Into The Wild leads Screen Actors' Guild nominations (2008)
Story by Jack Foley
SEAN Penn’s Into the Wild leads the nominations for next year’s Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards with four nods.
The film’s star Emile Hirsch is in the running for best actor, Hal Holbrook and Catherine Keener are nominated for their supporting roles and the film as a whole has been nominated in the best performance by an overall cast category.
The film is a beautifully constructed tribute to college graduate Christopher McCandless who, in 1992, decided to donate all his savings to charity and head off in search of adventure and spiritual fulfilment in Alaska.
In the best cast category, Penn’s labour of love faces competition from the Coen brothers’ No Country For Old Men (starring Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones), Western remake 3:10 To Yuma (with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale), musical comedy Hairspray (which featured John Travolta in drag) and Ridley Scott’s American Gangster (with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe).
Vying against Hirsch for best actor, meanwhile, are George Clooney for Michael Clayton, Daniel Day Lewis for There Will Be Blood, Ryan Gosling for Lars & The Real Girl and Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises.
The best actress category, meanwhile, features nods for Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There), Julie Christie (Away From Her), Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart) and Ellen Page (for Juno).
The SAG awards will be held on January 27, 2008, and are considered to be yet another useful indicator of which films and stars will be in the running for Oscar glory.
Like the Golden Globes, they also recognise TV performances, with categories for best cast in a TV drama and best cast in a TV comedy.
For the dramatic section, the final season of Mob drama The Sopranos faces competition from medical drama Grey’s Anatomy as well as Boston Legal, The Closer and Mad Men.
While for comedy, our personal favourite Entourage is up against 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, The Office and Ugly Betty.