SAG Nom Stunners

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The just-announced 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations contain at least two what-the-hells. Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel, a novice, is up for Best Supporting Actor while Revolutionary Road 's Michael Shannon has been ignored. (What is the blockage that people have about Shannon and this film? It's unconscionable to blow off a performance this lightning-bolt vivid.) And Changeling's Angelina Jolie has been nominated for Best Actress for a strong if less-than-breathtaking performance, while the stunning achievement of I've Loved You So Long 's Kristin Scott Thomas has been given the go-by.

Two factors were behind the KST snub: xenophobia (i.e., "we gave the Best Actress Oscar to a French-speaking actress last year...that was enough") and the super-celebrity, magazine-cover butt-kiss impulse benefitting Jolie. This is a very sad day for me personally as SAG, repping a very influential voting bloc, has now all but killed the likelihood of Oscar noms for Thomas and Shannon. Am I wrong?

HE approves of four of the Best Actor nominations -- Richard Jenkins in The Visitor (justice! attempts by the Gurus of Gold to marginalize Jenkins have been waved off!), Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon, Sean Penn in Milk and Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler . But it's wrong and slavish to nominate Benjamin Button's Brad Pitt -- who gives a fine if unstirring performance as a passive sponge man -- at the expense of the far more deserving Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road or Benicio del Toro in Che. The Pitt nomination is largely driven by the celebrity butt-kiss impulse along with a Benjamin Button coat-tails effect.

In addition to Jolie, SAG's Best Female Actor noms have gone to Rachel Getting Married 's Anne Hathaway (right), Frozen River's Melissa Leo (applause!), Doubt's Meryl Streep (yes), and Revolutionary Road's Kate Winslet (very much deserved). I for one am not distressed about Happy-Go-Lucky's Sally Hawkins getting bypassed. I'm presuming this happened because some of the SAG membership feels as I do about her performance -- i.e., technically expert and emotonally alive, but in service of a horribly irritating character.

Patel aside, SAG's Best Supporting Actor nominees are Milk's Josh Brolin, Tropic Thunder's Robert Downey, Jr., Doubt's Philip Seymour Hoffman, and The Dark Knight 's Heath Ledger.

I have two disputes with SAG's choice of Best Supporting Female nominees -- i.e., Doubt's Viola Davis and Amy Adams , Vicky Cristina Barcelona's Penelope Cruz, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button's Taraji P. Henson, and The Reader 's Kate Winslet.

The arguments are (1) there's no way in hell Adams' Doubt performance, good as it is, is a match for The Wrestler's Marisa Tomei , I've Loved You So Long's Elsa Zylberstein, Rachel Getting Married's Rosemarie DeWitt, The Vistor's Hiam Abbass or Nothing But The Truth's Vera Farmiga; and (2) Winslet's ex-Nazi-guard character is utterly central to the story of The Reader, and she's unquestionably the lead female actress in the film so calling her a supporting player is pretty close to ridiculous.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 18, 2008 at 7:58 AM

comment #1

actionman says ...

The omission of Sally Hawkins is embarrassing.

Posted by actionman at December 18, 2008 9:41 AM

comment #2

MikeSchaeferSF says ...

Even though I didn't like HGL, I'm surprised Sally Hawkins was omitted. But then, when was the last time we had a Best Actress race with this many serious contenders?

Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but I didn't realize Hoffman in Doubt was considered Supporting.

Posted by MikeSchaeferSF at December 18, 2008 9:50 AM

comment #3

MindlessObamaton says ...

I just saw MILK here at casa de la Hope and I gotta say i was pretty underwhelmed by it all. It's not bad by any means, but i think watching that great doc about Milk a few weeks ago doesn't help. We know the story and there's nothing new here. Penn is good, but just good, not anything to cry about, really. To be fair, most acting after DDL's tour de force last year ARE going to pale in comparison, especially in an off cinematic year as this one has been. That being said, kudos To Jenkins, one of my faves for years now. Truly that rare performance that rises above the material.

Posted by MindlessObamaton at December 18, 2008 9:55 AM

comment #4

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Doubt's Philip Seymour Hoffman is a Best Supporting Actor slummer in the same way that The Reader's Kate Winslet is slumming in the Supporting Actress category.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at December 18, 2008 9:57 AM

comment #5

K. Bowen says ...

I'm surprised by the Hawkins omission, but not troubled by it.

For Kristin Scott Thomas, fairly or unfairly, I had intuited the writing was on the wall. She needed the critic group bona fides that have gone to Hawkins instead.

Last year, Cate Blanchett's supporting actress nominations for playing Bob Dylan in a Bob Dylan biopic were pretty much inexplicable. But at least there were five other actors playing the part. But what the hell is Dev Patel doing in the supporting category? Who is he supporting, Freida PInto? Irfan Kahn? Ridiculous.

WIth the actors omitting Hawkins and Scott Thomas, does that make Hathaway the slight Oscar front-runner? Or does it fall to Streep? What a fascinating race.

This is a very interesting list.

Posted by K. Bowen at December 18, 2008 10:05 AM

comment #6

MindlessObamaton says ...

there really should be some rule against lead actors in a film being able to go for a supporting award because that filed is thinner. I just don't get that at all.

Posted by MindlessObamaton at December 18, 2008 10:05 AM

comment #7

K. Bowen says ...

My hunch about Hawkins' omission is my own assessment of the performance - terrific at bringing to life a memorable character, but not a role that offers much range. It's pretty one-note. Well, one and a half.

