2014 Awards Season: SAG a Slave to Slave

December 14, 2013

SAG handed out nominations over the week, and like with the Independent Spirit Awards, 12 Years a Slave led the way and earned four nominations. It wasn't the only film that was singled out.

The categories and nominations are...

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• August: Osage County
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Lee Daniel's The Butler

• Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock for Gravity
• Judi Dench for Philomena
• Meryl Streep for August: Osage County
• Emma Thompson for Saving Mr. Banks

• Bruce Dern for Nebraska
• Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave
• Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips
• Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club
• Forest Whitaker for Lee Daniels' The Butler

• Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips
• Daniel Bruhl for Rush
• Michael Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave
• James Gandolfini for Enough Said
• Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club

• Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle
• Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts for August: Osage County
• June Squibb for Nebraska
• Oprah Winfrey for Lee Daniels' The Butler

• All is Lost
• Fast and Furious 6
• Lone Survivor
• Rush
• The Wolverine

• 12 Years a Slave led the way with four nominations and has to be seen as the Oscar favorite at this point. It is the favorite to win Best Cast and Chiwetel Ejiofor should win for Best Lead Actor. It might pull off a sweep, but that's a long-shot.
• August: Osage County, Dallas Buyers Club, and Lee Daniel's The Butler all earned three nominations. I'm not surprised Dallas Buyers Club did well, but the other two films' reviews were not award-worthy.
• Nebraska earned two nominations, but not for Best Cast. I would call this a snub, as it has earned better reviews that a couple of films that earned more nominations.
• While American Hustle picked up a couple of nods, one could call this film the biggest snub, as it could have easily picked up a nomination in all five major categories. On the positive side, a lot of analysts see Jennifer Lawrence as the favorite to win the Oscar. I still think her win last year will be a big problem, as winning back-to-back, even in different categories, is very rare.
• Tom Hanks picked up a nomination for Captain Phillips, but not for Saving Mr. Banks. Some think this is a snub and I can see the arguments for both sides.
• Robert Redford didn't earn a nomination for Best Lead Actor, which one could argue is a snub. On the other hand, All is Lost picked up a nomination for Best Stunts. I think that's a bit odd.
• The Wolf of Wall Street was completely snubbed. Perhaps it won't live up to early buzz. There are no reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, we should start seeing some soon.
• On a side note, Breaking Bad picked up four nominations. That's no surprise given the critical praise the show as earned and the fact that this is the last year for the show to earn awards.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Awards Season, Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf of Wall Street, Gravity, Lone Survivor, Lee Daniels' The Butler, August: Osage County, The Wolverine, Fast and Furious 6, Captain Phillips, All is Lost, Rush, Saving Mr. Banks, Blue Jasmine, American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, Nebraska, Enough Said, Philomena, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench, Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Brühl, Bruce Dern, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, James Gandolfini, Jennifer Lawrence, Jared Leto, Matthew McConaughey, Robert Redford, June Squibb, Emma Thompson, Oprah Winfrey, Lupita Nyong'o, Barkhad Abdi