Screen Actor's Guild Award Nominations

This year's SAG nominations... are all over the place. Wow, I'm not even sure where some of the voters pulled some of these nominees out from.

According to In Contention's Kris Tapley, the strangeness of these nominations might have to do with the incredibly early deadline voters were sidelined with this year, though I'm still puzzled. Absolutely no love for Ridley Scott's, "The Martian" (though that will surely change come tomorrow's announcement from the Golden Globes), and a complete last minute surge from Helen Mirren, with TWO nominations for utterly forgettable roles.

"Spotlight" only managed two nominations: one in the predicted ensemble category, and another for Rachel McAdams who has been largely absent from precursor awards thus far. "Trumbo," featuring Mirren and Bryan Cranston, received three nominations after being critically shrugged off and forgotten about.

"Room" didn't manage an ensemble nomination, but it did land two for Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay. The latter really needed this to be taken seriously in a very crowded field. If he gets in tomorrow with the Golden Globes, I think he's in for an Oscar nomination. And "Beasts of No Nation" showed strength as well. Netflix must be breathing a sigh of relief. Again, if it shows up tomorrow with the Globes, it should be taken seriously as a viable contender.

I think a lot of these nominations are largely irrelevant, however, and based purely on early buzz and the campaigning.

See the full list of nominees below.

SAG Winners

Full list of winners below.

Cake: A New Chapter in Jennifer Aniston's Career?

Jennifer Aniston, the actress, has never been taken as seriously as she deserves to be. Her work on "Friends", though highly regarded by fans of the show, was much more difficult than many seem to realize. And many regard her work in "The Good Girl" some beautifully nuanced work that was deserving, but ignored, of an Oscar nomination. Since the end of Friends, however, Aniston has been churning out a lot of pretty low-grade comedies, ones that make money, but none that either showcase her comedic talent or challenge audiences.

So when it was announced that Aniston had taken the role of Claire in Daniel Barnz's "Cake", her die-hard fans took notice, but the incredibly small size of the film kept it from being more than a blip on peoples' radars.. that is, until last year's Toronto Film Festival. Though reviews for the film were largely mixed, Aniston received a standing ovation following the film's screening. Since then, she has been promoting the hell out of the film, distributed by the very tiny Cinelou films, and has found herself to be the recipient of nominations for Best Actress in a Leading Role from the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild and the Broadcast Film Critics. And on Thursday, she will probably be nominated by the Oscars alongside Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Felicity Jones and Rosamund Pike; her first career nomination.

Critics, Globes & SAG: What Do They Tell Us?

I can't remember the last time an Oscar race was so unpredictable; though "Boyhood" is the "critical favorite" of this year, I don't know if it's our Best Picture winner yet. "Birdman" is the film that's getting the most notices in many of the other craft categories, while "The Theory of Everything" and "The Imitation Game" are playing well for Academy members, and showed surprising strength over more ensemble-like fair such as "Into the Woods" with the Screen Actors Guild. Then there are critical favorites like "Nightcrawler" and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" that are winning traction outside of the categories they were originally predicted in. Waiting in the wings, is Ava Duvernay's MLK biopic, "Selma", which is poised to one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, not to mention, it's Academy friendly material that appeals to the zeitgeist. In other words, it's a real toss up.

Let's see who is up and who is down after the busy week.

21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Award Nominations

Full nomination list (and reactions) below.

Screen Actors Guild Spreads the Wealth

American Hustle predictably wins Best Ensemble

The Screen Actors Guild chose American Hustle as their Best Ensemble winner, the equivalent to their Best Picture award. It was always going to win the ensemble award; the starry cast (including Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale) is catnip to voters. 

It's important to note that Hustle didn't sweep; Jennifer Lawrence lost Best Supporting Actress to Lupita Nyong'o, who has come back in a big way after losing at the Globes (she also won with the Broadcast Film Critics). 

