LOS ANGELES — The Civil War epic Lincoln scored a record seven Golden Globe nominations for director Steven Spielberg, including best director, best picture and best actor honors for Daniel Day-Lewis.

It was the most Golden Globe nominations one of his films has ever received, and also included best supporting actor and actress nods fo r To m my Lee Jones and Sally Field, as well as best screenplay and score. By contrast, his 1993 movie Schindler’s List earned six Golden Globe nominations.

Django Unchained and Argo followed with five nominations Thursday morning from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Quentin Tarantino’s slavery Western Django Unchained, which opens Christmas Day, earned nods for best director, best picture and two supportingactor nominations for Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz. Among the nominations for Ben Affleck’s political thriller Argo were nominations for best director, best picture and best supporting actor for Alan Arkin.

The nominations wrap one of the most closely watched weeks of the awards season, which kicked off Monday with the announcement of nominations for the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, followed by the Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. The f ilms and performers honored this week gain front-runner status leading up to the Academy Award nominations, which are to be announced Jan. 10.

Swimming upstream with three nominations Thursday morning was one of the biggest surprises of the award season: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. The quirky romantic comedy was nominated for best comedy or musical picture, and also earned best actor and actress nominations for stars Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor.

On the TV side of the nominations, HBO’s drama Game Change — chronicling Sarah Palin’s 2008 vice-presidential run — earned the most nominations with five, including a best-actress nod for Julianne Moore. Homeland followed with four nominations and Downton Abbey, Modern Family and the TV movie The Girl picked up three apiece.

There’s also a suggestion that the love affair with Mad Men may be coming to an end. The AMC period drama that has dominated award shows in recent years was noticeably missing from the nominees for best dramatic TV series, although it did pick up a nod for star Jon Hamm. Earlier this year, the show failed to take home a single Emmy.

It was another good morning for veteran actress Maggie Smith. Smith, 77 — who earned the most Screen Actors Guild Award nominations Wednesday — picked up two Golden Globe nods for best actress in a comedy or musical for Quartet and for best performance in a supporting role for the TV series Downton Abbey.

The Golden Globes are to be presented Jan. 13 live on NBC from the Beverly Hilton Hotel, with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as hosts. The two also will be competing against each other that night in the category of best performance by an actress in a TV comedy or musical, with Fey earning a nomination for 30 Rock and Poehler for Parks & Recreation.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 12/14/2012