“Trumbo” scored a leading three nominations today among the films competing for the 22nd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, while “Game of Thrones,” “Homeland” and “House of Cards” each landed three nominations for television performances, including nods for their entire casts.
In addition to “Trumbo,” the story of a Hollywood screenwriter blacklisted during the McCarthy era, nominees for SAG’s film ensemble award included “Spotlight,” the film about The Boston Globe’s investigation into sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, “The Big Short,” “Beasts of No Nation” and the look back at hip-hop artists NWA, “Straight Outta Compton.” The SAG ensemble award is the equivalent of the Academy’s best picture Oscar,
The nominations were announced at 7 a.m. by Anna Faris (“Mom”) and Anthony Mackie (“Captain America: The Winter Soldier”) at the Pacific Design Center.
Leonardo DiCaprio picked up a best-actor nomination for his gritty performance in “The Revenant.” He will be competing for an Actor statuette with Michael Fassbender, for his portrayal of the Apple founder in “Steve Jobs,” Eddie Redmayne for his cross-dressing role in “The Danish Girl,” Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”) and Johnny Depp as gangster-fugitive “Whitey” Bulger (“Black Mass.”)
The actresses nominated were Cate Blanchett (“Carol”), Brie Larson, for her portrayal of a woman held captive with her 5-year-old son in “Room,” Helen Mirren (“Woman in Gold”), Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”) and comedian and first-time nominee Sarah Silverman (“I Smile Back”).
Idris Elba and Helen Mirren both managed to pick up three nominations of their own, with Elba straddling the film and television categories for his performances in “Beasts of No Nation” and “Luther.”
Supporting actors nominated were Christian Bale for his work in “The Big Short,” which tells the tale of a big bet against the housing market during the 2008 financial crisis, Elba for “Beasts of No Nation,” Mark Rylance (who also nabbed a nomination in the television category) for “Bridge of Spies,” Michael Shannon for “99 Homes,” another take on the housing crash, and 9-year-old Jacob Tremblay for his portrayal of the boy held captive with his mother in “Room.”
Actresses in the supporting category included Mirren for “Trumbo,” first-time nominees Rooney Mara (“Carol”) and Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”), along with Rachel McAdams (“The Big Short”) and Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs.”)
The SAG Awards are generally considered a strong predictor of who will score Oscar nominations, although the guild sometimes parts ways with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and there was plenty of buzz this morning among those whose favorites seemed to have been snubbed.
However, since the SAG Awards are voted on by actors, they are often coveted by performers for representing the approval of their peers.
Universal Pictures was the big studio winner today, with six nods, three ahead of any other studio on the list.
In the television competition, the casts of “The Big Bang Theory,” “Key & Peele,” “Modern Family,” “Orange Is the New Black,” “Transparent” and “Veep” were nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series. There are six nominees due to a tie.
Among drama series, the ensemble casts of “Downton Abbey,” “Game of Thrones,” “Homeland,” “House of Cards” and “Mad Men” were nominated.
Leading actors nominated for their work in a drama series included Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”), Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”), Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”) and Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”).
Claire Danes (“Homeland”), Viola Davis (“How to Get Away with Murder”), nine-time nominee and eight-time winner and record holder Julianna Margulies (“The Good Wife”), Maggie Smith (“Downton Abbey”) and Robin Wright (“House of Cards”) scored nods for their performances in a drama series.
On the comedy front, the female nominees for their work in a television series included Uzo Aduba (“Orange Is the New Black”), Edie Falco (“Nurse Jackie”) — who picked up her record-setting 22nd nod — Ellie Kemper (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), 17-time nominee Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep”) and Amy Poehler (“Parks and Recreation”).
The male actors in a comedy series who will compete for an Actor are Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”), Louis C.K. (“Louie”), William H. Macy (“Shameless”), Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang”) and Jeffrey Tambor (“Transparent”).
Netflix had a category-beating eight nominations. HBO picked up six and cable rival Showtime landed five.
Nicole Kidman (“Grace of Monaco”), Queen Latifah (“Bessie”), Susan Sarandon (“The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe”), Kristen Wiig (“The Spoils Before Dying”) and Christina Ricci (“The Lizzie Borden Chronicles”) all garnered nominations for their performances in a television movie or miniseries.
Actors picking up a bid in the television movie or miniseries category included Elba for his work in “Luther,” Ben Kingsley (“Tut”), Ray Liotta (“Texas Rising”), comedian Bill Murray for his holiday variety special “A Very Murray Christmas” and Mark Rylance (“Wolf Hall”).
The SAG Awards will be simulcast live Saturday, Jan. 30 on TNT and TBS.