Argo, last year's Best Ensemble award winner, went on to win Best Picture with the Oscars. Past winners who also went on to win Best Picture include The King's Speech, Slumdog Millionaire and No Country for Old Men. 

The race isn't over yet, however. The Producer's Guild and Director's Guild have yet to announce their winners; expect Gravity to win the DGA, and 12 Years A Slave could very well win the PGA. This is still very much a 3-way race. 

Read the full list of winners (including TV Actors) below:

Screen Actors Guild Award Predictions: Big Night for American Hustle?

The cast of American Hustle looks poised to con the award for Best Ensemble. 

The Screen Actors Guild is one of the most important precursor awards to have behind you or the film your in; the actors are the largest voting body in the Academy, and though SAG is significantly smaller than the AMPAS voting actors, it's very telling of which performances could win at the Oscars.

Unlike the Globes, the SAG awards take place before voting, so they have the power to influence voters. The Academy likes voting for winners, and a winner who can deliver a great speech is like catnip to them.

However, winners at SAG haven't always gone on to win the Oscar; Viola Davis not only won the Leading Actress award, but a shared award with the ensemble of The Help. Sadly, none of this was enough to conquer Meryl Streep, who went on to win her 3rd Oscar for The Iron Lady. Streep's Oscar narrative was just too strong I suppose.

So if you win the SAG award, its not set in stone that you will win an Oscar, just like being nominated does not guarantee you an Oscar nomination (.... Helen Mirren and Emma Thompson anyone?).

So where does that bring us in terms of this year? 12 Years A Slave will face off with American Hustle (Gravity has one nomination in Sandra Bullock, in no fault of its own as the cast is made up of her and George Clooney) for Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence vs. Lupita Nyong'o) and the Ensemble award (SAG's equivalent to Best Picture). Lawrence won the Globe, but Nyong'o just won the Broadcast Critics' Award, which tends to line up with Oscar more often than not, so the edge is with Nyong'o on this one. But American Hustle's starry cast is almost irresistible, and the acting is really the movie's only true strength.

Expect Hustle to take the Ensemble award, it's almost stupid to bet otherwise. If there were more support for Lee Daniels': The Butler or August: Osage County, they could surprise and win it, but those ensembles are just lucky to be there honestly. I suppose 12 Years A Slave could upset... it did land more nominations than American Hustle did, but the popularity of American Hustle is just too hard to ignore.

But this will not be the end of the Best Picture race... that will come with the announcement of the PGA, on Sunday.

Read my official predictions below:

SAG Nominations

James Gandolfini, a previous SAG winner, was nominated posthumously for his performance in Enough Said.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards are arguably the most important precursor award there is. The Guild is made up of actors who are voting for their fellow actors. They happen to be the largest Guild in the Academy, so their picks are often a sign of what is to come when the AMPAS announce their pick for nominations.

They're some wildcards thrown in each year (Hillary Swank for Conviction back in 2010, Hellen Mirren for Hitchcock last year, etc) that don't make it to the Oscars, but a large amount of these nominees will repeat, same for the winners, though again, a nomination/win is not always a sure thing in terms of winning an Oscar, as nice of a trophy as it is to have behind your campaign.

Anyway, you can read the full list of nominees (complete with my commentary) below. There were some surprises (not all of them good)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast:

12 Years A Slave-

• Benedict Cumberbatch/ Ford 
• Paul Dano/ Tibeats 
• Garrett Dillahunt/ Armsby 
• Chiwetel Ejiofor/ Soloman Northup
• Michael Fassbender/ Edwin Epps
• Paul Giamatti/ Freeman
• Scoot McNairy/ Brown
• Lupita Nyong'o/ Patsey
• Adepero Oduye/ Eliza 
• Sarah Paulson/ Mistress Epps
• Brad Pitt/ Bass
• Michael Kenneth Williams/ Robert
• Alfre Woodard/ Mistress Shaw

