award shows, Big Little Lies, GLOW, movies, SAG Awards, Screen Actors Guild, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Stranger Things, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, TV
December 13, 2017
by Carla Hay
With four nominations each, the movie drama “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and the TV shows “Big Little Lies,” “Stranger Things” and “GLOW” are the top contenders at the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards. The ceremony will take place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on January 21, 2018. TBS and TNT will have the live U.S. telecast of the show (at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT), which will be hosted by Kristen Bell. It’s the first time that the SAG Awards will have a host.
TNT and TBS subscribers can also watch the 2018 SAG Awards live through the networks’ websites and mobile apps. In addition, TNT will present a special encore of the ceremony at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT that same evening. Prior to the televised ceremony, the honorees for outstanding action performances by film and television stunt ensembles will be announced during the SAG Awards Red Carpet Pre-Show webcast. As previously announced, Morgan Freeman will receive the Life Achievement Award at the show.
Nominees for the 24th Annual SAG Awards were announced by actresses Olivia Munn and Niecy Nash at the Pacific Design Center’s Silver Screen Theater in West Hollywood, California, on December 13, 2017. Two nominating panels—one for television and one for film—each composed of 2,500 randomly selected SAG-AFTRA union members from across the United States chose this year’s nominees.
The SAG Awards and Golden Globe Awards are considered the best predictors of who and what will get nominated for Oscars and Emmys. Both award shows tend to have many of the same nominees, especially in the movie categories. However, the SAG Awards (which are voted for by SAG-AFTRA members) and Golden Globe Awards (which are voted for the by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association) can still have enough differences in their respective nominations to set them apart from each other.
Movie Snubs and Surprises
The biggest snub at the SAG Awards this year was the complete shutout of “The Post,” an A-list drama about the Washington Post and the Pentagon Papers. “The Post”—directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks—failed to get any SAG Award nominations, but was nominated for six Golden Globes, and has gotten several nominations at other award shows that honor movies. In the category of Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, the slot that many people assumed would go to Meryl Streep instead went to Judi Dench, for her performance in “Victoria & Abdul.”
The kidnapping drama “All the Money in the World” and the musical “The Greatest Showman” each received three Golden Globe nominations but didn’t get any SAG nominations, presumably because the movies did not screen in time for enough SAG voters to see them. According to various reports, the HFPA was the first award-show organization to see screenings of “All the Money in the World” and “The Greatest Showman,” which would explain why these movies each received three Golden Globe nominations. Meanwhile, the comedy “The Big Sick,” which was completely snubbed by the Golden Globe Awards, received two SAG Award nominations: Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, while Holly Hunter picked up a nod for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.
Woody Harrelson has been largely ignored for award-show nominations this year, but he received a surprising SAG Awards nod for his supporting role in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” His “Three Billboards” co-star Sam Rockwell is considered an early frontrunner to get supporting-actor awards for his role in the movie, but it’s interesting that the SAG Awards gave recognition to Harrelson’s more low-key role in “Three Billboards.”
Steve Carell of “Battle of the Sexes” and Hong Chau of “Downsizing” repeated their surprising Golden Globe nominations at the SAG Awards. They could be wild cards in the race for Oscar nominations, because both movies have otherwise lost a lot of award-show buzz since premiering at film festivals in September 2017.
TV Snubs and Surprises
The SAG Awards and Golden Globe Awards are much more different from each other in the TV categories. “Fargo” received several nominations for Golden Globes and Emmys, but didn’t get any SAG Award nominations this year. “Saturday Night Live” was also snubbed at the SAG Awards this year. Whereas the Golden Globes shut out “Veep,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Grace and Frankie” from getting any nominations this year, the SAG Awards showed some love by giving each show two nominations.
The “Will & Grace” revival has received SAG and Golden Globe nominations this year, but the SAG Awards gave Sean Hayes a nomination for acting on the show (the only SAG nomination for “Will & Grace” this year), while the Golden Globes gave Eric McCormack the show’s only acting nomination. The SAG Awards didn’t nominate “Will & Grace” for best ensemble in a comedy series, although “Will & Grace” is nominated for best comedy series at the Golden Globes.
