Awards Season 2026: Producers Guild Awards (PGA), and Actor Award Winners

We are getting to the sharp end of the 2026 awards season, my loves. Over this weekend, two major guilds have handed out their awards, which are definitely cementing a couple of films and performers as this year's Oscar winners in my mind. 

So, as they say in Mulan, let's get down to business!

PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS (PGA)

The 37th Producers Guild Awards (PGA) were handed out on Saturday 28th February. The film winners are:

Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: One Battle After Another

Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures: My Mom Jayne 

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: KPop Demon Hunters

I don't think, at this stage in proceedings, One Battle After Another's win is going to surprise anyone. Maybe the win for KPop Demon Hunters over Zootopia 2 might be considered a surprise, but honestly I'm not that sure. It's been an absolute cultural juggernaut since it debuted, and it's pretty much guaranteed for some Oscars love in two weeks' time (it's almost definitely going to win Best Original Song). 

If you're wondering, My Mom Jayne is a documentary by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit actress Mariska Hargitay about her mother, the iconic Jayne Mansfield (who tragically died when Mariska was only three years old). 

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ACTOR AWARDS

The 32nd Actors Awards were held last night (Sunday 1st March) in a ceremony which streamed live on Netflix, hosted by Kristen Bell for the third time. 

Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Sinners

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Amy Madigan (Weapons)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning

Well, now, this is interesting. Apart from Jessie Buckley, not what I expected to see from SAG at all. That said, last year, Timothée Chalamet won the Best Actor award for A Complete Unknown, throwing a bit of a curveball - although the Oscar ended up going to Adrien Brody. I'd say the momentum is still in Chalamet's corner but who can say? Academy voting is still open, however, closing on Thurday (5th March) so will these results sway those still on the fence? The supporting acting categories are still wide open, which might make for some interesting results come Oscar night. 

Ryan Coogler becomes the first director to direct two separate Best Cast-winning ensembles (Black Panther took the top prize in 2019) and Harrison Ford received the Life Achievement Award. 

Congratulations to all winners!

So where does that leave us? The only other major award I'll be covering before the 98th Academy Awards will be the Razzies, which will be handed out on Saturday 14th March.

Awards Season 2026: Actor Awards Nominations

In my attempt to catch up on some awards season nonsense before the Oscar nominations next week, here are this year's nominations for the Actor Awards. 

But what are the Actor Awards, you may ask? Is this a new award added to what could be considered an already bloated season? Nope - the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) have decided to change the name of their awards. The statuette that winners receive is called "The Actor" so they decided that, from this year, they are The Actor Awards. Fair enough.  

"The Actor" award - you can see where they got the name from

Anyway, here are this year's nominations, which were announced on Wednesday 7th January 2026:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Timothée Chalamet (Marty Supreme)

Leonardo DiCaprio (One Battle After Another)

Ethan Hawke (Blue Moon)

Michael B. Jordan (Sinners)

Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

Rose Byrne (If I Had Legs I'd Kick You)

Kate Hudson (Song Sung Blue)

Chase Infiniti (One Battle After Another)

Emma Stone (Bugonia)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Miles Caton (Sinners)

Benicio del Toro (One Battle After Another)

Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein)

Paul Mescal (Hamnet)

Sean Penn (One Battle After Another)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Odessa A'zion (Marty Supreme)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked: For Good)

Amy Madigan (Weapons)

Wunmi Mosaku (Sinners)

Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

F1

Frankenstein

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

One Battle After Another

Sinners

One Battle After Another cements itself as a 2026 Awards Season juggernaut by become the most-nominated film in the history of the Actor Awards with seven nods covering all six categories (the first film to do this since the Stunt Ensemble award was introduced in 2007). Sinners has a perfectly respectable five nominations, with Frankenstein, Hamnet and Marty Supreme joint third with three apiece.

Couple of things to discuss here. The major elephant in the room is the complete and utter shutout of any foreign-language/international films. The Secret Agent and Sentimental Value, two of the most high profile international movies of the year, nowhere to be seen despite strong showing for both in other award nominations. I don't necessarily think the Oscars will repeat this; the last couple of years have seen films like Emilia Pérez, Anatomy Of A Fall, Past Lives, Drive My Car, Parallel Mothers and Minari all major contenders, so I think we'll see them mentioned there. 

