Three things became apparent at the nominations announcement for the 12th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards: Brokeback Mountain was the film to beat with four nominations; Felicity Huffman led all the thespians with three nominations for her work on both her series Desperate Housewives and her film Transamerica and Grey’s Anatomy‘s Ellen Pompeo needs to work on her poker face.
Pompeo looked as smartly chic in a chocolate Yves St. Laurent dress and spotted Alexander McQueen scarf as anyone could be expected to at 6 a.m., when she joined Benjamin Bratt on stage at West Hollywood’s Pacific Design Center to unveil the nominations. And while she and Bratt bypassed tepid awards show banter and got right down to business with the announcements, on three occasions the Grey’s Anatomy actress’ professional demeanor would dissolve in favor of a big, bright, twinkly-eyed grin. Each time, the reason why was revealed five seconds later: she’d spotted a Grey’s Anatomy nomination–one each for her co-stars Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh, as well as an ensemble nod for the entire cast–on the teleprompter.
“I’m very excited to go to work and give them all the good news, if they haven’t heard it already,” Pompeo told Hollywood.com after the nominations, expecting a little something extra waiting on the set for the cast. “Recently we’ve been celebrating with cake and champagne, so I’m sure we’ll follow suit for this, also.” She was especially excited about Dempsey ’s nom for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series: “His story is so amazing and he’s taken in everything with so much grace. I’m thrilled for him and I’m so happy to work with him every day.”
If Pompeo felt any disappointment about not getting her own individual nomination, it didn’t show. “It’s not disappointing because we are an ensemble cast, and we got recognized as a group,” she said. “That’s what’s important–that we got acknowledged at all. And there’s plenty of time for personal awards and stuff like that. I’m just happy to be a working actor.”
The actress did indulge in a little mock-professional jealousy at her Sunday night network mate Huffman’s big morning as a triple-nominee: “She’s okay,” Pompeo sniffed. “No–of course, she’s fantastic. I mean, come on! And I really have to applaud her tremendously, because the hour-long drama is so tough. Well, I guess that’s considered a comedy. But still, it’s such a rigorous schedule, and so for her to take her break and take on a role of this magnitude is just a tremendous effort on her part. And who else could really pull it off? So it’s great to see her get recognized.”
The Film Nominations
Among the motion picture nominations, Brokeback Mountain led the acting pack with four, including Heath Ledger for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, Jake Gyllenhaal for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Michelle Williams for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and the entire cast (including Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris, Anne Hathaway and Randy Quaid) for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Joining the gay-themed Western in the cast category–SAG’s equivalent of best picture–were other films faring well in this year’s race for awards gold: Capote, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck, as well as the well-reviewed indie Hustle & Flow.
Contending with first-time nominee Ledger in the leading actor category are a group of veterans: Capote’s Philip Seymour Hoffman (his sixth SAG nomination), Cinderella Man’s Russell Crowe (a previous winner), as well as Walk the Line’s Joaquin Phoenix and Good Night, and Good Luck’s David Strathairn, both previous SAG nominees enjoying their first nod in this category.
Joining first-time feature film nominee Huffman in the hunt for the leading actress trophy are Judi Dench for Mrs. Henderson Presents(the ninth overall SAG nomination for the two-time winner), previous winner Charlize Theron for North Country, and two more first time nominees, Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line and Ziyi Zhang for Memoirs of a Geisha.
Vying with Gyllenhaal in the supporting male field are Crash’s Don Cheadle and Matt Dillon, Cinderella Man’s Paul Giamatti and Syriana’s George Clooney. The female supporting race proved one of the more interesting–and somewhat divergent from other recent awards nominees–featuring Williams, Amy Adams for Junebug, Catherine Keener for Capote, Frances McDormand for North Country and Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener.
The nominees were reflective of the eclectic tastes of the actor’s guild. Conspicuously absent were any nods for the actors from Steven Spielberg’s critically-hailed Munich, or individual nominations for the widely praised performances of Hustle & Flow’s Terrence Howard or King Kong’s Naomi Watts. Also of note are the two–count ‘em, two–nominations for rapper-turned-actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges for his turns in the ensembles of Crash and Hustle & Flow.
[PAGEBREAK]The TV Nominations
Boston Legal led the entire TV field with four nominations, one of the advantages of contending in the comedy category, á la fellow contender Desperate Housewives, in an era of fading sitcoms. Joining both of those series among the nominees for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series are Arrested Development, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Everybody Loves Raymond (possibly a sentimental favorite in its final season) and freshman series My Name Is Earl.
Two of Boston Legal’s eagles, James Spader and William Shatner, find themselves contending with each in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series, along with Curb’s Larry David, Earl’s Jason Leeand Will & Grace’s three-time winner Sean Hayes. Hayes’ nomination marks his sixth consecutive in the category and his 12th overall.
Boston Legal’s fourth nod went to Candice Bergen for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, with Desperate Housewives’ Huffman, Weeds’ Mary-Louise Parker, Will’s Megan Mullally and Raymond’s Patricia Heaton. Mullally has three previous victories in the category and takes in her sixth consecutive nomination, while Heaton celebrates her fifth consecutive nod.
On the dramatic side, Grey’s Anatomy wasn’t the only first-year series lauded in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. The breakout medical drama were joined by fellow rookies Lost and The Closer, as well as veterans Six Feet Under and The West Wing.
The newbie trend continued in the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series field, with Dempsey joined by first-timers House’s Hugh Laurie and Deadwood’s Ian McShane, as well as a previous nominee, The West Wing’s Alan Alda and past winner, 24’s Kiefer Sutherland, who scored his fourth consecutive nod.
Law & Order: SVU’s Mariska Hargitay was the only previous nominee to land in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series. She contends with a quartet of fresh faces: Grey’s Anatomy’s Oh, Medium’s Patricia Arquette, Commander In Chief’s Geena Davis and The Closer’s Kyra Sedgwick.
But it wasn’t all about the fresh and new. The miniseries and TV movie field was dominated by actors who’ve been around the block. In the category of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries, five acting heavyweights will duke it out on a card that includes Kenneth Branagh (Warm Springs), Ted Danson (Knights of the South Bronx), Christopher Plummer (Our Fathers), Ed Harris and Paul Newman (both for Empire Falls); while in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries, Joanne Woodward, Robin Wright-Penn (both Empire Falls), Cynthia Nixon (Warm Springs) and Epatha Merkerson (Lackawanna Blues) were joined by newcomer Tonantzin Carmelo of Into the West.
As with the recent Golden Globe nominations, the crop of SAG nominees demonstrated the HBO’s long-running dominance in the awards derby was finally being challenged again by the traditional networks–the pay cable net tied with ABC for the most SAG nominations, each scoring 11. Though HBO fared well among the minis and TV movies, its signature dramas, save for the departed Six Feet Under, were noticeably missing from the roster, and even its buzzed-about comedy Entourage and breakout star Jeremy Piven were not honored. On the flip side, ABC wasn’t able to further pad its nomination total with a crop of Desperate Housewives nods in the leading actress category: none of the actresses aside from Huffman earned a nomination–including last year’s winner Teri Hatcher.
Screen Actors Guild will honor its own at the 12th Annual SAG Awards™ ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2006, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, simulcast live nationally on Turner Network Television (TNT) and TBS at 8 p.m. ET/PT, 7 p.m. CT, and 6 p.m. MT.
