A scene from The Social Network, which won four Golden Globe awards. [Global Times]

 

The Mark Zuckerbeg biopic charting the rise of Facebook, The Social Network, won four Golden Globe awards Sunday, including Best Drama, making it a front-runner in Hollywood's Oscar race after sweeping several honors from critics and industry groups in recent weeks.

The film also won the Best Director award for David Fincher, Best Screenplay for writer Aaron Sorkin and Best Musical Score, written by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.

The Social Network recounts the founding of social networking site Facebook, an international phenomenon now with 500 million users that was started in a college dormitory by founder, and billionaire, Zuckerberg.

Zuckerburg did not cooperate with the movie's makers, and the film is acknowledged as a piece of fiction, though based on a non-fiction book, The Accidental Billionaires.

Nevertheless, producer Scott Rudin and Sorkin pointed out that Zuckerberg's creation has changed the way the world communicates.

"I want to thank everyone at Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg for [their] willingness to use his life and work as a metaphor for communication and the way we relate to each other," Rudin told the audience.

Another big Golden Globe winner was The Kids Are All Right, which featured two lesbian parents whose children search for their sperm donor father. Kids also picked up the award for Best Actress in a Film Comedy for star Annette Bening, who portrayed one of the mothers.

Best Actor Colin Firth. [Global Times]

 

British actor Colin Firth was named Best Actor in a Film Drama for his portrayal of a stuttering King George VI in The King's Speech, while Natalie Portman took home the female Golden Globe counterpart with Black Swan.

Backstage, Firth was asked about his chances for an Oscar in the same role, but declined to comment directly.

Tips in Oscar Race

The Golden Globe Awards, which are given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), are one of the major Hollywood shows leading to the industry's most-prized honors, the Academy Awards or Oscars, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Many film-industry watchers look to Golden Globes and other honors for clues as to which films, performers, directors and writers might win on Oscars night. This year, The Social Network has swept many early honors and added Golden Globes to its cache of trophies.

In other Golden Globe honors, Paul Giamatti won the prize for Best Actor in a Comedy Film for his caustic role in Barney's Version.

Boxing drama The Fighter picked up two Globes for Christian Bale, as supporting actor, portraying a drug-addicted pugilist and Melissa Leo (Supporting Actress) as his mother.