"We are very thrilled," said Rachel Weisz, costar of "The Constant Gardener." "It was an August movie and you never know if you will be remembered, but it seemed to have been. I think it is an important film."

Joining Crowe, Ledger and Hoffman in the best dramatic actor category were "Hustle & Flow's" Terrence Howard and "Good Night, and Good Luck's" David Strathairn.

Nominated alongside Zhang for best dramatic actress were Maria Bello for "A History of Violence," Felicity Huffman for "Transamerica," Gwyneth Paltrow for "Proof" and Charlize Theron for "North Country."

Because there are so few Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. journalists voting for the Golden Globes, there often are ties that yield six — rather than five — nominations in a given category, which happened this year in four categories, including the directing and comedy or musical actor races.

The six best comedy or musical actor nominees were "The Matador's" Pierce Brosnan, "The Squid and the Whale's" Jeff Daniels, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's" Johnny Depp, "Breakfast on Pluto's" Cillian Murphy, "Walk the Line's" Joaquin Phoenix and Nathan Lane from "The Producers."

The musical or comedy actress nominees were Judi Dench in "Mrs. Henderson Presents," Keira Knightley for "Pride & Prejudice," Laura Linney for "The Squid and the Whale," Sarah Jessica Parker in "The Family Stone" and Reese Witherspoon for "Walk the Line."

Competing against Lee, Spielberg and Jackson for best director (among the categories not bifurcated between dramas and comedies) were "Match Point's" Allen, "Good Night, and Good Luck's" George Clooney and "The Constant Gardener's" Fernando Meirelles.

Clooney received three nominations in all, including one for best supporting actor for his work in "Syriana." He will face Matt Dillon from "Crash," Will Ferrell in "The Producers," Bob Hoskins in "Mrs. Henderson Presents" and Giamatti for "Cinderella Man."

The nominees for best supporting actress were "Match Point's" Scarlett Johansson, "North Country's" Frances McDormand, "The Constant Gardener's" Weisz, "Brokeback Mountain's" Michelle Williams and Shirley MacLaine for "In Her Shoes."

The HFPA voters have largely succeeded in overcoming their reputation for celebrating mediocre or arcane movies and performances and accepting potentially vote-swaying handouts. USA Films famously sent each Globe voter a $295 Coach watchto promote Sharon Stone's work in 1999's "The Muse"; the watches were returned.

This year, Variety reported that Globe voters received a free DVD player as part of the promotion for Chris Rock's television series "Everybody Hates Chris." Globe voters, who later returned the players, nominated the sitcom for best musical or comedy television series.

Among other eyebrow-raising nominations this year was a selection for best song for "Christmas in Love" from an obscure Italian movie of the same name.

The Globes will be presented in Beverly Hill on Jan. 16 in a ceremony to be broadcast on NBC.

Times staff writers Susan King and Rachel Abramowitz contributed to this report.