The Hurt Locker team is having a great awards season run.Ensemble Cast
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Nine
Precious
- Thankfully they did not pull a Million Dollar Baby here and nominate all the principles for their own awards while also handing them the ensemble honor. This category always fascinates me because of the odd way in which films include and do not include certain cast members as "nominees". You may remember my fury that Matt Ross was not included in the Aviator nomination five years ago despite having tons of screentime and giving one of the film's strongest supporting performances while Gwen Stefani was included for her cameo.
- This year's stingiest cast list 'winner' is The Hurt Locker which excludes the valuable lengthy cameos from Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce but includes the throwaway lengthy cameo from Evangeline Lilly.
Special dishonorable mention goes to An Education for giving Cara Seymour the shaft. That's a real pity because she's such a sturdy screen presence and has added a lot to many ensemble performances over the past ten years (American Psycho, Adaptation, Hotel Rwanda, Birth, The Savages, The Notorious Bettie Page) . She practically deserves her own honorary award in this category by now.
Public Enemies, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
- I like that they added this category, don't you? Stunt people rarely get any respect.
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
- Your Oscar list unless something very strange or off-puttingly scandalous happens in the next 4 weeks.
Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
- I could definitely live with this being the Oscar list. But I will undoubtedly worry about the Renner situation until the last possible second since he is a) young and b) in a non-Bait role.
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
- zzzzzzz. Same list all season. And it's not like these were the only supporting performances. And are all five of them particularly noteworthy? I'd say no. Especially considering the Anthony Mackie factor. How is that performance lesser than Tucci's? Or Damon's? Oh, yes. He's not as famous. Never mind.
Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Diane Kruger, Inglourious Basterds
Mo'Nique, Precious
Julianne Moore's cackling drunk will be in tears at this announcement (snubbed!) but the Kruger nomination is great surprise fun. I loved her default ownership of a room and her movie star annoyance at any detour therefrom -- Bridget will go along with the plan, even sacrificing glamourous footwear, but she'll let you know she's put out by it. Marion Cotillard's absence here can be attributed to the Weinstein's greed at placing her in Lead (SAG voters are not allowed to go against the studio mandated categorizations. Oscar voters do not have to follow the studio's wishes)
Television
Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries Kevin Bacon in Taking Chance, Cuba Gooding Jr in Gifted Hands, Jeremy Irons in Georgia O'Keeffe, Kevin Kline in Great Performances: Cyrano de Bergerac and Tom Wilkinson in A Number
Actress in a Television Movie or Miniseries Joan Allen in Georgia O'Keeffe, Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange in Grey Gardens, Ruby Dee in America and Sigourney Weaver in Prayers for Bobby
- This category, here and at the Emmys I think of as "where aging movie stars go to die". All of these women, save Drew, are Oscar nominated actresses. But they're not getting great parts anymore, damnit. At least not on the big screen.
Actor in a Drama Series Simon Baker in the Mentalist, Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad, Michael C Hall in Dexter, Jon Hamm in Mad Men and Hugh Laurie in House
Actress in a Drama Series Patricia Arquette in Medium, Glenn Close in Damages, Mariska Hargitay in Law & Order: SVU, Holly Hunter in in Saving Grace, Julianne Margulies in The Good Wife and Kyra Sedgwick in The Closer
Actor in a Comedy Series Alec Baldwin in 30 Rock, Steve Carell in The Office, Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, Tony Shalhoub in Monk and Charlie Sheen in Two and a Half Men.
- Charlie Sheen and Tony Shalhoub must know where all the bodies are buried in Hollywood. I'm just sayin'
Actress in a Comedy Series Christina Applegate in Samantha Who?, Toni Collette in United States of Tara, Edie Falco in Nurse Jackie, Tina Fey in 30 Rock and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Closer, Dexter, The Good Wife, Mad Men and True Blood
- I watched only one episode of The Good Wife -- I know that's not much to judge a series on -- but I remember the acting be exceptionally underlined and boldfaced and coarse. Or was that the direction? Anyway: Hated it.
Ensemble in a Comedy Series
30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Glee, Modern Family and The Office
Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
24, The Closer, Dexter, Heroes and The Unit
46th Annual Lifetime Achievement Award
Betty White
- This last award title will be misleading to many young readers. SAG didn't join the Oscar precursor game until the 1994 (which is why Meryl Streep had never been a SAG winner until Angels in America for television and Doubt for film) but they have been giving out Lifetime Achievements for a good long while.
