2014 - Awards Season: SAG - Nominations

December 10, 2014

The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced Wednesday morning. Are there surprises worth mentioning? Is the Oscar picture beginning to take shape? Like with the Independent Spirit Awards, Birdman led the way this time earning four nominations from six categories, while Boyhood, The Imitation Game, and The Theory of Everything had three nods each.

The categories and nominees are...

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

• Birdman
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• The Theory of Everything

• Jennifer Aniston for Cake
• Felicity Jones for The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore for Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon for Wild

• Steve Carell for Foxcatcher
• Benedict Cumberbatch for The Imitation Game
• Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler
• Michael Keaton for Birdman
• Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything

• Robert Duvall for The Judge
• Ethan Hawke for Boyhood
• Edward Norton for Birdman
• Mark Ruffalo for Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons for Whiplash

• Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
• Keira Knightley for The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone for Birdman
• Meryl Streep for Into the Woods
• Naomi Watts for St. Vincent

• Fury
• Get on Up
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Unbroken
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

• Again, there's not much to say, as there were not a lot of surprises. Birdman continues to lead the way, as its Oscar chances grow.
• Boyhood is also becoming an Awards Season player, while The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything were clearly made to win awards, so these nominations are not a surprise.
• On the other hand, Selma was shutout, which was a surprise.
• I was also expecting Jessica Chastain to pick up a nomination for A Most Violent Year, but that didn't happen.
• Jennifer Aniston's nomination for Cake is probably the most puzzling nomination of the night.
• Into the Woods isn't expected to earn a ton of Oscar nominations, certainly not outside of the technical fields. That said, Meryl Streep has to be considered a potential Oscar-nominee regardless of what movie she is in.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Awards Season, St. Vincent, Selma, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Fury, Into the Woods, Unbroken, The Judge, Foxcatcher, Get on Up, Gone Girl, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Boyhood, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), The Theory of Everything, Whiplash, The Imitation Game, Wild, Nightcrawler, A Most Violent Year, Still Alice, Cake, Meryl Streep, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Jennifer Aniston, Steve Carell, Jessica Chastain, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robert Duvall, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Keaton, Keira Knightley, Julianne Moore, Edward Norton, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Ruffalo, J.K. Simmons, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts, Reese Witherspoon, Felicity Jones