However, with the absence of these films, in each of the solo acting categories, there was one pleasant "oh really?" nominations. It was good to see Jesse Plemons, Kate Hudson, Miles Caton, and Odessa A'zion included in the awards conversation. Whilst both Plemons and Hudson received Golden Globe (Musical/Comedy) nods for their lead performances in Bugonia and Song Sung Blue respectively, this is the first major awards recognition for both Caton (in his film debut) and A'Zion. 

 

The 32nd Actor Awards will be handed out on Sunday 1st March 2026, with the ceremony broadcasting on Netflix for the third year running. 

Next with my catch-up will be the Directors Guild Awards (DGA) and Producers Guild Awards (PGA) nominations. This will probably be at some point over the weekend. 

Awards Season 2025: Independent Spirit Awards and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards Winners

More awards season nonsense took place over this past weekend, so here are the results from those two star-studded events.

INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

On Saturday 22nd February 2025 , the 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards- recognising films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system- took place.

Here's a full list of film winners. 

Best Feature: Anora

Best Lead Performance: Mikey Madison (Anora)

Best Supporting Performance: Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Best Breakthrough Performance: Maisy Stella (My Old Ass)

Best Director: Sean Baker (Anora)

Best Screenplay: Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain) 

Best First Screenplay: Sean Wang (Didi)

Best Cinematography: Nickel Boyss

Best Editing: September 5

Best First Feature: Didi

Best International Film: Flow

Best Documentary: No Other Land

John Cassavetes Award: Girls Will Be Girls

Robert Altman Award: His Three Daughters

The John Cassavetes Award is given to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $1 million, whilst the Robert Altman Award is presented to the ensemble cast of the movie, its director, and its casting director(s). 

Anora was the big winner of the evening, with three awards. A Real Pain and Didi both won two. 

Anora is really starting to make strides; with its wins at both PGA and DGA, and Mikey Madison's surprise BAFTA win, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that there might be an "upset" come next Sunday. 

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SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (SAG) AWARDS

The 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards were held on Sunday 23rd February in a ceremony which streamed live on Netflix, hosted by Kristen Bell. 

Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Conclave

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

The Fall Guy

Unlike last year's Oppenheimer sweep, this had a bit more of an "all shall have prizes" feel about it (which is pretty much the theme of this year's awards season; whilst the same performances might be getting recognised a lot, they're all coming from different places so it's good to have that variety). 

I'm really pleased to see Conclave win the Best Cast award, as it is a superb ensemble. Timothée Chalamet's win chucks a nice little curveball, although it feels unlikely that the Academy is going to follow suit (Adrien Brody's probably going to have another Little Naked Gold Man). Best Actress now feels like it's a two-horse race between Mikey Madison and Demi Moore, whilst I think we can safely say the supporting categories are as locked in as they can be. 

The stone-cold icon that is Jane Fonda was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, and gave a barnstorming acceptance speech in which she said “Empathy is not weak or ‘woke.’ And, by the way, ‘woke’ just means you give a damn about other people”. Yassss, queen! 

Congratulations to all winners!

So, we are getting down to the sharp end of awards season 2025, with just the Razzies and the Oscars to go next weekend. 

Awards Season 2025: Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Awards, and Directors Guild Awards (DGA) Nominations

It's a two-for-one kind of day when it comes to movie awards, so let's not beat around the bush; let's get right down to it!

SCREEN ACTORS' GUILD (SAG) AWARDS

This afternoon (Wednesday 8th January), the nominations for the 31st Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards were announced. Due to the fast-moving wildfires currently raging around the Los Angeles area, the in-person event which would have usually seen the nominations announced was cancelled (our of "an abundance of caution" and rightly so) and instead the nominees were confirmed via a press release. 

Below is the list of film nominations:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Anora

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Emilia Pérez

Wicked

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)

Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)

Daniel Craig (Queer)

Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)

Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)

Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)

Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)

Mikey Madison (Anora)

Demi Moore (The Substance)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Monica Barbaro (A Complete Unknown)

Jamie Lee Curtis (The Last Showgirl)

Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)

Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)

Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Jonathan Bailey (Wicked)

Yura Borisov (Anora)

Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)

Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)

Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Deadpool & Wolverine

Dune: Part Two

The Fall Guy

Gladiator II

Wicked

Wicked leads the pack with a whopping five nominations, with Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown in second place with four. Emilia Pérez and Anora both have three apiece. 

