SAG Ensemble. Which films get the honor of losing to Spotlight?
Thursday, December 3, 2015 at 5:11PM The Screen Actors Guild nominations are just one week away. Who do you think will be nominated for Best Ensemble? Spotlight is the only sure things since it screams "ENSEMBLE!" Or at least it whispers "Ensemble" with grave concern and sobriety standing with arms akimbo with rolled up sleeves and khakis. The Martian is probably in since it's well liked, hard to avoid, has a big cast, and it's long been speculated that actors sometimes vote for movies that they wish they could have been in (i.e. movies wherein a bunch of people look to be having fun making it)
But that's only two slots. So where do the other three go? More after the jump...
Black Mass would be a sausage party up on stage. But it's a plausible nominee
Or do they go with Emily Blunt attending the sausage party?
Another sausage party option - Straight Outta Compton. They might want to honor this big hit.
SAG prefers obviously expansive casts in this category which is why we should first suspect some combo of three from this group to make it in: Hateful Eight, Black Mass, Sicario, Suffragette, Youth, Straight Outta Compton, The Big Short, and Joy. You'll notice that about half of those are heavily male casts in movies that have been accused of misogyny... or are at least partially about that (see Sicario). Which could make for an awkward shortlist of all men all the time since Spotlight is the likely winner. Unless Suffragette is invited, you know?
But it's tough to say which of those the randomly selected nominated committees might glom on to.
The other presumed Oscar players are the type of films that make you think primarily of one or two people -- films like: Brooklyn, Room, Carol, Steve Jobs, The Revenant, Carol, Bridge of Spies, Love and Mercy, Creed, The Danish Girl; all of these films have ensembles but some voters might think of them as star vehicles first and foremost.
Steve Jobs actually has a bigger cast that it seems. It's just that it's a series of duets
Then there are the smaller movies that they might not even think of while voting even if they would be good fits for the category -- like The Diary of a Teenage Girl, for instance.
And wouldn't that be a fun choice? Sadly SAG hasn't delivered a truly shocking nomination in this category in a really long time. The days of a Hustle & Flow (2005) or The Station Agent (2003) showing up seem long gone.
Reader Comments (26)
SICARIO feels like a small ensemble though. One of those ones where only four people get nominated even though it ought to be much bigger.
I hope STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON gets in there though. That'd be a neat reward for the film's best part.
Spotlight
The Martian
Black Mass
Carol
The Danish Girl
(Alt: Sicario, Brooklyn)
I think Sicario would be a very deserved nomination. Of course 80% of the impact of the acting in that movie comes from Del Toro's towering performance (can't believe he is not sweeping the awards) but there is not a single weak link in it and the chemistry is just great.
Nathaniel, I agree a shocking nomination in SAG Ensemble seems unlikely anymore, but what do you count as the last true shocker? I'd say Hairspray (2007) unless you count The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel? (2012)
speaking of ensembles... I wonder why Michael Stuhlbarg didn't get name checked in the promotional material for Steve Jobs . He's really good and the only member of the cast featured in all 3 segments of the movie that isn't listed...
I love the headline.
Would never happen in a million years but wouldn't it be great if they honored Inside Out with a nomination here?
Brooklyn would be such a very deserving nomination but if it actually happens we will be angry because I'm pretty sure Julie Walters was the only other female to get single billing in the end credits. It would be such a shame for all those fantastic performances to go unacknowledged!
Rami - That would be incredible and totally deserved. For some reason, there's no focus on the performances in Inside Out this season (Pixar isn't even giving them a cursory push in their FYC ads), even though they were fantastic.
I think Spotlight and Black Mass are out front for SAG Ensemble. The other 3 spots are up for grabs.
I think Brooklyn will easily get in here. It's such a crowdpleaser, even if its cast isn't super well-known.
Brooklyn absolutely should get in. Everyone was note-perfect. I wonder if Julie can get any traction for a nom in this competitive year.
I love The Martian, but some of the cast seemed a bit wide-eyed and fairly loose--some inconsistency there.
I second Inside Out.
How about honoring a cast that developed well over a dozen distinct characters while rocketing along at an unrelenting breakneck pace?
Think about it. Mad Max didn't only develop Max, Joe, Furiosa and Nux. You got to know the brides, the Vuvalini, the Gear Boys, the crews from the Bullet Farms and Gas Town, Joe's sons and various other minor figures from the Doof warrior to Miss Giddy. And you got to know them as characters whose personalities affected the action not just as figures being posed in the action, with everyone tonally right on the same frequency.
That's an ensemble performance worth honoring.
In terms of eswmble, I think that Youth; Hateful Eight can be able to get in.
I think BROOKLYN gets in for it's wealth of beautifully understated performances from character actors. I wonder what that cast list they submit will look like; movies like that often leave a few of the big names out. James DiGiacomo as Frankie, any of the girls from the boarding house, or even Jessica Paré seem vulnerable for in that sense. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if their list for ensemble included just Ronan, Cohen, Gleeson, Walters, and Broadbent. That Corey Stoll exclusion a few years ago for MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is still shocking.
Does anyone have thought on the impact of omissions like that? Do people just vote for the film in general, or is attention paid if an actor who gives a small but well loved performance is left off the list?
Im kind of rooting for Straight Outta Compton too. The year is almost over and i can safely say it was one of the best films of the year. It would be nice for it to get something.
@ Alex: Brooklyn's cast for SAG consideration will consist of all the actors whose names got a single card in the credits. Them's the rules.
And I always want to vote for the film whose entire cast gave the "outstanding" performance (imho), but if that rule causes the list of eligible names to have too many glaring omissions (compared to another potentially deserving nominee), it may affect my vote.
You say "Sausage Party" like that would be a bad thing!
My vote goes to Diary of a Teenage Girl. Even the one-line walk-ons felt lived-in, natural, engaged and part of a fully formed world.
Let's not forget the cast of 'Love and Mercy'
Hope they go completely outside the box and pick ROOM. Ha!
But in all seriously, more unlikely options they should actually consider:
Spy
Cinderella
Mad Max: Fury Road
Grandma
Mistress America
Question - is everyone actually down with The Martian being an Oscar front-runner? It's starting to happen before my eyes and yet I still can't quite fathom it. I liked it a lot and I know there are lots of Oscar-lovable people involved in the movie, but it's still just like....a competent, fun, slightly forgettable summer flick.
lilian -- agreed. it's fading for me. but it is fun to watch and it's insanely popular
ryan t --good suggestions. can't believe i didn't think of SPY while writing this.
Ryan T.: Room is actually not so farfetched, when you think about past three- (!) or four-person cast lists that got nominated like the ones for Boyhood, Million Dollar Baby, Billy Elliott, Sideways, Hotel Rwanda, Doubt, and Sense and Sensibility (!).
I'd bet:
Spotlight
The Big Short
Hateful 8
Steve Jobs
Bridge of Spies
alt: Straight out of Compton