David Cronenberg’s feature Eastern Promises leads a strong Canuck contingent going into the 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards, scoring three nominations, including best motion picture drama, revealed Thursday morning at a press conference held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in Los Angeles.

Promises will vie for the coveted prize against American Gangster, Atonement, The Great Debaters, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood. It also landed a best dramatic actor nod for Viggo Mortensen for his portrayal of a mysterious Russian mobster in London. Canadian Howard Shore, a longtime Cronenberg collaborator, was short-listed for best original score.

Cronenberg’s previous film, A History of Violence, was also nominated for the top prize. Promises, which has made $40 million worldwide, is produced by the U.K.’s Paul Webster and Canada’s Robert Lantos, whose earlier film Being Julia netted a Golden Globe Award for lead actress Annette Bening.

Meanwhile, as was expected, venerable British actress Julie Christie got the nod for her performance as an Alzheimer’s victim in Sarah Polley’s drama Away from Her.

Twenty-year-old Nova Scotian Ellen Page is nominated in the female comedy/musical acting category for her turn as a pregnant girl in the yet-to-be-widely-released U.S. indie film Juno. The TIFF hit, directed by Montreal-born Jason Reitman, is up for three awards, including best comedy or musical film.

The Golden Globes are widely considered to be a harbinger for the Academy Awards.

Over on the TV side, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, an HBO MOW western that shot in and around Calgary, took three nominations, including best miniseries or TV movie, and actor noms for two of its Canuck cast members, lead Adam Beach and supporting player Anna Paquin. The production previously won best MOW at the Emmys.

Other nominated Canadian actors include Boston Legal‘s William Shatner and Dirty Sexy Money‘s Donald Sutherland, both cited in the supporting-actor category for a series, mini, or TV movie.

The Ireland/Canada copro The Tudors, airing on CBC and involving Peace Arch Entertainment, received two noms, for best dramatic TV series and for lead actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

The Golden Globe Awards will take place Jan. 13 in Hollywood, airing domestically on CTV.