There's a couple of interesting curveballs in the SAG choices; this is the first awards recognition for Monica Barbaro (who plays musician Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown), Jamie Lee Curtis (who plays the best friend to Pamela Anderson's character in The Last Showgirl) and Jonathan Bailey (who plays Fiyero in Wicked). I think it's safe to say that the Best Actor Oscar category is pretty much locked. In fact, I'd say there's a strong core to each of the acting categories, but still room for some surprises. 

The SAG Awards will be handed out on Sunday 23rd February 2025, with the ceremony streaming on Netflix. Kristen Bell (The Good Place, Veronica Mars, Frozen) will be taking on host duties.  

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DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS (DGA)

Wednesday also saw the announcement of the nominees for the 77th Directors' Guild Awards. The film nominees are as follows:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film

Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)

Sean Baker (Anora)

Edward Berger (Conclave)

Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)

James Mangold (A Complete Unknown)

Michael Apted Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Theatrical Feature Film

Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine As Light)

Megan Park (My Old Ass)

RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)

Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Armand)

Sean Wang (Didi)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary 

(previously announced)

Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev (Porcelain War)

Julian Brave Noisecat and Emily Kassie (Sugarcane) 

Johan Grimonprez (Soundtrack To A Coup D’etat)

Ibrahim Nash’at (Hollywoodgate)

Natalie Rae and Angela Patton (Daughters)

Interesting that the DGA have gone with James Mangold over Coralie Fargeat (The Substance). Will the Academy follow suit? We have to wait until next Friday to find that out. 

The DGA Awards will be give out on 8th February 2025.

Congratulations to all nominees!

There'll be a short post this coming Friday (10th January) when the Producers' Guild Awards (PGA) nominees will be announced. 

Awards Season 2024: Awards Winners Round-Up

Due to a combination of factors (don't you just hate it when life gets in the way?), I've not been up to updating the awards season tracker. But time stands still for no nerd, which means that in the meantime, no less than five (yes, five) of the major awards bodies have handed out their gold/silver/glassware. 

So brace yourself for a positive deluge of awards results, and get ready to see a lot of the same names over and over again. Let's begin!

DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS

On Saturday 10th February 2024, the Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) were handed out. The film winners are:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Films: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director: Celine Song (Past Lives) 

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: Mstyslav Chernov (20 Days In Mariupol)

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BAFTA FILM AWARDS

On Sunday 18th February 2024, the 77th British Academy Film Awards were given out in a star-studded ceremony, hosted for the first time by David Tennant (who made for a very affable and enjoyable host). 

Here's a full list of BAFTA winners.

Best Film: Oppenheimer

Outstanding British Film: The Zone Of Interest

Leading Actor: Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Leading Actress: Emma Stone (Poor Things)

Supporting Actor: Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

Supporting Actress: Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Director: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Original Screenplay: Anatomy Of A Fall

Adapted Screenplay: American Fiction

Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director Or Producer: Savanah Leaf (writer/director/producer), Shirley O’Connor (producer), Medb Riordan (producer) (Earth Mama)

Animated Film: The Boy And The Heron

Documentary: 20 Days In Mariupol

Film Not In The English Language: The Zone Of Interest

Cinematography: Oppenheimer

Costume Design: Poor Things

Editing: Oppenheimer

Make Up And Hair: Poor Things

Original Music: Oppenheimer

Production Design: Poor Things

Sound: The Zone Of Interest

Special Visual Effects: Poor Things

Casting: The Holdovers

Short Animation: Crab Day

Short Film: Jellyfish And Lobster

Rising Star: Mia McKenna-Bruce

Outstanding British Contribution To Cinema: June Givanni

BAFTA Fellowship: Samantha Morton

Oppenheimer took home the most awards, winning seven; Poor Things wins five, and The Zone Of Interest wins three. 

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SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (SAG) AWARDS

The 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards were held on Saturday 24th February in a ceremony which streamed live on Netflix and hosted by Idris Elba.

Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Oppenheimer

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Lily Gladstone (Killers Of The Flower Moon)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Mission Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One

Three awards for Oppenheimer, including the SAG-equivalent of Best Picture, makes them the big winner of the night. Lily Gladstone's win here will be very welcome in keeping her Oscar hopes alive. 

