SAG nominations: ‘Spotlight,’ ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ ‘Beasts of No Nation’ compete for top cast

Award season has officially started. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nominations, generally the best predictor of the Oscars (at least until the Golden Globes nominees are announced Thursday), were revealed on Wednesday morning. “Trumbo,” the political drama about a blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter in the 1940s, leads the nominations with three, including ensemble in a motion […]

Award season has officially started. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nominations, generally the best predictor of the Oscars (at least until the Golden Globes nominees are announced Thursday), were revealed on Wednesday morning.
“Trumbo,” the political drama about a blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter in the 1940s, leads the nominations with three, including ensemble in a motion picture and leading actor nods for Bryan Cranston and Helen Mirren.
The ensemble cast category – somewhat of a parallel for potential best picture nominees – was quite varied, as award season favourite ‘Spotlight’ got a much-predicted spot. It competes with ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ the hit drama following rap group N.W.A., and ‘The Big Short,’ the star-studded (but under the radar) movie centred on the 2008 financial crisis. They’ll also compete with ‘Beasts of No Nation,’ a Netflix original about a child soldier.
The acting categories were much more predictable, with Johnny Depp (‘Black Mass’), Leonardo DiCaprio (‘The Revenant’) and Eddie Redmayne (‘The Danish Girl’), all getting nods, along with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara (‘Carol’), Brie Larson (‘Room’) and Alicia Vikander (‘The Danish Girl’). And no, rough reviews for ‘Steve Jobs’ didn’t completely tank the film – both Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet scored nominations.
On the televisions side, the list reads similar to the most recent Emmy awards, as favorites ‘Veep,’ ‘Transparent,’ ‘House of Cards,’ ‘Mad Men,’ and ‘Modern Family’ all landed ensemble nominations – though Comedy Central’s ‘Key and Peele’ was a newcomer to the comedy category. The acting lists were fairly standard with prestige dramas, though newcomers Ellie Kemper (‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’) and Rami Malek (‘Mr. Robot’) were both nominated for their freshman season shows.