Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for "The
Departed" as well as for "Blood Diamond"; Rinko Kikuchi received a nomination
for "Babel"; Will Smith received a nomination for "The Pursuit Of Happyness";
Abigail Breslin was the youngest nominee for the film SAG award announcements
for "Little Miss Sunshine"; Jennifer Hudson wins another nomination for "Dreamgirls".
(Photos: Warner Brothers; Paramount Vantage; Sony/Columbia Pictures; Fox
Searchlight; Paramount/Dreamworks)
January 4, 2007 -- Los Angeles
The nominations for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced
this morning and for the most part everything went according to plan on the
theatrical motion pictures side. Sandra Oh and Elijah Wood announced the
nominees in a ceremony that took just over ten minutes and was broadcast on TNT
and TBS, as well as on the Internet sites tnt.tv and tbs.com.
"Babel", "Dreamgirls" and "Little Miss Sunshine" gained momentum this awards
season as each won three nominations including best ensemble cast.
"Babel", Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's three-storied-film about people on three
different continents struggling to listen to each other was bolstered by
supporting role nominations for Adriana Barraza (who plays Amelia, a Mexican
maid) and Rinko Kikuchi (who plays Chieko, a deaf teenage girl from Japan).
"Dreamgirls", Bill Condon's musical film based on the 1981 Broadway musical by
Michael Bennett, Tom Eyen and Henry Krieger, won supporting role nominations for
both Jennifer Hudson (who plays the bossy, brash, bold and rejuvenated Effie
White) and Eddie Murphy (who plays the dedicated James "Thunder" Early).
"Little Miss Sunshine" made its presence felt with supporting role nominations
for Alan Arkin (as foul-mouthed Grandpa) and ten-year-old Abigail Breslin (as
Olive, the young girl seeking a place in a Redondo Beach, California beauty
pageant.)
As expected, Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren were nominated for their
respective leading roles as "King" and "Queen" in the films "The Last King Of
Scotland" and "The Queen". Both films are relatively small-budgeted
independent pictures (Fox Searchlight and Miramax Films respectively).
Whitaker plays Idi Amin, the charismatic, magnetic but brutal and psychotic
dictator from Uganda, while Mirren plays Queen Elizabeth II as a monarchy figure
balancing the need to maintain British royal traditions while facing pressure
from a new prime minister and a British public in mourning for the departed
Princess Diana. Dame Helen was also nominated on the television side as
Queen Elizabeth I in "Elizabeth I", the HBO cable television mini-series drama.
The Screen Actors Guild nominations were the second significant awards
nominations in three weeks that saw Ms. Mirren nominated on both the television
and theatrical motion picture sides. Last month, Mirren achieved
double-nomination status in both media/mediums as a Golden Globe Awards nominee.
There were a series of "firsts" in the theatrical motion pictures Screen Actors
Guild nomination portion of the announcement. Rinko Kikuchi, Jennifer
Hudson, Ryan Gosling (as a drug-addled teacher in "Half Nelson"), Jackie Earle
Haley (as a suspected sex offender released into suburbia in "Little Children"),
Penelope Cruz (as the effervescent but grieving Raimunda in "Volver"), Abigail
Breslin, Will Smith (as real-life homeless man turned multi-millionaire
stockbroker businessman Chris Gardner in the smash hit film "The Pursuit Of
Happyness") and veteran actor Peter O'Toole (as a retiree who is re-invigorated
in "Venus"), all received their first Actor (Screen Actors Guild statuette)
nominations.
Helen Again: The Dame Helen Mirren was
a dual nominee again, for the second consecutive major awards nominations.
Repeat Forest: Mr. Whitaker received another nomination.
Peter O'Toole, pictured on the right in "Venus", received his first SAG Awards
nomination. (Photos: Miramax Films, DNA Films/Fox Searchlight;
Miramax Films)
Perhaps the biggest winner was Leonardo DiCaprio. He was nominated for
both leading and supporting roles by a male actor for his work in "Blood
Diamond" (in the leading category, as South African soldier-turned-diamond
hunter Danny Archer) and "The Departed" (as the anguished and conflicted
undercover police officer Billy Costigan). Mr. DiCaprio was also nominated
as part of the ensemble cast of "The Departed", directed by Martin Scorsese and
distributed by Warner Brothers.
Meryl Streep's chances of further awards season nominations seem assured as she
was nominated for the second major awards season accolade running as Miranda
Priestly in "The Devil Wears Prada". Kate Winslet received a nomination
for her role as the complex Sarah, a married mother who embarks on a torrid
affair, in "Little Children". Cate Blanchett also was nominated as was
Dame Judi Dench for their roles in "Notes On A Scandal".
The studio that came up with the most nominations was Fox Searchlight with six,
followed by Warner Brothers with four.
Ryan Gosling was nominated for "Half Nelson",
while both Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi Dench were nominees for "Notes On A
Scandal".
Djimon Hounsou was nominated for "Blood Diamond", while Jackie Earle Haley
received a nomination for "Little Children".
(Photos: ThinkFilm; DNA Films/Fox Searchlight; Warner Brothers; New Line Cinema)
Finally, for ensemble cast the following films
were nominated: "Babel", "Bobby", "The Departed", "Dreamgirls" and "Little Miss
Sunshine".
Julie Andrews had been previously announced as the Screen Actors Guild Awards
43rd Annual Life Achievement Award recipient.
The 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards
will be telecast live in North America on both TNT and TBS cable network
television, on Sunday, January 28, 2007 at 8 p.m. Eastern U.S. Time, 7 p.m.
Central U.S. Time, and 6 p.m. Mountain Time.
The Awards will be telecast in recorded format at 8 p.m. Pacific U.S. Time.