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PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS (PGA)

The 35th Producers Guild Awards (PGA) were handed out on Sunday 25th February. The film winners are:

Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: Oppenheimer

Documentary Film: American Symphony

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

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INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS

Also on Sunday 25th February, the 39th Film Independent Spirit Awards- recognising films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system- took place.

Here's a full list of film winners. 

Best Feature: Past Lives

Best Lead Performance: Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

Best Supporting Performance: Da'Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Best Breakthrough Performance: Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers)

Best Director: Celine Song (Past Lives)

Best Screenplay: Cord Jefferson (American Fiction)

Best First Screenplay: Samy Burch (screenplay); Samy Burch and Alex Mechanik (story) (May December)

Best Cinematography: The Holdovers

Best Editing: How To Blow Up A Pipeline

Best First Feature: A Thousand And One

Best International Film: Anatomy Of A Fall

Best Documentary: Four Daughters

John Cassavetes Award: Fremont

Robert Altman Award: Showing Up

The John Cassavetes Award is given to the creative team of a film budgeted at less than $1 million, whilst the Robert Altman Award is presented to the ensemble cast of the movie, its director, and its casting director(s). 

The Holdovers was the biggest winner of the night, with three awards; Past Lives and American Fiction took home two apiece. 

Congratulations to all winners!

So, after all of this is taken into consideration, where does it look like the awards season is headed, as we get into the home strait with only the Razzies and the Oscars left to announce? From my position, this is what I'm thinking: 

• Oppenheimer looks to be in a strong position to win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor. 

• Da'Vine Joy Randolph is almost certainly going to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

• It feels like a two-horse race between Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone for Best Actress, but I'd say Gladstone's SAG win puts her slightly ahead.

• Barbie's best chance of any kind of Oscar win is almost certainly Best Original Song, although it may also get several of the technical awards (if they don't go to Poor Things or Oppenheimer)

• There's a couple of films that were low on my radar that I really need to get to watch!

The next- and indeed final- weekend of the 2024 awards season comes on the weekend of 9th/10th March with the Razzies and the Oscars announced that weekend. 

 

Awards Season 2023: Producers Guild Awards (PGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards Winners

Another two-for-one offer on awards news today, as this most recent weekend has seen two of the major guilds give out their awards, both of which are seen as bellwethers for the Oscars (which is in a couple of weeks).

So, let's find out who needs to make some room on the shelf for some shiny new silverware (well, glass and bronzewear to be more precise)

PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS (PGA)

The Producers Guild Awards (PGA) were handed out on Saturday (25th February). The film winners are:

Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Documentary Film: Navalny

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio

The final round of Oscar voting is still to come (it's happening between 2nd-7th March), but it's looking likely that we've found this year's Best Picture Oscar winner. The other guild awards that happened this weekend also point towards this.  

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (SAG) AWARDS

The 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards were held last night (Sunday 26th February) in a ceremony which was not televised, but was streamed live via Netflix's YouTube channel (ahead of the streaming service broadcasting it from next year).

Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Brendan Fraser (The Whale)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Top Gun: Maverick

Everything Everywhere All At Once has become the most-awarded film in SAG history, with four awards. It's always been a bit of a two-horse race between Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett for Best Actress, and it's still wide open (especially as both of them are nominated for Best Lead Performance at the Independent Spirits).

I think Ke Huy Quan has pretty much tied on Best Supporting Actor, and it's now between Brendan Fraser and Austin Butler for Best Actor. 

The icon that is Sally Field received the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, after Helen Mirren last year. 

Congratulations to all winners!

Next weekend (Saturday 4th March) sees the Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony, with everything coming to a head the following weekend (Sunday 12th March) with the 95th Academy Awards.

Awards Season 2023: Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Awards and Directors Guild Awards (DGA) Nominations

 

So we've got a 2-4-1 on awards news today, with two major guilds announcing their nominations. I can see you're all positively besides yourselves waiting to find out who's been mentioned, so without further ado, here we go!

SCREEN ACTORS' GUILD (SAG) AWARDS

This afternoon (Wednesday 11th January), the nominations for the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards were announced. Again, they were announced via Instagram Live, with Ashley Park (Emily In Paris, Tales Of The City) and Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus, Split) doing the honours. 

