Milk Snubbed by Golden Globes

Long thought a shoo-in for Best Picture and Original Screenplay nominations, Milk was snubbed by the Golden Globes in both categories when the nominees were announced Thursday. The film scored one nomination -- for actor Sean Penn.

Penn plays the late San Francisco gay rights activist Harvey Milk in the film. His costars James Franco and Josh Brolin have also been nominated for acting awards this season and were notably missing from the list of Globe nominees.

The Golden Globe nominations are frequently a predictor of Academy Award nominees. Milk's snub comes as a particular surprise on the heels of its being named Best Film by the New York Film Critics earlier this week.

Alan Ball's new HBO series True Blood won nominations for Best Television Drama Series and for its star, Anna Paquin. Neil Patrick Harris was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television for his portrayal of the womanizer Barney in How I Met Your Mother. Out director Tommy O'Haver's film An American Crime, the true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s, garnered Catherine Keener a nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television. Ralph Fiennes was also nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for playing the gay butler to heiress Doris Duke in the HBO film Bernard and Doris.

The nominees were announced by Brooke Shields, Elizabeth Banks, Rainn Wilson, and Terrence Howard. The Today show aired a portion of that announcement live. (Advocate.com)