- NBC sitcom stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler host Golden Globes
- Affleck, Bigelow, Lee, Spielberg and Tarantino are best film director nominees
- Singer Adele walks her first red carpet since birth of her son
Los Angeles (CNN) -- Hollywood's 2013 awards season kicks off with a big dinner party and 26 trophies at the 70th annual Golden Globes show Sunday night.
With NBC sitcom stars Tina Fey and Amy Poehler sharing the hosting duties, the onstage humor is expected to be less brutal toward the celebrities than in the past two years when British comedian Ricky Gervais turned the show into a roast.
Thanks to the free-flowing alcohol, the mood in the Beverly Hilton ballroom is traditionally more relaxed than at the Academy Awards, but the lineup of stars is just as impressive.
George Clooney, one of the producers of "Argo," said he planned to wait until after he finishes his presenter duties before drinking. "I've learned to wait," Clooney said. "I have had a drink before I presented, and it was a disaster."
"Argo," starring Ben Affleck, who also directed it, is nominated for five Globes, including best picture drama. The other contenders are Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" and Ang Lee's "Life of Pi."
Affleck, Bigelow, Lee, Spielberg and Tarantino are also the five nominees for best movie director.
The best actor in a drama movie category includes Daniel Day-Lewis for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, Denzel Washington for "Flight," Richard Gere for "Arbitrage," John Hawkes for "The Sessions" and Joaquin Phoenix for "The Master."
The best actress in a drama movie contender include Helen Mirren for her role as Alfred Hitchcock's wife in "Hitchcock," Jessica Chastain for her portrayal of a CIA analyst in "Zero Dark Thirty," Marion Cotillard for "Rust and Bone," Naomi Watts for "The Impossible" and Rachel Weisz for "The Deep Blue Sea."
The best supporting actor in a movie competition is loaded with A-listers, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz for their work in "Django Unchained," Alan Arkin for his role in "Argo," Tommy Lee Jones in "Lincoln" and Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master."
Sally Field, who played the first lady in "Lincoln," is nominated in the best supporting actress in a movie category. Other nominees are Amy Adams for "The Master," Anne Hathaway for "Les Miserables," Helen Hunt for "The Sessions" and Nicole Kidman for "The Paperboy."
The Golden Globes put put comedy and musicals in a separate category. Nominees include "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," "Les Miserables," "Moonrise Kingdom," "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" and "Silver Linings Playbook."
Unlike the Oscars, the Globes also honor television with 11 awards.
Hosts Fey and Poehler are also nominees, competing against each other in the best actress in a TV comedy series category.
Adele, who has not been seen on a red carpet since she gave birth to a son last October, is in the ballroom to learn whether she will beat Taylor Swift in the best original song in a movie competition.
The Globes launch the award season, which includes the Screen Actors Guild awards in two weeks, followed by the Grammys two weeks later and culminates on February 24 with the Academy Awards.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which includes a group of about 85 writers affiliated with publications outside of the United States, selected the nominees and winners of the Globes.