Below is the list of film nominations:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Babylon

The Banshees Of Inisherin

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Fabelmans

Women Talking

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Austin Butler (Elvis)

Colin Farrell (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Brendan Fraser (The Whale)

Bill Nighy (Living)

Adam Sandler (Hustle)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Cate Blanchett (Tár)

Viola Davis (The Woman King)

Ana de Armas (Blonde)

Danielle Deadwyler (Till)

Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Paul Dano (The Fabelmans)

Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Barry Keoghan (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever)

Hong Chau (The Whale)

Kerry Condon (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Avatar: The Way Of Water

The Batman

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Top Gun: Maverick

The Woman King

Both The Banshees Of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once have a staggering five nominations apiece. 

A couple of surprises here: Adam Sandler making up the Best Actor category, for one. This is the first time his name has been mentioned this awards season. There's also some interesting choices with Best Actress, with Michelle Williams absent for The Fabelmans. That said, there's a whole bunch of superb lead actress performances this year that someone isn't going to make the cut. A pleasant surprise to see Stephanie Hsu also mentioned in Best Supporting Actress, as her role is certainly more integral to the plot (as good as Jamie Lee Curtis is). 

Another surprise was the omission of Everything Everywhere All At Once in the Stunt Ensemble category; given the dizzying action sequences in that film, it seemed a safe bet. 

The SAG Awards will be handed out on Sunday 26th February 2022. At present, the ceremony will be broadcast online (via Netflix's YouTube page) with the show airing on Netflix from next year. 

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DIRECTORS GUILD AWARDS (DGA)

Were the SAG Awards not excitement enough for one day, we also have the rest of the Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) nominees announced today as well. And here they are:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film

Todd Field (Tár)

Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick)

Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert (Everything Everywhere All At Once)

Martin McDonagh (The Banshees Of Inisherin)

Steven Spielberg (The Fabelmans)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film

Alice Diop (Saint Omer)

Audrey Diwan (Happening)

John Patton Ford (Emily The Criminal)

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic (Murina)

Charlotte Wells (Aftersun)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary 

(previously announced)

Sara Dosa (Fire of Love)

Matthew Heinman (Retrograde)

Laura Poitras (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed)

Daniel Roher (Navalny)

Shaunak Sen (All That Breathes)

Well, now, this is interesting... Joseph Kosinski gets a mention instead of James Cameron or Baz Luhrmann. I've got a feeling in my waters that at least three (or four) of these names will be part of the Academy's choices- a nomination for the Daniels, Spielberg, and McDonagh feels incredibly likely. I'd have liked to have seen either Sarah Polley or Gina Prince-Bythewood get a nod but (much like with the Best Actress race) there's such a breadth and depth of breathtaking directorial work this year that not all of them are going to be recognised as much as they perhaps should.   

The winners will be announced at the 75th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday 18th February 2023.

Congratulations to all nominees!

It's that time of year when there's lots of awards buzz. Tomorrow (Thursday 12th January) sees this year's Producers Guild Awards (PGA) nominations so there'll be a short post about that at some point. 

For Your Consideration: Possible Contenders For Awards Season 2023

Well, it's about that time again... Last year, awards season crept up on me and took be my surprise (ooer, missus!). This year... I'm ready. Well, more ready than I was. 

So the awards hoopla starts tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd November) when the Film Independent Spirit Awards announce their nominees, so I thought I'd have my (mostly) annual look at the films I expect to see mentioned over the upcoming months. 

Hollywood likes movies about movies, and movies about movie-making. They're awards catnip. So it's no surprise that there are several of them in contention for this year.

Steven Spielberg's autobiographical family drama The Fabelmans is the kind of film awards were made for, and it seems very likely indeed he'll be on track to win his third Best Director Oscar. A drama about a young aspiring filmmaker (played by Gabriel LaBelle) dealing with family secrets, the performances by Michelle Williams (as mother Mitzi), Paul Dano (as father Burt), and Judd Hirsch (as Uncle Boris) have all been praised. 

Set in the 1980s in an English coastal town, Empire Of Light sees a cinema manager (Olivia Colman) and a new employee (Micheal Ward) gain a sense of belonging as they experience the power of what cinema can actually do. Sam Mendes directs and writes the screenplay, whilst the performances by Colman and Toby Jones (as the cinema projectionist) have got attention. 

