The other films competing in that category are Trumbo, NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton, financial drama The Big Short and Spotlight, about the Boston Globe’s investigation into sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
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Other lead actor nominees are Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Revenant“), Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs“), Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl“) and Johnny Depp (“Black Mass”).
A lot of the same industry types that make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ voting body hold membership in other entertainment unions that annually mete out awards recognition, so the nominations that the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, and the Screen Actors Guild decide on can be reliable predictors for the slate of Oscar contenders.
Apart from the Trumbo star Bryan Cranston, who earned a best actor nod for his role as Dalton Trumbo, Helen Mirren got a best supporting actress nomination for playing gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.
The supporting actor nominations went to Christian Bale, Idris Elba, Mark Rylance, Michael Shannon and Jacob Tremblay.
Idris Elba and Helen Mirren both earned three nominations, with Elba straddling film and television categories for his performances as a West African mercenary who leads a group of boy soldiers in “Beasts of No Nation” and as a homicide detective in the miniseries “Luther”, respectively.
British interval drama “Downton Abbey”, political thriller “House of Cards” and promoting drama “Mad Men” have been additionally nominated for greatest drama ensemble forged.
Ensemble nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards highlight diversity in both film and television, including nods for “Beasts of No Nation”, “Straight Outta Compton“, and “Orange is the New Black“. Those networks are divisions of Time Warner, as is CNN.
Bryan Cranston-starrer Trumbo earned three nominations, including the guild’s top prize for best ensemble cast.
With those caveats firmly in place, I can note that SAG-AFTRA spread really its love around this year – 16 different productions were represented in the 25 non-stunt-related slots for film work – which basically is consistent with the still-existing perception that this is a wide-open year in virtually every major category.
Since many panel members also vote in the cinema Academy Awards, the nominees for the SAG Awards have traditionally served as an indicator of what could happen at the Oscars. What is unexpected is that, for critically acclaimed films, neither Matt Damon who played the stranded astronaut, Mark Watney, in “The Martian” nor Will Smith whose performance as Dr. Bennet Omalu in “Concussion” was praised, were recognized.
Here’s the full SAG awards nominations list…
Nominations for the awards were announced on Wednesday, bringing a murky awards season into a bit more focus.
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Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy includes Jim Parsons for his role of Sheldon Cooper in CBS’s BIG BANG THEORY and William H. Macy for his role as Frank in Showtime’s SHAMELESS.
