SAG Nominations

The Screen Actors Guild has announced their nominations, and there are some surprises to be had.  The guilds tend to be some of the most helpful predictors of the Oscars, though there are usually a few nominees that don't carry over to the Academy.  That will almost certainly be the case this year, with a few surprising nominees - most notably Nicole Kidman's nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Paperboy - unlikely to make it to the big night.  Then again, these performances have the actors' support behind them, so the Oscar line-up could be a little more interesting than we've been expecting.

The biggest suprises:

-Joaquin Phoenix missing out on a nomination for The Master.  The Best Actor field is narrowed down to six viable contenders (Phoenix and the five who were nominated), so someone had to be left out.  Maybe Phoenix's comments about not caring about awards season led some voters to put Bradley Cooper and John Hakwes' names above his?  A related surprise: Phoenix's costar Amy Adams also failed to get a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category.

-The Best Actress category is probably the hardest to gauge this year, with Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence the only shoo-ins for nominations.  Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhane Wallis missing out on nominations for Amour and Beasts of the Southern Wild, respectively.

-The afore-mentioned Nicole Kidman nomination is the biggest surprise of all.  The Paperboy was an ill-received mess, and while Kidman's performance was easily the highlight of the movie, it's surprising enough actors sat through it to notice.  While I doubt Kidman will get an Oscar nomination (Adams will probably take her spot), she's a well-respected actress who consistently does great work, so she could pull an upset.  With a SAG nomination, I'm not sure it'd even be considered an upset now.

-Javier Bardem got into the crowded Best Supporting Actor for his deliciously villainous turn in Skyfall.  Bardem has been racking up his fair share of recognition for the role, so he could end up the first actor to ever get an Oscar nomination for a Bond movie.  Villains often fare well in the BSA category (Bardem won for such a turn in No Country for Old Men).

-Django Unchained failed to garner a single nomination, which is likely because many guild members weren't able to see it in time before voting.  Still, sad to see one of the best ensembles of the year completely left out.

Here's the full list of film nominees:

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Denzel Washington, Flight

Oustanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin, Argo
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook