'The Help' leads SAG Award nominees

The Screen Actors Guild Awards have announced their nominees, with The Help leading the pack with four nominations. The Artist also fared very well, while Hugo, Harry Potter, War Horse, and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close received no recognition. Here are their lists:

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

The Artist

Bridesmaids

The Descendants

The Help

Midnight in Paris

Left out: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hugo, War Horse, and The Ides of March. As I mentioned yesterday, no film has won Best Picture without a SAG nomination in 15 years, which isn’t a great sign for Hugo, which has been surging lately.

BEST ACTOR

Demián Bichir, A Better Life

George Clooney, The Descendants

Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Left out: Michael Fassbender, Shame; Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Woody Harrelson, Rampart. The pleasant surprise here is Bichir from this summer’s little-seen but fantastic immigration drama A Better Life. Maybe this nomination will lead more Academy members to watch the thing. Darker films like Shame and Rampart were skunked.

BEST ACTRESS

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis, The Help

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Left out: Charlize Theron, Young Adult; Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene. Glenn Close needed this nomination to stay in the race, and she got it.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn

Armie Hammer, J. Edgar

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Left out: Albert Brooks, Drive; Patton Oswalt, Young Adult; Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close; Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. For the first time, Albert Brooks vulnerability is beginning to show. After winning the most critics prizes so far, he failed to connect with SAG voters. This race remains the toughest to call.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Left out: Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus; Shailene Woodley, The Descendants; Carey Mulligan, Shame. The most glaring omission here is Woodley, who could still score an Academy nod. But at whose expense? At this point, Bejo, McCarthy, and Spencer seem like the sure things for inclusion next month.

Dave on Twitter: @davekarger

Read more:

Oscar predictions: Can ‘Hugo’ beat ‘The Artist’?

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