The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced its list of 2007 nominees earlier today.
The only major surprise was the inclusion of Emilio Estevez's Bobby — instead of Stephen Frears' The Queen (right) — in the "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" category, even though no individual performance from Bobby was singled out for SAG award consideration.
Also, critics' favorites such as United 93, and both Clint Eastwood World War II films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, were completely ignored by SAG voters.
Helen Mirren, on the other hand, was shortlisted in two individual categories as two different Queen Elizabeths — the current one in The Queen, and the one from the early modern era in the television movie Elizabeth I — while Leonardo DiCaprio received nods for best actor (Blood Diamond), best supporting actor (The Departed, though who exactly DiCaprio is supporting in that film remains unclear), and as part of the Departed cast.
Two Academy Award-winning veterans who began their film acting careers in the mid-1950s, 72-year-old Shirley Jones (supporting Oscar for Elmer Gantry in 1960) and 80-year-old Cloris Leachman (supporting Oscar for The Last Picture Show in 1971), were nominated as best actress (lead or supporting) in a television movie or miniseries for, respectively, Hidden Places (above, top) and Mrs. Harris (above, lower photo, with Nan Martin).
Now, in my view one of the best things about the SAG list was an omission: Jack Nicholson didn't get a best supporting actor nod for The Departed.
Even though actors represent the largest contingent of voters for the Academy Awards, SAG nominees (and winners) don't always go on to receive Oscar nods. This year, however, it's quite possible that the Academy choices will match those of the Screen Actors Guild in every individual acting category.
That is, unless Sacha Baron Cohen crashes the best actor party, Jack Nicholson's mugging in The Departed gets confused as real acting, or Catherine O'Hara gets some well-deserved recognition for For Your Consideration.