Screen Actors Guild Award Winners (and reactions)!

Cast in a Motion Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Male Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn, Milk

Female Actor in a Leading Role: Meryl Streep, Doubt

Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Paul Giamatti, John Adams

Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Laura Linney, John Adams

Ensemble in a Drama Series: Mad Men

Female Actor in a Drama Series: Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters

Male Actor in a Drama Series: Hugh Laurie, House

Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Ensemble in a Comedy Series: 30 Rock

Male Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Female Actor in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey, 30 Rock

Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture: The Dark Knight

Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series: Heroes

Life Achievement Award: James Earl Jones

My Thoughts:

• Biggest shocker: Meryl Streep wins Best Actress for Doubt. Maybe that third Oscar isn't such a longshot after all. Streep herself was clearly surprised, judging by her hilarious arm-flailing run up to the podium.
• Tina Fey gives yet another fantastic acceptance speech, this time comically praising her young daughter's inspiration.
• Best Presenters: John Krasinski and Amy Poehler, who decided to be "dramatic" and got a (well deserved) explosion of applause.
• 30 Rock picks up Best Comedy Ensemble after losing last year.
• Why is Mad Men's Christina Hendricks so damn voluptuous? It's distracting (albeit in a good way).
• One of these days, I will see Penelope Cruz accept an award at a televised award show. One of these days...
• That's a really expensive bed sheet you're wearing, Angelina Jolie...
• Someone finally had the guts to comment on the SAG award's large, um...package (thanks Sean Penn. It needed to be said...really).
• Call the toll free number at the bottom of the website, and you can help feed Anthony Hopkins for only 1 dollar a month...
• As much as I love Slumdog Millionaire, I'm not sure it deserves any sort of recognition for its acting. The acting certainly isn't bad, but the characters are really there to support the story, unlike something like Frost/Nixon or Doubt, where the actors are put center stage.
• Josh Brolin seemed to be getting a lot of applause after his nominee clip was played. Is he Ledger's biggest threat to receiving the Oscar (if there even can be a threat)?
  

Okay...so I knew that "Australia" wouldn't be sweeping the acting/directing awards at all...

But its lack of nominations from the COSTUME DESIGNERS GUILD actually enrages me. Milk and Revolutionary Road over Australia? What are they smoking??? Just because it's cool for the media to (unjustly) rip Nicole Kidman to shreds, how on earth does that justify this absolute insanity? While all three have period-appropriate clothing, Australia's are brilliantly reflective of the characters (ie: Kidman's transformation from icy bitch to warm and nurturing surrogate mother is paralled by starting the movie in a claustrophobic black outfit to relaxed outfits with bright colors). Plus, I guarantee that the costume pictured below is better than anything in the Revolutionary Road and Milk wardrobes:

Excellence in the Contemporary Film

Laura Jean Shannon and Rebecca Bentjen for "Iron Man"
Ann Roth for "Mamma Mia!"
Patricia Field for "Sex and the City"
Suttirat Larlarb for "Slumdog Millionaire"
Amy Westcott for "The Wrestler"

Excellence in the Period Film

Deborah Hopper for "Changeling"
Jacqueline West for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Michael O'Connor for "The Duchess"
Danny Glicker for "Milk"
lbert Wolsky for "Revolutionary Road"

Excellence in the Fantasy Film

Isis Mussenden for "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"
Lindy Hemming for "The Dark Knight"
Sanja Milkovic Hays for " The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor."

Outstanding Contemporary Series (TV)

Tom Broecker for "30 Rock"
Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko for "Big Love"
Randall Christensen for "Dancing with the Stars"
Eric Daman for "Gossip Girl"
Eduardo Castro and Patricia Field for "Ugly Betty"

Outstanding Period/Fantasy Series (TV)

Katherine Jane Bryant for "Mad Men"
Robert Blackman for "Pushing Daisies"
Joan Bergin for "The Tudors"

Outstanding Made-for-Television Movie or Miniseries (TV)

Joseph Aulisi for "Bernard and Doris"
Stefano De Nardis for " Coco Chanel"
Jenny Beavan for "Cranford"
Donna Zakowska for " John Adams"
Michele Clapton for "Sense and Sensibility"

Special Awards

Michael Douglas - Swarovski President's Award
James Burrows - Distinguished Collaborator Award
Marilyn Vance - Lacoste Career Achievement in Film Award
Van Broughton Ramsey - Career Achievement in Television

Director's Guild of America nominess

Danny Boyle
Slumdog Millionaire

David Fincher
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Ron Howard
Frost/Nixon

Christopher Nolan
The Dark Knight

Gus Van Sant
Milk

Writers Guild of America Nominees

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Burn After Reading, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Focus Features
Milk, Written by Dustin Lance Black, Focus Features
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Written by Woody Allen, The Weinstein Company
The Visitor, Written by Tom McCarthy, Overture Films
The Wrestler, Written by Robert Siegel, Fox Searchlight Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Screenplay by Eric Roth; Screen Story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord; Based on the Short Story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures
The Dark Knight, Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan; Story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer; Based on Characters Appearing in Comic Books Published by DC Comics; Batman Created by Bob Kane, Warner Bros. Pictures
Doubt, Screenplay by John Patrick Shanley, Based on his Stage Play, Miramax Films
Frost/Nixon, Screenplay by Peter Morgan, Based on his Stage Play, Universal Pictures
Slumdog Millionaire, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy, Based on the Novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup, Fox Searchlight Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story, Written by Stefan Forbes and Noland Walker, InterPositive Media
Chicago 10, Written by Brett Morgen, Roadside Attractions
Fuel, Written by Johnny O’Hara, Greenlight Theatrical / Intention Media
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Screenplay by Alex Gibney, From the Words of Hunter S. Thompson, Magnolia Pictures
Waltz with Bashir, Written by Ari Folman, Sony Pictures Classics

Who got a boost?:

• Oddly enough, Burn After Reading.
• The Visitor.
• The Wrestler, which has mostly gained recognition for Rourke.
• The Dark Knight.
• Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
  

Who got snubbed?:

• Most unfortunately, In Bruges, which boasts a better screenplay than fellow nominees The Visitor and Burn After Reading.
• Revolutionary Road.
• The Reader.
• Side Note: I would put WALL-E here, but it was deemed ineligible for consideration (the same goes for the Directors Guild of America). However, the film can still receive a screenplay nomination from the Academy (I think).
  

Producer Guild of America Nominees

Best Motion Picture of the Year:

Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Milk
Frost/Nixon
The Dark Knight


Ouch. The guilds were supposed to be where Revolutionary Road was to make its "comeback". Scratch that.