screen actors guild Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Hey, remember the weeks and months approaching the recent writers' strike, when all of Hollywood panicked and began rushing projects into production and feverishly coming up with contingency plans? Have you wondered why the looming Screen Actors Guild strike and the ongoing SAG/AFTRA catfight have not really provoked a similar hysteria? The New York Times' answer: because producers are calling SAG's bluff.

Or, in the Times' more tactful language: "the film industry's needs have overwhelmed any conviction that actors will actually walk out." That's its explanation for why big, expensive productions like Terminator Salvation, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Angels & Demons are steadfastly forging ahead despite the risk that a strike will send most of their casts off the set, leaving them with half a movie.

Could just be hubris, or willful stupidity. I haven't followed the recent guild developments closely enough to be able to speak with any authority on whether there will be a walkout any time soon. But look: the idea behind election markets (for example) is roughly that the best way to forecast the future is to see where large numbers of people are willing to put their money. That this time Hollywood bigwigs -- in particular, many of the people who will have a say in the outcome of any contract negotiations -- don't seem to be blinking in the face of a possible strike suggests to me that we aren't heading toward one, or at least not a protracted one. If we are, then it looks like a lot of people are going to be out a lot of money.

Finally Josh Brolin received an award for his excellent performance in No Country for Old Men. He and the rest of the film's actors won the Screen Actors Guild Award for best ensemble cast Sunday night, giving No Country its second big win of the weekend (Joel and Ethan Coen received the top Directors Guild of America award Saturday). Along with Brolin, trophies went to cast-mates Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Garret Dilahunt, Tess Harper and Javier Bardem, who also won the SAG award for best supporting actor. While I'm not sure how many of No Country's performers actually received their own trophy, I'm hoping that both Kelly Macdonald and Barry Corbin were also included. No Country is one of those movies that wouldn't be the same without all of its main and supporting actors, and it is certainly fitting for it to have picked up this honor.

Other film winners from Sunday night include Daniel Day-Lewis, who surprised no one by being honored with the leading actor trophy. Even I'm getting a little bored with all of his awards, despite my agreement that his is the best performance of the year. I didn't even notice if any of the other nominees (George, Emile, Viggo and Ryan) showed up to the ceremony, which was one of the first red carpet awards events of the season. Picking up the award for leading actress was Julie Christie, further cementing the fact that I really need to see Away From Her already. The supporting actress honor went to Ruby Dee, who deserves it just for being the cutest old lady on screen last year, let alone for going up strong against both Denzel and Brolin in American Gangster. Finally, The Bourne Ultimatum won the new SAG award for best stunt ensemble and Charles Durning -- one of Cinematical's favorite character actors ever -- received a lifetime achievement award. Be sure to check out Moviefone's coverage of the awards for plenty of red carpet and ceremony photos.

I know you're probably sick and tired of all these guild/critic nominations by now. I mean, we know which movies and actors will get nods, the only fun left is in guessing which order or which category they're being stuffed into. The Screen Actors Guild does something a little different -- instead of awarding a best picture of the year, their big what-to-do is best ensemble cast. Joining the ensemble cast category are best actor, best actress, best supporting actor and best supporting actress. They also delve a bit into boob tube land, but we'll stick with the film side of things.

Not surprisingly, the ensemble cast noms went out to Babel, Bobby, The Departed, Dreamgirls and Little Miss Sunshine. Were there any surprises? Well, Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated twice; once for Blood Diamond (best actor) and once for The Departed (best supporting actor). Will Leo ever win a big award? While this might seem like the year to do so, he's seriously facing some stiff competition. Should we even talk about best actress? Helen Mirren is there (for both The Queen and the TV flick Elizabeth I), of course, and the favorite. She's joined by Meryl Streep (wouldn't it be lovely to see her come in and sneak out a winner?), Kate Winslet (ugh, was I the only one not blown away by her performance in Little Children?), Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandel) and Penelope Cruz (Volver).

The fun category to watch this year (as far as acting goes) will be best supporting actor. SAG awarded nominations to Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls), Jackie Earle Haley (unlike Winslet, I feel he deserves to be here for Little Children), Leo Di Caprio, Alan Arkin (the man is outstanding in Little Miss Sunshine) and Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond). In case you're wondering, the winners will be announced on January 28 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

Full list of nominees (film only) after the jump.

The members of the Screen Actors Guild last night refused to bow to awards-related peer pressure, dammit. Brokeback Mountain? Totally not that good. (And some of their best friends - not to mention the guy played by their best actor winner - are gay, so just shut up about that homophobia crap, alright?) Instead of continuing to heap praise on the gay cowboys, SAG spread their awards around, and not a single one ended up in the hands of anyone associated with Ang Lee's film.

Despite ignoring Brokeback entirely, the SAG awards resembled the Golden Globes in other ways, namely in their choices for best actor (Philip Seymour Hoffman), actress (Reese Witherspoon), and supporting actress (Rachel Weisz) - and they also honored Sandra Oh for her work on Grey's Anatomy, as the Hollywood Foreign Press did. The other movie awards went to Oh's Sideways costar Paul Giamatti (best supporting actor for Cinderella Man) and the cast of Crash, which was voted best ensemble.

Though the absence of Brokeback is initially shocking, the film hasn't exactly been piling up acting awards - it's been Lee and the movie in general that win. So, in that way, SAG actually followed the script more closely than it would initially appear. While Heath Ledger has showed up on all the of lists of best actor nominees, he's only been the winner of a few regional (New York, San Francisco) critics' awards. If the Academy follows this trend, while we can be pretty sure his name will be included tomorrow morning when the nominees are revealed, a win seems increasingly unlikely.

At this point, I think organizations giving out movie awards should only release their lists of nominees if Brokeback Mountain and Capote aren't involved - I mean, this is just getting boring. The Screen Actors Guild announced their nominations this morning and, shock of shocks, Brokeback Mountain and Capote are up for best picture (actually, the award is called "best film ensemble," but it's the same thing), and Heath Ledger and Philip Seymour Hoffman are among the best actor nominees.

The also-rans for best picture are Crash (which, lately, has been winning a lot),  Good Night, and Good Luck, and Hustle & Flow. Competing with Ledger and Hoffman for the best actor award are Russell Crowe, Johnny Cash Joaquin Phoenix, and David Strathairn. Even among the other major awards there really aren't any surprises: as you'd expect, for example, Felicity Huffman's performance (in Transamerica) is recognized, as are those of Reese Witherspoon, Don Cheadle, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

The full list is below; the SAG awards will be given out on January 29 and we can all watch them on TV, if only to get the couch broken in for the awards shows that follow.