LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - They were joking about it on the set of "The Adjustment Bureau," where freshly minted Globes nominee Emily Blunt was working with Matt Damon, who scored a double whammy Tuesday with nominations for the comedy "The Informant!" and the drama "Invictus."
"I'm working with Matt today, who's got a doubleheader," Blunt said with a laugh, "so I just gave him hell because he's apparently trying to steal my thunder. He's the worst."
Elsewhere, not everyone was laughing as the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. tossed multiple nominations to a lucky few while other awards hopefuls went hungry.
The biggest beneficiary of the HFPA's largesse was Sandra Bullock, who will have to brace herself for two envelope openings since she received two nominations -- for drama actress for playing a benevolent suburban mom in "The Blind Side" and for comedy actress for her role as a hard-driving exec who finds herself in an engagement of convenience in "The Proposal."
"I am beyond stunned," Bullock said. "Just to be included in the company of these amazing women I have so admired through the years has left me slack-jawed with awe."
Bullock wasn't the only actress who double-dipped. Perennial favorite Meryl Streep picked up two comedy actress noms, for "Julie & Julia" and "It's Complicated."
That meant something had to give: Saoirse Ronan, the 15-year-old actress who recounts her murder from a heavenly perch in "The Lovely Bones," was among those nominated as best actress Monday by the Broadcast Film Critics Assn., but she failed to win over the HFPA. Similarly, Abbie Cornish, who has been nominated for a British Independent Film Award for her performance as John Keats' muse in "Bright Star," also was among the missing on Tuesday.
And on the comedy side, all that love lavished on Streep and Bullock may have left Zooey Deschanel without a chair when the music stopped -- even though her co-star in "(500) Days of Summer," Joseph Gordon-Levitt, earned himself a nomination as best comedy actor.
Since the Globes spotlight 10 movies in their two top categories, but then nominate only five directors, inevitably a lot of helmsmen are missing in action. This year, that dubious honor fell to Lee Daniels, the one director of a best drama nominated film who didn't make it into the directing circle. None of the directors of the comedy/musical nominees made the grade, with the biggest omission "Nine's" Rob Marshall, since his Italian-flavored musical sung its way to five nominations and Marshall was nominated for his previous musical, 2002's "Chicago."
Clint Eastwood faced the opposite problem: A Globes golden boy, he was nominated for directing "Invictus," for which Morgan Freeman and Damon got their acting mentions, but his politically minded sports drama wasn't accorded a best drama slot.
Two years ago, Joel and Ethan Coen shared in four nominations -- and three eventual wins -- for "No Country for Old Men." This year, it was Joel and Ethan Who? as their latest film, "A Serious Man," earned just one nomination (for its leading man, Michael Stuhlbarg). And while Jeremy Renner recently earned a Breakthrough Award at the Gotham Awards for his grace under fire in "The Hurt Locker," he wasn't granted a Globes ticket, even though "Locker" logged three nods.
And then there's the case of Alec Baldwin. With seven previous Globe noms and two wins (for "30 Rock") under his belt, he was widely expected to pick up a supporting film actor nomination for his self-exposing comic turn in "Complicated." Instead, he got yet another nomination for "30 Rock."
Good thing he's already lined up that gig as co-host of the Oscars.