American Hustle-

• Amy Adams/ Sydney Prosser 
• Christian Bale/ Irving Rosenfeld 
• Louis C.K./ Stoddard Thorsen
• Bradley Cooper/ Richie DiMaso
• Paul Herman/ Alfonse Simone
• Jack Huston/ Pete Musane 
• Jennifer Lawrence/ Rosalyn Rosenfeld
• Alessondro Nivola/ Federal Prosecutor
• Michael Pena/ Sheik (Agent Hernandez) 
• Jeremy Renner/ Mayor Carmine Polito
• Elisabeth Rohm/ Dolly Polito 
• Shea Whigham/ Carl Elway

August: Osage County-

• Abigail Breslin/ Jean Fordham
• Chris Cooper/ Charles Aiken
• Benedict Cumberbatch/ "Little" Charles Aiken
• Juliette Lewis/ Karen Weston
• Margo Martindale/ Mattie Fae Aiken
• Ewan McGregor/ Bill Fordham
• Dermot Mulroney/ Steve
• Julianne Nicholson/ Ivy Weston
• Julia Roberts/ Barbara Weston
• Sam Shepard/ Beverly Weston
• Meryl Streep/ Violet Weston
• Misty Upham/ Johanna 

Dallas Buyers Club-

• Jennifer Garner/ Dr. Eve Saks
• Matthew McConaughey/ Ron Woodroof
• Jared Leto/ Rayon
• Denis O'Hare/ Dr. Sevard
• Dallas Roberts/ David Wayne
• Steve Zahn/ Tucker

Lee Daniels': The Butler-

• Mariah Carey/ Hattie Pearl
• John Cusack/ Richard Nixon
• Jane Fonda/ Nancy Reagan
• Cuba Gooding Jr./ Carter Wilson
• Terrance Howard/ Howard
• Lenny Kravitz/ James Halloway
• James Marsden/ John F. Kennedy 
• David Oyelowo/ Louis Gaines
• Alex Pettyfir/ Thomas Westfall
• Vanessa Redgrave/ Annabeth Westfall
• Alan Rickman/ Ronald Reagan
• Liev Schreiber/ Lyndon B. Johnson
• Forest Whitaker/ Cecil Gaines
• Robin Williams/ Dwight D. Eisenhower 
• Oprah Winfrey/ Gloria Gaines 

I expected 12 Years, Hustle, and Osage County all to make appearances here, and to a lesser degree, I had a feeling The Butler would show up due to the size of the ensemble. However, the lineup omits key players such as Elijah Kelley and Yaya DeCosta for people such as Mariah Carey, Vanessa Redgrave, and Alex Pettyfir who are onscreen for maybe a minute combined (and in the case of Mariah, there's no dialogue, she stares into the distance and is briefly featured in 2 shots of 2 scenes). I don't expect much of this sudden love for The Butler to translate into any major nominations at the Oscars outside of Oprah and possibly Best Picture, but event that is a long shot. The shocker here is Dallas Buyers Club. It seems there's a lot more support for that film than I had anticipated (the only nod it missed out on was Jennifer Garner, and no one really expected that to happen anyway), which could translate into a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. The Wolf of Wall Street is noticeably absent, but I don't think SAG was able to screen it in time for nomination deadlines. This award could go any number of ways; I want to say 12 Years takes it but there's a possibility that American Hustle could win . There are some years where they go with the front runner (The Argo, or The King's Speech; this year it would be 12 Years) or sometimes they pick the ensemble they liked better (The Help, Inglorious Basterds; this year it could be Hustle or even The Butler). 

Outstanding Performance by A Male Actor in a Leading Role:

• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave
• Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
• Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
• Forest Whitaker, Lee Daniels': The Butler 

Dern, Ejiofor, Hanks, and McConaughey all seem pretty solid for Oscar; I don't expect much movement in those slots. Forest Whitaker's inclusion makes sense in context, seeing as The Butler was able to score an Ensemble nomination, not to mention Whitaker is a respected actor amongst his peers. However his inclusion comes at the expense of Robert Redford, who I predict will be the fifth nominee at the Oscars depending on how much the AMPAS like Inside Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac shouldn't be forgotten about simply because of his exclusion here; Llewyn Davis was never going to be a big SAG player) and The Butler. I think Ejiofor is gonna take it, but he might face some heat from McConaughey. 

