Trumbo leads 2016 Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations

The drama about the Hollywood blacklistTrumbo and the television series House of Cards with three nominations each, are leading the list of nominees for the twenty-second edition of the Screen Actors Guild Awards or better known as the SAG 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.

The awards are often a solid early indication of Oscars hopes, since members of the acting guild represent about 20 per cent of the 6,000 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The winners will be announced at a televised awards ceremony in Los Angeles on January 30.

The SAG Awards nominations were announced Wednesday morning, and we have an ax to grind with the Guild.

The hit HBO series and its stellar cast earned a total of three nominations, which might not sound like much, but it actually tied with Homeland and House of Cards for the most nominations in the television category. Cary Fukunaga’s harrowing African war epic also snagged an Outstanding Performance By A Cast nomination for Abraham Attah, Idris Elba, and Kurt Egyiawan in addition to a nod singling out Elba as the ruthless warlord referred to only as Commandant.

The film’s star Bryan Cranston – of “Breaking Bad” fame – is up for an award for his portrayal of Trumbo, and co-star Helen Mirren was also tapped for a best supporting actress prize for her role as conservative gossip columnist Hedda Hopper.

Mara and Vikander both have significant onscreen time in their respective movies, which has led some awards commentators to criticise their “supporting actress” campaigns.

This photo provided by courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox shows, Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, in a scene from the film, “The Revenant“, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. His character in the movie is described by People as “captivating and brutal” and Elba is quoted to have said “It was a disgusting despicable character …”

Best actress nominees include Brie Larson for the movie “Room”, Saoirse Ronan for the film “Brooklyn”, Sarah Silverman for “I Smile Back”, Mirren for “Woman in Gold”, and Cate Blanchett for the film “Carol”. Aduba also got a nod in the category of Best Ensemble cast for “ORANGE”, alongside THE COLOR PURPLE’s Danielle Brooks.

Actors competing in the comedy series category are Ty Burrell (“Modern Family“), Louis C.K. (“Louie“), William H. Macy (“Shameless“), Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang”) and Jeffrey Tambor (“Transparent“). 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.