The SAG ballots are being sent in the mail today. Press release after the cut.
The nominating committee is a much smaller group than the 100,000 who vote for the SAGs. Around 2,200 SAG members are chosen to do the nominating, otherwise studios would have the insurmountable burden of sending out screeners to the entire membership (which many of them do after nominations).
Best Actor is going to be the hardest category, probably, with the strongest contenders being:
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Robert Redford, All Is Lost
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Forest Whitaker, The Butler
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Christian Bale, Out of the Furnace
Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Jake Gyllenhaal, Prisoners
Will likely include:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Wolf of Wall Street
Christian Bale, American Hustle
For Your Consideration: Bruce Dern for Nebraska. Dern has been working as an actor since the 1960s, starting first at the Actors Studio in New York, then working in television, then film. He has been nominated for just one Oscar -= Supporting for Coming Home. His recent work alone would qualify him as one of the greatest living actors — Big Love, Django Unchained and finally, the performance of his career, Nebraska. But looking back on the films he’s made, working with Roger Corman, Alfred Hitchcock, Sidney Pollack, Claude Chabrol, Douglas Trumbull and many others. The grossly unrecognized Dern has gone mostly unnoticed this Oscar season because critics and bloggers have not heralded Nebraska yet for what it is: not only the best film of Alexander Payne’s career, but the crowning achievement of one of America’s treasures in Dern. His is a performance that needs advocacy to make the cut. For your consideration, SAG nominating committee.
Best Actress surely will be down to the following:
Kate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
Kate Winslet, Labor Day
Brie Larson, Short Term
Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Enough Said
And later, perhaps:
Amy Adams, American Hustle
For Your Consideration — one of the best performances of the year is Brie Larson in Short Term 12. It’s a smallish movie, one that hasn’t been seen much. She’s not a big star (yet) and thus, she’s not getting the kind of recognition for her work than she would ordinarily. But what a moving, layered, interesting performance she gives.
Best Supporting Actor
Gold Derby’s prediction chart
The likely suspects seem to be:
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Tom Hanks, Saving Mr. Banks
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Barkhad Abdi Captain Phillips
James Gandolfini, Enough Said
Woody Harrelson, Out of the Furnace
David Oyelowo, The Butler
Casey Affleck, Out of the Furnace
Daniel Bruhl, Rush
Geoffrey Rush, The Book Thief
Matthew McConaughey, Mud
Josh Brolin, Labor Day
John Goodman, Inside Llewyn Davis
Andrew Dice Clay, Blue Jasmine
Alec Baldwin, Blue Jasmine
Still to come:
Jonah Hill, Wolf of Wall Street
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
For Your Consideration: Matthew McConaughey in Mud. It’s time to finally acknowledge this actor for the kind of dedication he puts into his work. A double nomination this year would do that so that he might stand alongside Tom Hanks as the other potential double nominee. Daniel Bruhl in Rush – what a surprising performance and the best thing about this otherwise entertaining film. Geoffrey Rush, The Book Thief. Once people start seeing this film they will be awed by this wonderful performance. But to get people to see it, aye, there’s the rub.
Best Supporting Actress
Gold Derby’s prediction chart
And the usual suspects – although please note – this could be the first year that there are three black Supporting Actress contenders, history-making indeed.
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Oprah Winfrey, The Butler
Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
Margo Martindale, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska
Carey Mulligan, Inside Llewyn Davis
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
Emily Watson, The Book Thief
Cameron Diaz, The Counselor
Lea Seydoux Blue is the Warmest Color
Sarah Paulson, 12 Years a Slave
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Still to come:
Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle
For Your Consideration: Emily Watson in The Book Thief – one of the best films of the year, sure to be ignored but here’s hoping people see it, and love it as I do. Cameron Diaz in The Counselor – a live wire performance in a film that is far from perfect. But her performance deserves recognition.
Ensemble
Though I haven’t really given this one much thought — I would imagine these films will be recognized:
12 Years a Slave
August: Osage County
The Butler
Nebraska
Saving Mr. Banks
Blue Jasmine
Inside Llewyn Davis
Out of the Furnace
Labor Day
Dallas Buyers Club
Fruitvale Station
Still to come: American Hustle (probably a lock), Wolf of a Wall Street (ditto)
For your consideration: Before Midnight — while Julie Delpy or Ethan Hawke might not get in for acting nods, what better way to acknowledge this wonderful film than with an ensemble nod? It probably won’t/can’t happen but hey.
What are your predictions, FYC’s Oscar watchers?
Press release:
20th SAG Awards Nominations to be Announced on Wednesday, Dec. 11
Telecast Live on TNT and Webcast Live on tntdrama.com and tbs.com
(Press Release, Nov. 20, 2013) – Ballots for the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® nominations will be mailed to this year’s SAG Awards film and television nominating committees today.
The Screen Actors Guild Award — The Actor® — is presented for outstanding performances in motion pictures and primetime television. The nominees for performances in 2013, including the distinctive ensemble awards and the stunt ensemble honors, will be chosen by two separate film and television nominating panels, each comprised of 2,200 members from across the United States that were randomly selected this spring. Submissions closed on October 24. Requests for nomination consideration in a category of the actor’s choosing were submitted by actors or, with the actor’s permission, by producers, studios/networks, agents, managers, or publicists.
Votes for nominees may be cast online or via mailed paper ballot. The SAG Awards’ official teller, Integrity Voting Systems, must receive votes by noon (PT) on Monday, Dec. 9, 2013. Nominations for the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be announced by SAG President Ken Howard, SAG Awards Social Media Ambassador Sasha Alexander (“Rizzoli & Isles”) and Clark Gregg (“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”) on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013 at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, telecast live on TNT at 9:00 a.m. (ET) / 6:00 a.m. (PT) and webcast live on tntdrama.com and tbs.com, preceded by the stunt ensemble honors nominations at 8:50 a.m. (ET) / 5:50 a.m. (PT), webcast live on tntdrama.com and tbs.com.
Of the top industry honors presented to performers, only the SAG Awards are selected entirely by actors’ peers in SAG-AFTRA. Recipients of the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be announced at ceremonies on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014, simulcast live from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center on TNT and TBS at 8 p.m. (ET), 5 p.m. (PT), 7 p.m. (CT) and 6 p.m. (MT). Recipients of the stunt ensemble honors will be announced from the SAG Awards red carpet at 6:15 p.m., (PT) / 3:15 p.m. (ET) during the Red Carpet Pre-Show webcast on tntdrama.com and tbs.com from 6-8 p.m. (PT) / 3-5 p.m. (PT).
Final voting information will be mailed via postcard to all eligible voting members of SAG-AFTRA on Dec. 16, 2013. Online voting is encouraged. Paper ballots will be made available only upon request, which must be made by Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. All votes must be received at Integrity Voting Systems by noon on Friday, Jan. 17. Results will be sealed until they are opened onstage at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony.
Complete rules and regulations for the 20th Annual SAG Awards are posted at www.sagawards.org/rules.
The 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards® presented by SAG-AFTRA will be produced by Jeff Margolis Productions in association with Screen Actors Guild Awards®, LLC. For more information about the SAG Awards, SAG-AFTRA, TNT and TBS, visit sagawards.org/about, “like” us at facebook.com/sagawardsofficialpage, follow us at twitter.com/sagawards, follow us SAG Awards on Google+ at google.com/+SAGawards, on Instagram by following @sagawards, and on Tumblr at sagawards.tumblr.com.