Finally, let's go back to where it all began. The early days of Hollywood, in all its vivid excess and delicious debauchery, is the setting for Babylon, Damien Chazelle's latest film. Set in the late 1920s to 1930s- as cinema was going from silent films to talkies, and a new production code was being brought in to stymy the more transgressive content- it has a stellar cast, led by Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, and some truly sumptuous visuals. Definitely one to keep in mind. 

I never thought I'd ever write the words "Colin Farrell" and "Oscar nomination" in the same sentence, but thanks to his frankly stunning performance in Martin McDonagh's blackly comic The Banshees Of Inisherin, it's looking more likely. Set on a remote Irish island in the early 1920s, Farrell plays Padraig, a dull but likeable-enough fellow, whose good friend Colum (Brendan Gleeson) suddenly stops talking to him one day. Padraig's confusion at this, and the drastic measures Colum will go to to make sure it is a permanent thing, make for a heady mix of laugh-out-loud comedy and some pathos. Gleeson's performance is similarly strong, whilst there's superb support from Kerry Condon as Padraig's sister Siobhan and Barry Keoghan as island resident Dominic.

Cate Blanchett's formidable performance in Tár, a contemporary drama written and directed by Todd Field (In The Bedroom, Little Children), saw her win the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival, and may well see her win her third Oscar for playing Lydia, a composer-conductor whose life and career fall apart when she is accused of grooming a former female student. 

Brendan Fraser is rightly back in the limelight for his extraordinary performance in The Whale. Directed by Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem For A Dream) with a screenplay by Samuel D. Hunter- who adapts his own stage play- The Whale is a drama about a reclusive and morbidly obese teacher named Charlie who wishes to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Screening after screening has ended with standing ovations and a lot of praise for Fraser's central performance, along with the supporting turns by Sadie Sink as his daughter Ellie and Hong Chau as his friend Liz. Based on the trailer, I have a nagging feeling that this is going to be one of those films where the actors are very good in an overall production that might not be, but I'll reserve judgement until I see it.  

Actress-turned-director Sarah Polley will surely be getting some awards recognition for Women Talking, her adaptation of Miriam Toews' 2018 novel of the same name. Set in an isolated Mennonite colony, eight female members of the community come together after the shocking truth about what the men of the colony have been doing is revealed. There's a strong ensemble cast- including Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand, and Ben Whishaw- and the weighty themes of faith and control are sure to get people talking. 

Historical epic The Woman King tells the story of an all-female warrior unit who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin) during the 17th- to 19th centuries. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball, The Old Guard), Viola Davis gives a fierce performance as Agojie General Nanisca who helps to train the next generation of warriors. As well as Davis' performance, the action choreography has also garnered a lot of praise. 

Florian Zeller's emotional drama The Father caused a bit of an Oscars upset a couple of years ago when Anthony Hopkins took home Best Actor instead of the assumed winner, the late Chadwick Boseman. Zeller's follow-up film, The Son, may seek to make such an impression again. Hugh Jackman is in the lead as a man whose busy life with his new partner gets disrupted when his ex-wife turns up with his teenage son in tow. Vanessa Kirby and Laura Dern play the two women in his life, while Hopkins reunites with Zeller to play Peter's father. 

Two cannibals fall in love and go on a road trip. Now I've got your attention... Bones And All is the latest film by Luca Guadagnino (Suspiria; Call Me By Your Name). Timothée Chalamet reunites with Guadagnino to play Lee, the charismatic young man who falls for Maren (played by Taylor Russell). Whilst the mix of horror, road movie, coming-of-age drama, and romance might be too much for some, the performances have been getting attention, especially that of Mark Rylance, who plays the mysterious Sully. 

It wasn't just Doctor Strange who went into a multiverse of madness this year. In the Daniels' truly mindbending Everything Everywhere All At Once, so did Michelle Yeoh. She's been getting some of the best reviews of her career for her performance as Evelyn, an overworked laundromat owner whose life alters when a multiversal rift opens during a hostile meeting with an IRS auditor. As well as Yeoh's central performance, the supporting performances by Ke Huy Quan (as Evelyn's husband Waymond) and Jamie Lee Curtis (as the auditor Deirdre) have also been praised. Perhaps all three will see their names mentioned as awards season churns on?

Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery could do well. The original Knives Out was a stunning take on the well-worn murder mystery genre, and- by the looks of things- Glass Onion will be no different. An eclectic group of "disruptors" head to a private island for a weekend of fun and games; along with them is gentleman detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig). A strong ensemble cast- featuring Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Janelle Monáe, and Dave Bautista- are among the suspects this time round. I'm very much looking forward to this.

