Predict the Screen Actors Guild Award Winners

The Screen Actors Guild Awards are tonight on TBS and TNT, and the show should provide us everything we need to know going into the Academy Awards. Odds are, most of the winners here will go on to claim the top prizes at the Oscars, but it's not a 100% success rate. For example, the past two years haven't held up in the Best Actress race. Now, last year, Kate Winslet's stronger performance and better film was The Reader, elevated to Best Actress status for the Oscars, but it was subjugated to the supporting category at the SAGs. So that one doesn't really count, I don't think. However, the year before, Julie Christie won for Away From Her, but Marion Cotillard picked up the Oscar. Also in 2008 (for 2007), Ruby Dee bested Tilda Swinton in the supporting race. But unlike the Golden Globes - which I'm tired of hearing referred to as a true predictor of something because it's roughly 100 writers that don't vote for anything else - the Screen Actors Guild members do have a say in the Academy Awards voting. So, even though they don't get into tech categories or Best Picture, this truly is the first litmus test of the season. The second comes tomorrow night with the very important Producers Guild ceremony. Our picks for this years Screen Actors Guild Awards are in bold, and they should be familiar selections to you by this point. Best Actress, for my money, is still in a state of flux. While it's not a guarantee Jeff Bridges will win Best Actor, he's the clear favorite. But Best Actress is completely split three ways, if not four. Would you be bowled over if Gabby Sidibe won? I wouldn't, even though nobody's picking her at this point. Feel free to leave your own picks in the comments section below. Best Actor
Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
George Clooney - Up in the Air
Colin Firth - A Single Man
Morgan Freeman - Invictus
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker Best Actress
Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
Helen Mirren - The Last Station
Carey Mulligan - An Education
Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon - Invictus
Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Christopher Plummer - The Last Station
Stanley Tucci - The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz - Nine
Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Diane Kruger - Inglourious Basterds
Mo’Nique - Precious Best Ensemble
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Nine
Precious Best Stunt Ensemble
Public Enemies
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Let's review. I still like Bridges and Jeremy Renner has a slim shot at an upset for Best Actor, but I think Freeman has no chance and both Clooney and Firth have peaked already. Again, Best Actress could go to Streep - who won last year for a much better performance in Doubt, so I...uh...doubt it - or it could be Sandra Bullock. I hate the thought of that, because I just don't see it as anything too remarkable from her, so I'm picking - surprise - what I found to be the best performance in the category. The supporting categories haven't budged since Basterds and Precious were released, and one of those two films should win the Ensemble prize. I'll go with Precious for the simple fact that its two central performances are stronger than that of any other film in 2009, and not even by just a little bit. I would have picked Up in the Air, but mysteriously, its great ensemble was left out in the cold. While we're on the subject, why the Oscars haven't added the ensemble acting honor like the SAGs is beyond my grasp; it makes a hell of a lot more sense than watering down Best Picture with ten nominees. It's also a truer accounting of a film honor than Best Song, which is essentially an award for marketing. So many nominees in that category are written and performed well after the film is completed, so it's almost external to the process, unlike ensemble acting. If tech crews win en masse for visual effects and sound editing, why isn't the ensemble likewise recognized? (Off soapbox...) Stunts...I have no idea, frankly. I picked the best movie, although I think in a classical sense, Public Enemies probably had more honest-to-goodness stunt work.

Comments

[mr mike]

By the time the Oscars arrive, there is no real suspense. Will Waltz and Mo'Nique win just because theyt're expected to? As for PRECIOUS, don't we get the same overwrought shenanigans on HOUSE OF PAYNE? And hasn't it become obvious Meryl won't win because she should win whenever nominated and everyone has become jealous? And has anyone even seen AN EDUCATION. Truth is Oscar hardly ever gets it right. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE? That's proof enough they don't know what's really a good movie!

[Joe Somebody]

BEST ACTOR: George Clooney
Best Actress: (Obviously) Carey Mulligan
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Waltz
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique (Maybe Anna Kendrick)
BEST ENSAMBLE: The Hurt Locker
BEST ACTION: Star Trek

[SEAN]

sorry but Slumdog was an excellent movie sir, the one time Oscar did get it right...

I want Mulligan as well & been rooting for her the whole award process but alas it hasnt happened

[Adrien]

what a wonderful show! the show is so colorful which makes a great enjoyment and entertainment