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: 

• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock, Gravity
• Judi Dench, Philomena 
• Meryl Streep. August: Osage County
• Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

.... Yawn. I was hoping for Julia Louis Dreyfus to maybe crack this list, but it seems this set that's seemingly been predicted the whole season is what we'll end up with in the end. Shocking that Amy Adams didn't get in, maybe Globe & Oscar will come through for her, or maybe not. If Adele Exarchopoulos has any hopes of breaking this set, she needs help from the Globes and BAFTA immediately. Otherwise, I think this should be an easy win for Blanchett (unless there's a last minute surge for Sandra Bullock).

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:

• Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
• Daniel Bruhl. Rush
• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years A Slave 
• James Gandolfini, Enough Said
• Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Daniel Bruhl and newcomer Barkhad Abdi are the surprises in this category, though I have a feeling that come Oscar time Bruhl will be replaced by Jonah Hill from The Wolf of Wall Street, and there's a chance Abdi could be replaced in favor of Bradley Cooper, though there's a lot of love for Abdi's performance that could help him stick around, and he obviously has support from the Actors that Cooper is missing. There's also the possibility that Hanks could still score for Saving Mr. Banks despite missing out here. At the end of the day, Leto should easily walk away with this trophy though.

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Actress:

• Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
• Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years A Slave
• Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
• June Squibb, Nebraska
• Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels': The Butler

Roberts really needed this boost, and what a boost it is. With the Actors behind her, she could follow Meryl to the Oscars. Winfrey makes her first awards season appearance proving she's still a threat (she was never going to be a critics' darling). I don't think Octavia Spencer is going to happen, though she has gotten some nice notices, in fact things don't seem all that great for Fruitvale Station looking down the future guild nominations. It's a tough call to see who could win this: it could go to Nyong'o, Winfrey, OR they could both cancel each other out and pave the way for Lawrence to take it (again), though that's less likely.... or is it? 

     

Upcoming awards, Wolf of Wall Street Screens! & More

Happy December! I've been busy celebrating Thanksgiving and mentally preparing myself for the upcoming final exams, just as things are really starting to heat up.

• Tuesday December 3rd marks precursor season; the NYFCC (New York Film Critics Circle) will announce their winners. They are the first to do so, followed by the National Board of Review, and then by the LAFCA (Los Angeles Film Critics Association), followed by what seems like a million more critics organizations. Awards Daily's Sasha Stone gives insight and makes her predictions and analyzes both the NYFCC and National Board of Review awards (read here).  

• During the onslaught of seemingly endless critics awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) will announce their nominees on December 11th, and the next day the Golden Globes will announce their choice. The SAG nominees usually reflect more of what the impending Oscar nominations will look like considering the voting body is made up of actors (the largest voting body in the Academy coincidentally), so they're usually a key factor in deciding upon Oscar predictions. Take a look at this year's contenders (and the pretenders) for the Best Ensemble award here). 

• There really isn't too much time before the pool of contenders starts slimming down and the real nominees start to build upon their respective momentum. The last real surprise of the season seems to be Martin Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street, which hasn't been officially screened yet, but did play for a small group of guild members over the weekend, to very positive reactions, particularly in the case of Jonah Hill who seems to be a spoiler for the Best Supporting Actor race (you can read a full write up from incontention's Kris Tapley here). 

• It has also been announced that David O'Russell's starry American Hustle is officially being campaigned as a "Comedy" for the Golden Globes. 
• And finally, Sight and Sound get the "End of the year list" rolling by announcing their winners of the Best Films of 2013 poll