At first glance, yesterday’s Screen Actors Guild nominations are relatively straightforward. Keaton and Cumberbatch, Witherspoon and Moore. But look a little closer and the SAG noms deliver some rather surprising curveballs amidst their predictability. Hands up if you saw Jennifer Aniston beating out Hilary Swank and Marion Cotillard to gain her first nomination since 2004.
But back to the bigger picture for a second. Birdman and Boyhood still find themselves at the head of the game, the former leading with four nominations and the latter finding itself join The Imitation Game and The Theory Of Everything with three nominations. Edward Norton and Benedict Cumberbatch are up for three awards each (including Best Ensemble), and Cumberbatch and Mark Ruffalo are recognised in both film and TV categories.
It’s also a very good day to be a Gyllenhaal, with Jake and Maggie nominated for Nightcrawler and The Honourable Woman, respectively. In fact, this is really great news for Jake whose chances of an Oscar nomination should now be viewed far more seriously – and rightly so. He just has to hope he can bat David Oyelowo, Timothy Spall and Oscar Isaac away from a Best Actor category that has seen Carell, Keaton, Redmayne and Cumberbatch as virtual locks for quite some time.
Talking of Oyelowo, it wasn’t great news for Ava DuVernay’s Selma. Granted screeners weren’t sent out due to its late edit, but Paramount have been screening it like crazy. But it isn’t all bad news. The studio found themselves shut out of last year’s SAG nominations with The Wolf Of Wall Street which then went on to receive five Oscar noms.
Other late releases A Most Violent Year, American Sniper and Unbroken also found themselves unrepresented, but we’ll see what the Hollywood Foreign Press has to say about that in tomorrow’s Golden Globes announcement. Early release dates are an advantage at this stage of the race, after all.
In the Best Supporting Actress category, Naomi Watts proved the Weinstein magic is still very much at work by pushing out Laura Dern, but maybe it was too much to hope for some Tilda ‘Snowpiercer’ Swinton. The SAG love for Meryl Streep is, quite obviously, eternal. As for the men, it will be interesting to see if Robert Duvall can keep hanging on…
Finally, I’m so glad to see The Grand Budapest Hotel flagged for its phenomenal ensemble work. It’s a film that’s had a very quiet season but could very realistically (and should) get a Best Picture nod. Best Ensemble may be its only nomination from SAG-AFTRA, but this is a film that’s going to be gunning for the artistic categories come the Academy Award nominations. It’s also a bit of a surprise to see The Theory Of Everything handed a nomination over Gone Girl in this category.
The 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be held on Sunday January 22nd. Last year they predicted all four acting winners correctly. Will it be the same this time around?
Check out the full list of winners (including all the TV nominations) below:
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES:
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory Of Everything
PREVIOUS WINNER: Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Jennifer Aniston – Cake
Felicity Jones – The Theory Of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
PREVIOUS WINNER: Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
PREVIOUS WINNER: Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Meryl Steep – Into The Woods
Naomi Watts – St. Vincent
PREVIOUS WINNER: Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years A Slave
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE:
Birdman Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory Of Everything
PREVIOUS WINNER: American Hustle
TELEVISION PROGRAMMES:
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES:
Adrien Brody – Houdini
Benedict Cumberbatch – Sherlock: His Last Vow
Richard Jenkins – Olive Kitteridge
Mark Ruffalo – A Normal Heart
Billy Bob Thornton – Fargo
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES:
Ellen Burstyn – Flowers In The Attic
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Honourable Woman
Frances McDormand – Olive Kitteridge
Julia Roberts – The Normal Heart
Cicely Tyson – The Trip To Bountiful
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES:
Steve Buscemi – Boardwalk Empire
Peter Dinklage – Game Of Thrones
Woody Harrelson – True Detective
Matthew McConaughey – True Detective
Kevin Spacey – House Of Cards
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES:
Claire Danes – Homeland
Viola Davis – How To Get Away With Murder
Julianne Margulies – The Good Wife
Tatiana Maslany – Orphan Black
Maggie Smith – Downton Abbey
Robin Wright- House Of Cards
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES:
Ty Burrell – Modern Family
Louis C.K. – Louie
William H. Macy – Shameless
Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theroy
Eric Stonestreet – Modern Family
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES:
Uzo Aduba – Orange Is The New Black
Julie Bowen – Modern Family
Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Veep
Amy Poehler – Parks And Recreation
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA SERIES:
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Game Of Thrones
Homeland
House Of Cards
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES:
The Big Bang Theory
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Modern Family
Orange Is The New Black
Veep
SAG AWARDS HONOURS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES:
OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE:
Fury
Get On Up
The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies
Unbroken
X-Men: Days Of Future Past
OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY OR DRAMA SERIES:
24: Live Another Day
Boardwalk Empire
Game Of Thrones
Homeland
Sons Of Anarchy
The Walking Dead
LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:
SCREEN ACTORS GUILD 51ST ANNUAL LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:
Debbie Reynolds
