The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced this week, but again there were no clear front runners for the six theatrical categories.

The categories and nominations are...

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

• Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• Julie Christie for Away from Her
• Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose
• Angelina Jolie for A Mighty Heart
• Ellen Page for Juno

• George Clooney for Michael Clayton
• Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood
• Ryan Gosling for Lars and the Real Girl
• Emile Hirsch for Into the Wild
• Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises

• Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
• Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men
• Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild
• Tommy Lee Jones for No Country for Old Men
• Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton

• Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There
• Ruby Dee for American Gangster
• Catherine Keener for Into the Wild
• Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone
• Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton

• 3:10 to Yuma
• American Gangster
• Hairspray
• Into the Wild
• No Country for Old Men

• 300
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• I Am Legend
• The Kingdom
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

• Again, it's hard to point to one film and say, "That's the big winner!"
• No Country for Old Men came the closest with four nominations, but three of those were for supporting roles.
• Strangely, both 3:10 to Yuma and Hairspray earned nominations for Outstanding Cast, and that was it.
• Of the 20 nominations that have equivalents at the Golden Globes, 15 were the same. Even the three of the five movies nominated for Outstanding Cast earned Best Picture nominations at the Golden Globes.
• The big winner here that wasn't earlier was Into the Wild, which picked up three nominations. On the other hand, Atonement was shut out after earning seven Golden Globes nominations.
• Good news for Ellen Page as she earned a nomination for Juno. Normally comedies don't perform well outside the Golden Globes where there is a separate category for them. It's strange, it is a lot harder to pull off comedy than it is drama (just ask a director if they would rather have a comedian play a serious role or a dramatic actor play in a comedy). However, comedies don't get the same respect during award season.
• I particularly like the new category, Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture. It's about time people doing the stunt got some recognition by the big award committees.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2007-12-23