Keira Knightley Ready to Party at Golden Globes

By Stephen M. Silverman and Lisa Ingrassia
Photo by: Gilbert Flores / Celebrity Photo

Keira Knightley is ready to party – with her cast and crew of Atonement, which topped the list of Golden Globe nominees on Thursday, with seven nods, including one for herself and another for her leading man, James McAvoy, as well as for the WWII drama itself, as best picture.

"It's just so exciting that we've got nominated in so many categories," the British actress, 22, tells the Associated Press. "There's such a big group of us that can get to go together. It will be a real celebration for the film. It will be a wonderful night."
Atonement's supporting actress nominee Saoirse Ronan is all of 13
years old. The Dublin-born teen, currently in Pennsylvania to shoot her new movie The Lovely Bones, tells PEOPLE: "I started doing films two years ago [but] I never expected anything like this would happen. It's really lovely."
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Staying Grounded
Regarding any career advice Knightley might have given her, Ronan says, "When we were in Venice [for the film festival], she let my dad know that there was going to be a lot of events and that I should keep myself grounded, and I think that's the best advice that anyone in Keira's position can give you."
As for the reaction from her school pals, Ronan says, "You really find out who your friends are, because they stick by you and they don't act all strange. But I have really supportive friends and no matter how long I've been gone, they treat me like I've been there all along."

Scottish actor McAvoy, 28, for whom Atonement provides a star-making role, says in a statement, "It's a huge thrill to see [the film] embraced by the" Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Kudos to Viggo
Viggo Mortensen was also nominated for his dramatic leading role, in Eastern Promises. Congratulating his leading man, the film's director, David Cronenberg, said, "For me, there was only one actor who could powerfully convey the lead character Nikolai's many subtleties." The nomination for the 49-year-old actor is, according to Cronenberg, "perfect and exciting."

Not that all is merry and bright in Hollywood. With the strike by the Writers' Guild of America now more than a month old, and with no solution yet in sight, Grey's Anatomy nominee Katherine Heigl, 29, tells Entertainment Tonight, "I'm not crossing the picket line – not unless I'm contractually obliged to do so – which [with] the Golden Globes I'm not."

The Globes are due to be broadcast over NBC on Jan. 13.