SAG, Golden Globe nominations further shape Oscar race

Two more high-profile awards groups announced their nominations this week, further shaping what so far has been a wide-open Oscar race.

The Screen Actors Guild announced its nominations on Wednesday.

“Spotlight,” “Trumbo,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “The Big Short” and “Beasts of No Nation” landed nominations for best ensemble performance, SAG’s version of best picture. “Spotlight” was expected, but the other four nominees are big surprises.

And this category often predicts the nominees for Oscar’s best picture. Since the Academy Awards expanded beyond five nominations in 2009, the SAG Awards ensemble prize has matched at least four out of five nominees every year but one.

Other SAG award surprises:

▪  Matt Damon and “The Martian” were completely shut out. It was almost a given that the film’s cast would be nominated for best ensemble.

▪  Helen Mirren was a double nominee for her leading role in “Woman in Gold” and her supporting one in “Trumbo.” Though she is consistently good, both nominations seemed to come out of nowhere.

▪  Comedian Sarah Silverman received a leading acting nomination for the little-seen indie “I Smile Back.”

▪  “Spotlight” did get nominated for best ensemble, but not for supporting actors Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo, thought to be front-runners. Only Rachel McAdams got a nomination for supporting actress.

▪  The little-indie-that-could “Room” continues to make a splash, landing nominations for Brie Larson as best lead female actor and Jacob Tremblay as best supporting actor. Quite a feat since the kid’s only 9 years old.

The 22nd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be broadcast live from Los Angeles on TNT and TBS on Jan. 30.

On Thursday, the Golden Globes nominations were announced, and shook things up a bit.

Todd Haynes’ 1950s romance, “Carol,” got the most love from the Globes, landing five nominations including best film drama and two for best actress drama (Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara).

Close behind was Adam McKay’s finance comedy “The Big Short” with four nominations, including best picture – comedy, and acting nominations for Steve Carell and Christian Bale.

Alejandro Inarritu’s frontier epic “The Revenant” also received four nominations, including best picture – drama and best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio.

And like the SAG awards, there were some surprises:

▪  Johnny Depp didn’t land an acting nod for “Black Mass.”

▪  The Globes nominated actual comedies in its comedy categories, with female-driven ones getting strong love in “Trainwreck” and “Spy.” Lead actresses Amy Schumer and Melissa McCarthy also scored acting noms.

▪  Alicia Vikander’s star is still rising. She got a lead actress – drama nomination for “The Danish Girl” as expected, but she also scored a supporting nod for “Ex Machina.”

▪  In a repeat of SAG, there were no supporting actor nominations among the cast of “Spotlight.”

▪  “Bridge of Spies,” thought to be an Oscar contender in several categories, received only one nomination, a best supporting actor nod for Mark Rylance.

▪  Sylvester Stallone received a supporting actor nod for “Creed,” solidifying his Oscar chances. Go Rocky!

The 73rd Golden Globe awards will be held Jan. 10 and hosted by Ricky Gervais.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 3:30 PM with the headline "SAG, Golden Globe nominations further shape Oscar race."