Biopics tend to do well at awards time, so here's a couple of names you might get to know very well indeed over the next few months:

Blonde: despite some controversy over the film's presentation of Marilyn Monroe, Ana de Armas' performance has been praised - it's a pretty full Best Actress category this year, so she may just squeak in (or she may miss out). 

Elvis: to play such a cultural icon as Elvis Presley is to take a huge weight on your shoulders, and Austin Butler's portrayal of the King has been lauded. Expect to see him in Best Actor contention. 

 

Till: Danielle Deadwyler (The Harder They Fall, Gifted) could well see her first Best Actress nod for playing Mamie Till-Mobley, the mother of 1950s lynching victim Emmett Till, who pursued justice for her son's murder. 

She Said: films like All The President's Men, Spotlight, and The Post all show the importance of the press in thei bringing to light of corruption, abuse, and wrongdoing. She Said- directed by Maria Schrader- is based on the New York Times investigation by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan) into the predatory behaviour of movie producer Harvey Weinstein which brought him down and kickstarted the #MeToo movement. 

I Wanna Dance With Somebody: British actress Naomi Ackie (Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, Lady Macbeth) takes on the mantle of the late, great Whitney Houston in this slick biopic written by Anthony McCarten (The Theory Of Everything, The Two Popes) and directed by Kasi Lemmons (Harriet, Eve's Bayou)

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story: could this anarchic parody of the biopic be too rich for the blood of your average awards panels? It's likely, but there's no denying the dedication that Daniel Radcliffe has to play Weird Al Yankovic. Evan Rachel Wood's performance as Madonna has also raised some eyebrows. It'll be interesting to see what (if any) awards traction this gets.  

A pair of British films which you might see mentioned a lot are Good Luck to You, Leo Grande and Living. In the latter, Bill Nighy gives what has been described as "a career-best performance" as a buttoned-down bureaucrat dealing with a terminal illness in an English-language remake of Kurosawa's Ikiru (with a screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro). The former sees Emma Thompson as a widowed former teacher seeking to explore her sexuality by hiring a sex worker (Daryl McCormack). It's rare to see a film that deals with an older woman's sexual desires, let alone one that explores the subject without judgement or criticism. It's not certain if the films will travel well (meaning most likely you'll see them at BAFTA). 

  

Three big blockbusters may well be in awards contention too. But will any of Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way Of Water, or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever get a Best Picture nod? Both the original Avatar and Black Panther did in their respective years, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility. [Full disclosure: of the three I've only seen Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and have less than no interest in seeing Dances With Smurfs 2]. All three will doubtlessly feature heavily in the craft awards, with Production Design, Visual Effects, Sound, and Costume nods expected. I also fully expect to see "Hold My Hand" (Top Gun: Maverick) and "Lift Me Up" (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) in the Best Original Song categories. 

From this year, the Film Independent Spirit Awards are making their acting categories (for both film and television) gender neutral; for the film awards, the categories will be Best Lead Performance and Best Supporting Performance (with up to ten nominees in each category). 

The timetable for the major awards in 2023 is as follows:

Film Independent Spirit Awards

Nominations announced: 22nd November 2022

Awards ceremony: 4th March 2023

Golden Globes

Nominations announced: 12th December 2022

Awards ceremony: 10th January 2023

Critics' Choice Awards

Nominations announced: 14th December 2022

Awards ceremony: 15th January 2023

Directors' Guild Of America (DGA) Award

Nominations announced: 11th January 2023

Awards ceremony: 18th February 2023

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards

Nominations announced: 11th January 2023

Awards ceremony: 26th February 2023

Producers' Guild Of America (PGA) Award

Nominations announced: 12th January 2023

Awards ceremony: 25th February 2023

BAFTA Film Awards

Nominations announced: 19th January 2023

Awards ceremony: 19th February 2023

Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies)

Nominations announced: 23rd January 2023

Awards ceremony: 11th March 2023

Academy Awards (Oscars)

Nominations announced: 24th January 2023

Awards ceremony: 12th March 2023 (hosted by Jimmy Kimmel)

Quite a busy few months ahead, so - as a very wise animated meerkat one said-