SAG Award Nominees Announced, What Does It All Mean For Oscar?

If there has been one film this awards season that has been unjustly ignored, it is Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master.

Easily the best American film since Paul Thomas Anderson last brought a film to the big screen, his film has gone roughly winless this entire season, and if the newly announced Screen Actors Guild nominees are to be believed, that won’t be changing.

Only garnering a nomination for Philip Seymour Hoffman, both Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams went nomination-less from their brethren, with the big surprise nominees coming in the form of Javier Bardem for Skyfall and Nicole Kidman for The Paperboy. Both are welcome, left-field choices, but the lack of love for The Master is definitely troubling.

Other than the two shockers mentioned above, it’s basically chalk the rest of the way. Quvenzhane Wallis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Emmanuelle Riva, Ann Dowd, Rachel Weisz and Daniel Day-Lewis all lead the way for what is finally looking to be a thinned down awards season, with leaders slowly making their way to the front of the pack.

But with Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook taking the lead with the SAG nominations, where does this all leave Oscar? Lincoln appears to be the frontrunner, unless critics have more power than they are believed to have, in which case Zero Dark Thirty is firmly leading.   That said, one has to draw a comparison to the last time a critical darling has gone up against a soft-lob, yet beautifully crafted, Oscar picture, with Lincoln looking a Hell of a lot like The King’s Speech to this year’s Social Network, Zero Dark Thirty. Personally, I’d bet a hefty amount of money right on Lincoln at this point, but who knows?

Best Ensemble
“Argo”
“Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
“Les Miserables”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Male Actor In A Leading Role
Denzel Washington – “Flight”
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman – “Les Miserables”
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”
John Hawkes – “The Sessions”

Best Female Actor In A Leading Role
Helen Mirren – “Hitchcock”
Naomi Watts – “The Impossible”
Marion Cotillard – “Rust & Bone”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Actor In A Supporting Role
Alan Arkin – “Argo”
Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”
Robert DeNiro – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Javier Bardem – “Skyfall”

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Maggie Smith – “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
Anne Hathaway – “Les Miserables”
Sally Field – “Lincoln”
Nicole Kidman – “The Paperboy”
Helen Hunt – “The Sessions”

Best Stunt Ensemble In A Motion Picture
“The Amazing Spider-Man”
“The Bourne Legacy”
“The Dark Knight Rises”
“Les Miserables”
“Skyfall”

Source SAG