The Screen Actors Guild nominations painted a clearer picture of this year’s acting Oscar contenders.
In the Leading Actress category, it’s quite clear now that the industry wasn’t that taken by Kristen Stewart’s performance in “Spencer.” K-Stew was snubbed in of Respect’s Jennifer Hudson. Now, the question isn’t whether Stewart is the frontrunner in this category, but whether she will even be nominated.
SAG also paved the way for Lady Gaga to enter the conversation as a sure-fire Oscar nominee. This could turn out to be Gaga’s second acting Oscar nomination in as many movies. Impressive.
Snubs Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) and Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza) were already long shots in getting nominated and SAG only made their odds of squeaking in worse. Ditto Jennifer Lawrence (Don’t Look Up) who is now very much on the outside looking in.
CONTENDERS:
Lady Gaga (House of Gucci)
Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye)
Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter)
Nicole Kidman (Bring the Ricardos)
Jennifer Hudson (Respect)
SPOILERS:
Kristen Stewart (Spencer)
Rachel Zegler (West Side Story)
Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza)
Frances McDormand (The Tragedy of Macbeth)
Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers)
Jennifer Lawrence (Don’t Look Up)
Is Lady Gaga potentially going to win?
Nicole Kidman has already won an Oscar and her ‘Ricardos’ performance is nowhere near her best work. Chastain has the best narrative, a great actress that’s overdue, but her film wasn’t that well-liked. Ditto Colman, who is the critical favourite, but “The Lost Daughter” has fallen flat with audiences (a 45% on Rotten Tomatoes) and will surely be very divisive with Oscar voters. Hudson should just be happy to be there, that is if she even gets nominated.
So, yeah, Gaga …
As mentioned, Kristen Stewart (Spencer) was supposed to be the de facto frontrunner in this category, but she wasn’t even nominated by SAG. So, the million dollar question most pundits must have now about this category is, who stands the best chance to win? One can take a guess, but fact of the matter is that, as we speak, there is no frontrunner.
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.