Evidently there were a lot of back-room conversations and deals taking place leading up to the announcement of nominees for the Screen Actors Guild awards, as a number of surprises emerged that make projections on who will be the Oscar winners more difficult.
Heck, even determining the Oscar nominees will be hard this year.
For example, "Sweeney Todd" and "Atonement" weren't even named for the top honor of the best film cast; neither was "Michael Clayton."
Another decision that surprised many was the absence of Johnny Depp for best actor for his role in "Sweeney Todd." Almost everybody thought it would be a given for Depp.
Also being left out of individual honors was "3:10 to Yuma" stars Christian Bale, Ben Foster and Russell Crowe, although the film did garner a "best cast" nomination.
What wasn't a surprise, was the nomination of the talented Cate Blanchett for best actress in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," and also for supporting actress in her role playing of the Bob Dylan's in "I'm Not there."
Leading the way for overall nominations was "Into the Wild," which received four; followed by "Michael Clayton" and "No Country for Old Men" which both received three.
With the obvious discrepancies between those chosen for the Golden Globes and those chosen for the SAG awards, it looks like the two shows are battling it out to see who wins as the most accurate awards show leading to the Oscars. I'm thinking at this time that the Golden Globes have a slight lead at this time, but it's really up in the air.
The uncertainty should create more interest and drive viewership up. Even that could be the underlying reason for the differences.
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