"Doubt" Looks Strong in Round 6 With 5 SAG Nominations

This morning, the first of the major guilds to vote, the Screen Actors Guild, announced their nominations for 2008. It's difficult to know what the film community is leaning towards until they actually start voting, and today is that day. This year, the actors went, not too surprisingly, for the actors showcase of the year- Doubt. The film got five nominations, including Best Ensemble, which is the big prize at the SAG awards, since for them it's all about the actors. What does this mean? It means that Doubt is looking even stronger as a Best Picture nominee at the Oscars considering the fact that more academy members are in the actor's branch than any other branch. It's obvious that this one is an actor's favorite, and it will probably do quite well on nomination day. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Milk, Slumdog Millionaire, and Frost/Nixon all continue to look strong after today. In fact, I think I'm ready to go out on a limb and say those four film plus Doubt will be your Best Picture nominees at the Oscars for 2008. The Wrestler, The Dark Knight, and The Reader remain dark horses (but if Christopher Nolan doesn't get a DGA nomination, The Dark Knight is done). I think that Revolutionary Road still has a shot, but it just hasn't been as well received as expected, and Wall-E would have had a much better chance in the pre-2001 world when there wasn't a separate Animated Feature category. Finally, Langella, Penn, Rourke, Streep, Hathaway, Downey Jr, Ledger, Cruz, and Davis all seem to be virtual locks at this point for Oscar nods. Congratulations too to Richard Jenkins for his nominated performance in a wonderful film that I really thought was too small for people to notice, namely The Visitor. This film is fantastic, and it's on DVD right now actually, so check it out! At any rate, here are this morning's nominees...

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
RICHARD JENKINS / Walter Vale - “THE VISITOR” (Overture Films)

FRANK LANGELLA / Richard Nixon - “FROST/NIXON” (Universal Pictures)

SEAN PENN / Harvey Milk - “MILK” (Focus Features)

BRAD PITT / Benjamin Button - “THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON” (Paramount Pictures)

MICKEY ROURKE / Randy - “THE WRESTLER” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

ANNE HATHAWAY / Kym - “RACHEL GETTING MARRIED” (Sony Pictures Classics)

ANGELINA JOLIE / Christine Collins - “CHANGELING” (Universal Pictures)

MELISSA LEO / Ray Eddy - “FROZEN RIVER” (Sony Pictures Classics)

MERYL STREEP / Sister Aloysius Beauvier - “DOUBT” (Miramax Films)

KATE WINSLET / April Wheeler - “REVOLUTIONARY ROAD” (Paramount Vantage)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

JOSH BROLIN / Dan White - “MILK” (Focus Features)

ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. / Kirk Lazarus - “TROPIC THUNDER” (Paramount Pictures)

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN / Father Brendan Flynn - “DOUBT” (Miramax Films)

HEATH LEDGER / Joker - “THE DARK KNIGHT” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

DEV PATEL / Older Jamal - “SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

AMY ADAMS / Sister James - “DOUBT” (Miramax Flms)

PENÉLOPE CRUZ / Maria Elena - “VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA” (The Weinstein Company)

VIOLA DAVIS / Mrs. Miller - “DOUBT” (Miramax Films)

TARAJI P. HENSON / Queenie - “THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON” (Paramount Pictures)

KATE WINSLET / Hanna Schmitz - “THE READER” (The Weinstein Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

DOUBT (Miramax)

FROST/NIXON (Universal Pictures)

MILK (Focus Features)

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (Paramount Pictures)

So there it is folks. Next weeks awards giving groups are off for the holidays. Next up: the National Society of Film Critics announces their winners on Saturday, January 3rd. They tend to be rather unique in their voting trends, so I always look forward to their choices.