Award Nominations - PGA, SAG, Scripter

Scripter
From OscarWatch

The author-screenwriter teams behind "Children of Men," "The
Devil Wears Prada," "The Illusionist," "The Last King of Scotland," and
"Notes on a Scandal" have been named finalists for the 19th USC
Libraries Scripter Award. Scripter is awarded annually by the University
of Southern California Libraries to honor writers for the best
achievement in adaptation among English-language films released during
the previous year and based on a book, novella or short story.

So happy for Children of Men and The Devil Wears Prada. I'd be happy for the others, but I haven't seen them. Nice that The Illusionist got some play though. Hopefully Alfonso Cuaron and team can get an Oscar nomination for Children of Men. Cuaron already has a screenwriting nomination for writing Y Tu Mama Tambien. My only worry is that the writing branch will look down on a movie with five writers. Hmm.

PGA
Babel
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

No offence to Babel and The Queen, but how were they more worthy of this title than other films from this year. Stuff like United 93 was an effort to get on screen. Films like Borat! and The Devil Wears Prada managed to become huge successes in the face of conventional wisdom. Hell, Pirates of the Caribbean grossed one billion dollars. And Babel what? Didn't make back it's budget. And The Queen? Well, it's good and all, but what is challenging about getting it made and making it a success? Not much.

SAG
Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

I got 5/5. I still don't feel comfortable having these as the Academy's top 5. I just think this year was too good for actresses to have the same top 5 throughout the entire season.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

I got 3/5 here. I thought I'd only nominate one of the Babel women, but I'm glad Kikuchi got in. I still don't understand the love for Barraza, but 'tev. I also predicted that SAG members would be angry at Blanchett for taking so many roles, but alas - Blanchett is Blanchett.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

4/5 here. I had Sasha Baron Cohen over DiCaprio. So much for actors having a funny bone, idiots. With my alternate I got 5/5 though.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Honsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls

3/5 here. I got Murphy, DiCaprio and Haley. I thought they'd go for the more populist choice of Steve Carell in Sunshine (Arkin was my alternate) and I thought Ben Affleck would in over Hounsou. I sort of want to see Blood Diamond so I can actually hate it, but I really can't be bothered. Instead I'll just hate on it because others say it's so bad and I really hated The Last Samurai. Hopefully Brad Pitt's snub calls an end to his absurd Supporting Actor bid. That makes no sense at all.

Ensemble
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine

3/5. I thought out of Babel and The Queen that the latter would get in. Alas, Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett worked their magic and The Queen only got one nomination. Hmmm. I made a little aside about knowing I should predict Bobby but, well, it turns out I should have. I thought they'd go for The Devil Wears Prada in a big way though. I mean, this is the same group that gave The Birdcage their Best Ensemble prize for crying out loud?

Which begs the question...

WHY WAS SAG SO UNKIND TO COMEDY IN 2006?

The lack of Prada and Borat love was disappointing. I suppose they just prefered the pleasant chuckles of Little Miss Sunshine, eh?