Meanwhile, the wrestling comedy “GLOW” continues to get major awards recognition, having received multiple nods at the SAG Awards and Golden Globes. (Because “GLOW” premiered in June 2017, the show won’t be eligible for the Emmy Awards until 2018.) “GLOW” is the only new comedy series that premiered in 2017 that has gotten this much award-show recognition, which is a good sign that “GLOW” will also get several Emmy nominations.
“Orange Is the New Black” and “House of Cards” were completely shut out of the Golden Globes this year, but the SAG Awards did have some love left for them, by nominating female actors Uzo Aduba (“Orange Is the New Black”) and Robin Wright (“House of Cards”). In addition, the SAG Awards have once again nominated “Orange Is the New Black” for Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Sexual Harassment Fallout
As expected, previous SAG Award winners Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”) and Jeffrey Tambor (“Transparent”) were not nominated for any SAG Awards this year, no doubt due to their sexual-harassment scandals. Before the scandals, Spacey and Tambor were nominated for their shows practically every year they were eligible. Spacey was fired from “House of Cards” in October 2017, while Tambor quit “Transparent” in November 2017.
Other actors who have been hit with allegations of sexual misconduct in recent months—such as Jeremy Piven, Danny Masterson, Ed Westwick and Dustin Hoffman—were not expected to be nominated for any major awards this year, although Hoffman did campaign for his role in the Netflix movie “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected).”
Geoffrey Rush is the only actor recently accused of sexual misconduct who has not gotten any awards-show backlash because of the allegations. Rush has been nominated for a SAG Award and Golden Globe Award for his role as Albert Einstein in the Nat Geo limited series “Genius.” Rush has denied the accusations against him, and he is suing the Sydney-based newspaper The Daily Telegraph for publishing a November 2017 story alleging that he sexually harassed women.
Here is the complete list of nominations for the 2018 SAG Awards:
THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
“The Big Sick”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“Mudbound”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Timothee Chalamet, “Call Me by Your Name”
James Franco, “The Disaster Artist”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Get Out”
Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
Denzel Washington, “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Judi Dench, “Victoria & Abdul”
Sally Hawkins, “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan, “Lady Bird”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Steve Carell, “Battle of the Sexes”
Willem Dafoe, “The Florida Project”
Woody Harrelson,”Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Richard Jenkins, “The Shape of Water”
Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound”
Hong Chau, “Downsizing”
Holly Hunter, “The Big Sick”
Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
Laurie Metcalf, “Lady Bird”
TELEVISION
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
“The Crown”
“Game of Thrones”
“The Handmaid’s Tale”
“Stranger Things”
“This Is Us”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman, “Ozark”
Sterling K. Brown, “This Is Us”
Peter Dinklage, “Game of Thrones”
David Harbour, “Stranger Things”
Bob Odenkirk, “Better Call Saul”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Millie Bobby Brown, “Stranger Things”
Claire Foy, “The Crown”
Laura Linney, “Ozark”
Elisabeth Moss, “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
“Black-ish”
“Curb Your Enthusiasm”
“GLOW”
“Orange Is the New Black”
“Veep”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Anderson, “Black-ish”
Aziz Ansari, “Master of None”
Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”
Sean Hayes, “Will & Grace”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Marc Maron, “GLOW”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Uzo Aduba, “Orange Is the New Black”
Alison Brie, “GLOW”
Jane Fonda, “Grace and Frankie”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Lily Tomlin, “Grace and Frankie”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Benedict Cumberbatch, “Sherlock”
Jeff Daniels, “Godless”
Robert De Niro, “The Wizard of Lies”
Geoffrey Rush, “Genius”
Alexander Skarsgard, “Big Little Lies”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
Laura Dern, “Big Little Lies”
Nicole Kidman, “Big Little Lies”
Jessica Lange, “Feud: Bette & Joan”
Susan Sarandon, “Feud: Bette & Joan”
Reese Witherspoon, “Big Little Lies”
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Comedy or Drama Series
“Game of Thrones”
“GLOW”
“Homeland”
“Stranger Things”
“The Walking Dead”
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
“Baby Driver”
“Dunkirk”
“Logan”
“War for The Planet of the Apes”
“Wonder Woman”