SAG Nominations Announced

[silverscreenselect]

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nominations were announced today, which sometimes serve as a forerunner for the Oscars. The Golden Globe nominations are out tomorrow, but the SAG awards have more credibility since they're voted on by the same actors who nominate people for Oscars, not a handful of part-time press hacks like the Golden Globes. The nominations include TV nominations as well.

As usual at this time of year, I haven't seen a number of these films, but of the performances I have seen, the only one I would question including here is Robert Duvall, who seems on the list not so much for his performance as for the "he's an old guy who might not be here again so let's do invite him to the show" factor. Although I haven't seen her performance, I'm guessing Meryl Streep is on the list because she always gets nominated when she shows up and puts some effort into a movie. Based on what I've heard, the frontrunners right now are Michael Keaton/Benedict Cumberbatch for Best Actor, Julianne Moore for Best Actress, J.K. Simmons for Best Supporting Actor, and Patricia Arquette foe Best Supporting Actress. Nominees I've seen are marked with an asterisk (we will see Wild this weekend):

BEST ACTOR

Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler*
Michael Keaton - Birdman*
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything*

BEST ACTRESS

Jennifer Aniston - Cake
Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything*
Julianne Moore - Alice
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl*
Reese Witherspoon - Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert Duvall - The Judge*
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood*
Edward Norton - Birdman*
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Patricia Arquette - Boyhood*
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
Emma Stone - Birdman*
Meryl Streep - Into the Woods
Naomi Watts - St. Vincent*

ENSEMBLE

Birdman*
Boyhood*
The Grand Budapest Hotel*
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything*

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Debbie Reynolds

http://deadline.com/2014/12/sag-awards- ... 201317757/

[Bob Juch]

My predictions:

BEST ACTOR
Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything*

BEST ACTRESS
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Edward Norton - Birdman*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emma Stone - Birdman*

ENSEMBLE
Birdman*

[Catfish]

Wha-huh?!? Naomi Watts but no Bill Murray?!?! She was fabu, but he was beyond FABU. His performance during the end credits alone is Oscar worthy.

I had no interest in reading or seeing Wild, but in the course of his English-teacher-majory stuff at Butler, my son met Cheryl Strayed and said she was cool, so now I will.

[silverscreenselect]

Wha-huh?!? Naomi Watts but no Bill Murray?!?! She was fabu, but he was beyond FABU. His performance during the end credits alone is Oscar worthy.

There's always more competition for Best Actor than for Best Supporting Actress. I expect Murray to get a Golden Globe nomination. Tom Hardy also didn't get nominated by SAG and he was brilliant in two movies, Locke (which was a one-man performance) and The Drop.