Yet again, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nominations have arrived, and I haven’t seen a majority of the films on the list. That’s the one downside to living in Omaha. We seem to get every award-bait film at the end of December or beginning of January, so it’s a tenuous game of catch-up before the awards shows. And, of course, Golden Globe nominations come out tomorrow. So…shit’s getting real.
(Quick reminder: Screen Actors Guild nominations are submitted by artists within the SAG-AFTRA union, but they’re good for predicting who will be nominated for the Academy Awards. So, yes, they matter.)
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
- Birdman
- Boyhood
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- The Imitation Game
- The Theory of Everything
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
- Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
- Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
- Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
- Michael Keaton, Birdman
- Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
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
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
- Robert Duvall, The Judge
- Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
- Edward Norton, Birdman
- Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
- J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
- Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
- Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
- Emma Stone, Birdman
- Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
- Naomi Watts, St. Vincent
Taking a closer look, I have a feeling this awards season will be very white. There’s not a single actor of color on this list, which is extremely disappointing since Chiwetel Ejiofor, Forest Whitaker, Barkhad Abdi, Oprah Winfrey, and Lupita Nyong’o all made the list last year (and Nyong’o ended up taking home an Oscar). After all of the racial issues this country has had this year, this isn’t helping.
As for the actor and actress competition, whispers are favoring Michael Keaton for Birdman and Julianne Moore for Still Alice. But a lot can happen in the coming weeks, and people are hustling hard. (For real, though. Harvey Weinstein has been pimping Benedict Cumberbatch out at events non-stop for The Imitation Game.)
Speaking of hustling…I’m surprised Jennifer Aniston is on this list. It would seem her peers actually fell for the “Oh, she got ugly for a role. She deserves an award!” game that actresses always play (Right, Charlize Theron?). Not to mention, she’s been pushing Cake HARD in Hollywood circles, despite it not getting picked up for distribution after its Toronto International Film Festival screening. But, hey, that’s what awards season is all about. Hustling.
On a final note, I’m starting to think Meryl Streep could be in a five-minute film of her just making fart noises with her mouth, and she’d get nominated, you know? Any time she’s in a movie during this time of year, she’s nominated. All jokes aside, I can’t wait to see her in Into the Woods. Her version of “Stay with Me” is damn good.
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I didn’t include the entire list of nominations because they include television, and I only focus on the big film nominations with SAG. But if you’d like to see those, go here. Also, as I mentioned earlier, Golden Globe nominations will be out tomorrow!
The Screen Actors Guild Awards will be live Sunday, Jan. 25th on TNT and TBS at 8pm E/7pm C.
