SAG Gives ‘Chicago’ a Push in Oscar Race
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Looking more and more like the film to beat in this year’s Oscar race, musical “Chicago” scored the most nominations — five — for the prestigious Screen Actors Guild awards on Tuesday, including the top honor for best performing cast.
It was followed by dark drama “The Hours,” which also landed in the category for best performance by a cast and receiving four nominations overall, including one for its star Nicole Kidman in the best actress group.
The nominations come off big victories for both films at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this month where “The Hours” was named best drama and “Chicago” was named the best movie among musicals and comedies.
But the Screen Actors Guild, or SAG, nominations coupled with “Chicago” outpacing “The Hours” by far at U.S. box offices could just push the musical about a struggling actress who commits murder past the drama in the race for Oscars.
The Motion Picture Academy voting on the nominees ends on Wednesday, January 29.
Richard Gere and Renee Zellweger of “Chicago,” were nominated for best actor and best actress, respectively. Co-stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Queen Latifah were nominated for best female actor in a supporting role.
Along with nominations for best cast and Kidman, “The Hours” scored nominations for Ed Harris as best actor in a supporting role and Julianne Moore as best actress in a supporting role.
Moore, too, was nominated for best actress in a lead role for her performance in the drama “Far From Heaven,” in which she portrays a 1950’s housewife who is forced to deal with her husband’s homosexuality.
Joining Moore, Kidman and Zellweger as best actress nominees were Salma Hayek in “Frida” and Diane Lane in “Unfaithful.
TV PERFORMANCES ALSO SINGLED OUT
With Gere in the best actor group were Adrian Brody of “The Pianist,” Nicolas Cage for “Adaptation,” Daniel Day-Lewis in “Gangs of New York,” and Jack Nicholson for “About Schmidt.”
Rounding out the supporting actor group were Chris Cooper for “Adaptation,” Alfred Molina in “Frida,” Dennis Quaid in “Far From Heaven,” and Christopher Walken for “Catch Me If You Can.” Joining Zeta-Jones, Moore and Queen Latifah in the best supporting actress grouping were Kathy Bates in “About Schmidt,” Michelle Pfeiffer for “White Oleander.”
“Adaptation” scored three nominations overall to two apiece for “About Schmidt,” “Far From Heaven” and “Frida.”
SAG also singles out performances for television, and in that arena, the casts of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “24,” “Six Feet Under,” “The Sopranos” and “The West Wing” were nominated for top performers in a drama series.
The casts of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Frasier,” “Friends,” “Sex and the City,” and “Will & Grace” were nominated for best performances in a comedy series.
The 9th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony will take place on March 9 and be broadcast by cable TV channel TNT starting at 8 p.m. EDT
Academy Award nominees will be named on Feb. 11 and the Oscar ceremony is set for March 23.
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