‘Trumbo’ leads SAG Awards field with three nominations

The nominations were spread fairly evenly among films up for outstanding performance by a cast – the SAG Awards’ equivalent of Oscar’s best picture – with “Trumbo” earning three nods and “Spotlight”, “The Big Short” and “Beasts of No Nation” picking up two each.

Supporting actor Christian Bale, The Big Short; Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation; Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies; Michael Shannon, 99 Homes; Jacob Tremblay, Room.

Sarah Silverman – Nominee for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role “I Smile Back”: “I am honestly in shock and just tickled pink that this happened”.

She received her SAG nomination in the TV movie/mini-series actress category for Grace of Monaco, the critically-slammed biopic that American producer Harvey Weinstein refused to release in USA cinemas.

Elsewhere in film, SAG saw fit to fill its Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading (film) Role category with naught but portrayals of real-life guys, including Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger in Black Mass, Michael Fassbender’s take on Steve Jobs, and Cranston as the aforementioned old coot.

The most important thing to know about the television nominees for the 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards is that against all odds, voters managed to retain a place for Maggie Smith in the outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series field, no matter how limited her Downton Abbey screentime may be.

The SAG awards are scheduled for January 30, 2016. Nominees are selected by separate movie and TV nominating panels, each comprised of more than 2,000 randomly selected SAG members, and the organization’s choices highlighted a few underdog performances.

But what does it all mean for Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, which are still ahead? Last year, for example, Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette and J.K. Simmons won SAG awards before going on to win Oscars. She added a third mention as part of the nominated ensemble cast for Trumbo.

Blanchett’s Carol co-star Rooney Mara was nominated in the supporting actress category alongside double nominee Mirren (Trumbo), Rachel McAdams (Spotlight), Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl) and Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs).

Spotlight, with its heralded cast, was expected to rule, especially in the best supporting actor category (Mark Ruffalo and Michael Keaton), where it was surprisingly denied. Maybe I’m a victim of my own wishful thinking, but I’d hoped that actors themselves would reward the subtle chill of Keri Russell’s performance in “The Americans”, or bring attention to the ferocious ensemble of “The Leftovers”, or recognize the importance of Tituss Burgess to the zippy hilarity of “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt“. Its hit show “Transparent” was nominated for Best Comedy Series Ensemble and lead actor Jeffrey Tambor for Best Male Actor.

“It says a lot that I got to play a lead in this show and now I’m getting recognition for it as a nominee”.