The cast of Doubt (see my OscarWatch TV interview with them here) picked up five nominations from the Screen Actors Guild awards this morning, giving the film a fortuitously-timed boost in the overall awards race. There were no jaw-dropping surprises among the nominees, but a few strong Oscar contenders were left out. Here are the SAG lists in the five film categories.
Cast
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
The first four are no surprise. But the inclusion of the star-free Slumdog over the A-list casts of The Dark Knight and Revolutionary Road only solidifies its standing as an Oscar frontrunner. And Revolutionary Road‘s poor showing overall (only one nomination, for Kate Winslet) puts it on life support.
Lead Actor
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
In this year’s toughest category, Jenkins squeezed out both Revolutionary Road‘s Leonardo DiCaprio and Gran Torino‘s Clint Eastwood.
Lead Actress
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road
Benjamin Button‘s Cate Blanchett has now been overlooked by SAG and the Golden Globes, so she’s in trouble. And indie standout Melissa Leo snagged her spot over critical favorites Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) and Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long).
Supporting Actor
Josh Brolin, Milk
Robert Downey, Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
The newcomer here is Patel, who scores his first big pre-Oscar nod over the likes of Milk‘s James Franco and Revolutionary Road‘s Michael Shannon.
Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Kate Winslet, The Reader
Doubt‘s double nominees mean there was no room for The Wrestler‘s Marisa Tomei or Rachel Getting Married’s Rosemarie DeWitt. Incidentally, Henson was the morning’s biggest winner with three overall nominations: two for Button and one as a cast member of TV’s Boston Legal.
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Again, nothing for “The Shield”.
Not that these awards have much credibilibty. But when you don’t include anyone from the best TV series during its best year, you lose what little credibility you still had.
So even if a movie is outstanding-made the most money-had the best reviews . . . because it’s about Batman it doesn’t deserve any nods from anyone. Sure they acknowledged Heath and it’s well deserved, but to ignore the film itself, Bale and Cain, c’mon people! It’s on every major top ten movie list of 2008 and it keeps being ignored. What’s up with that?
Saw doubt inthe theatre with tony award winning actress. If Doubt the movie is as good as the play when its gonna take every award this year and well deserved.
YAY!!! Henson is one of our most underrated actresses!! Go rent Baby Boy, Hustle & Flow, Smokin’ Aces and Talk to Me (amazing film) to see for yourself. Three nominations. Good job!
Now I’m officially worried for Leo. All indicators point to this being the best role of his career, but he’s snubbed by his fellow actors, who not only nominated him for The Aviator, but nominated him TWICE in the same year for Blood Diamond and The Departed. I am still holding out hope that he scores an Oscar nom (and hopefully takes the award) but it’s hard to understand his snub here. It seems difficult to nominate Kate and not recognize Leo, as the perfs are emotionaly, deeply felt, and in many ways reliant on what each is getting form the other.
Glad to see that the SAG voters weren’t fooled (or felt forced) to vote for pedestrian crap like “The Dark Night”.
Yay for Kate Winslet’s TWO deserving nominations! Here’s hoping they don’t cancel each other out and leave her with nothing. She really needs to finally win the Oscar this year. And go Dev Patel!
I’m sad for Leo’s omission, though. And not surprised that The Dark Knight didn’t get an ensemble nod, but I don’t think you can count it out for Best Pic at the Oscars. I think we can safely say now that Slumdog, Milk, and Button are locks for the Oscars. Frost/Nixon is a probably, and the 5th slot is still open IMO.
joeyjoey73 at least Leo has a Golden Globe Award nomination.
The Dark Knight was robbed.
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I’m surprised Dev Patel is being considered a supporting actor. I know he’d have better chances in that category, but anyone who sees the movie will probably see that he has screen time to be considered the lead of the film.
Who in this whole bloody world actually believes that by knocking The Dark Knight they are elevating themselves above the common crowd? The Dark Knight is getting robbed better than that bank in the opening sequence was! It’s like critics groups think nominating Heath Ledger is the extent of their generosity. As though the box office take makes up for the lack of critics trophies. Seriously, how about everybody takes a look at the 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, reads through all the stunning A++++ reviews The Dark Knight received, and dares claim that all the critics are not hypocrites for LOVING the movie a few months ago and jumping ship now that awards season is upon us. And for what? Because there’s never been a precedent set for a 6th sequel genre picture? How about doing something new for a change? Like setting that precedent? If there was ever a film to set that kind of precedent, The Dark Knight was it.
Best picture nominations for Academy Awards 08:
The Dark Knight
Milk
Frost/Nixon
Benjamin Button
The Wrestler
To people saying the Dark Knight lacks thought and purpose…You probably did not understand the film and need to watch it again to catch all the fine details of this brilliant plot. The story progresses brillaintly and feels amazingly real for a movie of this genre