Redmayne’s double Oscar hopes boosted with Screen Actors Guild Award nomination

The film with the largest number of nominations – three – in the five major film categories has been dismissed by most self-proclaimed Oscar experts: That’s the blacklist drama “Trumbo”, which drew nods for best ensemble (SAG’s rough equivalent of best picture), best actor (Bryan Cranston) and best supporting actress (Helen Mirren).

“Trumbo”, about a group of screenwriters and directors shunned for their associations to the Communist Party, earned three nominations, including the guild’s top prize for best ensemble cast.

“Trumbo” star Bryan Cranston earned a best actor nod for his role as Dalton Trumbo, while Helen Mirren got a best supporting actress nomination for playing gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. Mirren was additionally nominated for greatest actress for “Woman in Gold”.

He will compete against Johnny Depp for “Black Mass”, Leonardo DiCaprio for “The Revenant“, Michael Fassbender for his work on “Steve Jobs” and Eddie Redmayne for “The Danish Girl”.

Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Ruby Rose and Miranda Otto have been nominated for Screen Actors Guild Awards, but the news was not so good for Australia’s male acting talent.

Awards season has begun with the announcement of the nominees for the 22nd annual Screen Actor Guilds Awards.

Awards season is just around the corner, and the first big nominations on the road to Oscar glory are out today in the form of SAG Awards nominations.

Unlike the Oscars and Golden Globes, SAG lets film distributors decide the categories in which to place their candidates.

SPOTLIGHT received a nomination for the film’s ensemble cast which includes SOMETHING ROTTEN’s Brian d’Arcy James, THE NORMAL HEART’s Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber, LEND ME A TENOR’s Stanley Tucci (Lend Me a Tenor), and WAITING FOR GODOT’s Billy Crudup. Both were viewed as more under-the-radar choices.

Supporting actor nominees are Idris Elba (“Beasts of No Nation”), Christian Bale (“The Big Short”), Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies“), Michael Shannon (“99 Homes”) and Jacob Tremblay (“Room”).

Otto is nominated with her Homeland cast in the TV drama ensemble category against Mad Men, House of Cards, Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey.

Beasts actor Idris Elba landed a best supporting actor nod, as well as a best leading TV drama actor nod for Luther.

See the full list of nominations over at The Hollywood Reporter.

There were more diverse individual nominees in television than film, though, thanks to nominations for Elba, “Orange is the New Black’s” Uzo Aduba and Viola Davis of “How to Get Away With Murder“. The lead for Trumbo comes as a surprise, as most pundits have it trailing on their awards list to films such as Carol and Spotlight, who seem to be overall frontrunners so far.