Posted by K. Bowen at December 18, 2008 10:10 AM

comment #8

Rod32303 says ...

With respect to Obamaton up there, I was fucking moved to tears by Milk. I don't konw what constitutes "just good" but I really watched Penn - his arms, his walk, his presence - and the goodness of the real Harvey Milk certainly came through. What other actor could have made you believe? TRULY believe? He's fucking awesome, as are Brolin and Franco and Hirsch, and I love that Van Sant filmed it, pardon the expression, straight, without some bullshit flourish or angle or crap. It is effective, sometimes expert filmmaking, and I hope it wins up big. Here in TALLAHASSEE (not a bastion of liberal thinking) it's selling out.

Sucks for Shannon. Glad for Hinson, who has been overlooked by all (how is she, Jeff? Button won't open here until Christmas day).

Posted by Rod32303 at December 18, 2008 10:31 AM

comment #9

tresgatos says ...

I commend the love for KST in a foreign film, but I don't get why Juliette Binoche has been totally forgotten for her role in "Flight of the Red Balloon," which I think was the best female performance of the year.

Or why "A Christmas Tale" never gets mentioned here (or anywhere) when it has gotten just as good reviews as "Let the Right One In."

In general, which foreign films (or performances in foreign films) that make it into the year-end discussion seems kind of arbitrary. Is it the studios who are deciding to push KST and not Binoche?

Posted by tresgatos at December 18, 2008 10:33 AM

comment #10

The Filmatelist says ...

Why is this so "stunning"? Thomas and Shannon may be terrific, but neither has won a single critic award and both are in films that are getting marginal attention. It certainly would've been great to see either or both, but why is Jeff so surprised to see them MIA when Jolie and Patel are obviously better situated for attention by benefit of being much higher profile (one personally and one by association)?

Posted by The Filmatelist at December 18, 2008 10:34 AM

comment #11

MindlessObamaton says ...

Rod: I just felt like there was nothing new to the story that I didn't really know before from the great doc, the book "Mayor of Castro St.," and I think that lessened my enthusiasm. Penn was good, mos def, I just am always looking for something more as fa as biopics go and they rarely seem to deliver anymore (I'M NOT THERE being the exception of late). Different strokes is all, my friend.

Posted by MindlessObamaton at December 18, 2008 10:42 AM

comment #12

anonymous2 says ...

Can anyone defend Dev Patel's performance in Slumdog? Walking out of the movie he was my one complaint. I felt sorry for him stuck in the game show chair with the same stupid blank expression on his face.

Posted by anonymous2 at December 18, 2008 11:01 AM

comment #13

lipranzer says ...

I'm very happy Jenkins and Rourke got nominated (just saw THE WRESTLER last night, and his is the performance of the year, I think), and upset Scott-Thomas and Tomei (whose performance in THE WRESTLER is every bit as good as Rourke's) were omitted.

As far as Shannon goes, I haven't seen REVOLUTIONARY ROAD yet, but I remain unconvinced of his supposedly revelatory talent. He really hasn't impressed me in anything I've seen him in, and I've seen him in several movies (I concede I'm probably stuck on his one-note performance in WORLD TRADE CENTER).

Posted by lipranzer at December 18, 2008 11:11 AM

comment #14

fredderf says ...

Arggh!! KST lost for Jolie, breaks my heart. I really hope Oscar noms do not follow in the like.

Posted by fredderf at December 18, 2008 11:42 AM

comment #15

Moises Chiullan says ...

Rod32303 - I'll be back in Tally in a few days, how's the weather? Because I know you personally sir, I can tell you that I'd be shocked if you didn't love Button. Anyone going to Let the Right One In at the Miracle?

Re: Taraji P. Henson in Button, she does a good job with the time she gets. Definitely memorable, and more so than what I'm told about Adams' work in Doubt. No slight to Adams, but the role is only so much on paper, and there have been more interesting female supporting characters this year than the "innocent chaste youngling nun."

Posted by Moises Chiullan at December 18, 2008 12:25 PM

comment #16

Flash Gordon says ...

Why is everyone going along with this charade that Winslet is a Supporting player in The Reader?
And what are the odds she might actually win both categories on Oscar night?

Posted by Flash Gordon at December 18, 2008 1:32 PM

comment #17

byanyother says ...

", has now all but killed the likelihood of Oscar noms for Thomas and Shannon. Am I wrong?"

Yes you are wrong to put so much stock in the SAG nominations -- they aren't always matched with Oscar. Re: Kristen Scott Thomas - it's a subtle performance and you have to wade through the whole movie to get the money shot. Good acting, yes. Showy acting? Nope. They clearly LOVED Slumdog Millionaire, which is how MIchael Shannon got the boot. Remember, actors aren't, by and large, smart.

Posted by byanyother at December 18, 2008 6:02 PM

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Why is everyone going along with this charade that Winslet is a Supporting player in The Reader?

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I didn't realize Hoffman in Doubt was considered Supporting.

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Lemonade diet says ...

Arggh!! KST lost for Jolie, breaks my heart. I really hope Oscar noms do not follow in the like.

Posted by Lemonade diet at January 3, 2010 8:23 PM

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Termites says ...

Changeling was a good movie, and Angelina Jolie did quite a competent job. Most of the other shows in list I didn't get to watch yet.

Oh yeah, I saw Rachel Getting Married, and it just did not leave any impression on me, so what was the fuss with Hathaway's performance anyway?

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