 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.''

Directing nominees were Scorsese for ``Gangs of New York,'' Peter Jackson for ``The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,'' Stephen Daldry for ``The Hours,'' Spike Jonze for ``Adaptation,'' Rob Marshall for ``Chicago'' and Alexander Payne for ``About Schmidt.''

In a blur between reality and fiction, Kaufman was credited along with his fictional twin brother ``Donald'' in the screenplay category for ``Adaptation.'' Also nominated: Bill Condon for adapting the stage musical ``Chicago,'' David Hare for ``The Hours,'' Todd Haynes for ``Far From Heaven,'' and Payne and Jim Taylor for ``About Schmidt.''

Kathy Bates in ``About Schmidt,'' Cameron Diaz in ``Gangs of New York,'' Queen Latifah in ``Chicago'' and Susan Sarandon in ``Igby Goes Down'' joined Streep in the supporting actress category.

Supporting actor nominees were Chris Cooper for ``Adaptation,'' Ed Harris for ``The Hours,'' Paul Newman for ``Road to Perdition,'' Dennis Quaid for ``Far From Heaven'' and John C. Reilly for ``Chicago.''

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 a live 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.