SAG Ensemble -- Everyone's Nominated... Except for You!

Happy SAG NOMINATION DAY! It's time for our glorious depressing tradition of trying to convince a UNION that they ought to look into slightly different rules that are less likely to devalue their dues paying members. Each year when the SAG ensemble nominees are announced the list of actual nominees from the films reveal that non-big name actors are routinely excluded. The problem is that the size of your fame doesn't always correlate with your role and the bulk of SAG's membership is non-famous actors.  If you're curious about why this happens it's due to the rules that you have to have your own title card to be considered part of the official ensemble. In other words you need to a) be famous or b) have a really good agent or c) have the leading role. The only exception to this rule is when the credits don't follow the normal rules. For example Woody Allen movies always list the cast alphabetically on a shared title card. In those cases, you have to be on the first title card to make it in which is why Corey Stoll, who gave the best performance in Midnight in Paris, was left out that year. He wasn't famous enough yet to be on the first page of credits. Now he tends to get his own title card. 

So let's look at who was honored and who was mistreated this morning by the group nominations.

BEASTS OF NO NATION
Nominated Cast: Abraham Attah, Idris Elba, Kurt Egyiawan (as "2nd I-C")

Who was left out: Just about everyone which makes it the strangest nomination of the group. Does three make an ensemble?  I have not yet seen the film -- child soldier dramas are a subgenre I avoid like the plague since they're mentally scarring -- but I hear that Emmanuel Nii Adom Quaye who plays "Strika" is quite good in the movie. 

more after the jump...

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