Into the Wild leads SAG award nominations
Sean Penn's road trip drama Into the Wild has won a leading four Screen Actors Guild nominations, including best actor for Emile Hirsch.
Canadian performances and Canadian movies continue to gain recognition as the union representing Hollywood actors released its nominations on Thursday.
In the leading actress category, both Julie Christie, who plays a victim of Alzheimer's in Canadian director Sarah Polley's Away from Her and Halifax actress Ellen Page, as the sharp-tongued pregnant teen in Juno, won nominations.
Ryan Gosling of London, Ont., has a best actor nomination for his role as the social misfit in Lars and the Real Girl and Viggo Mortensen is nominated as the Russian mobster in Eastern Promises, directed by Canada's David Cronenberg.
The films nominated for best overall casting were Into the Wild, Western 3.10 to Yuma, mobster flick American Gangster, musical Hairspray and crime drama No Country for Old Men.
Gosling and Mortensen are competing for best actor honourswith Hirsch, who plays Christopher McCandless, the college grad who takes to the road and tries to live off the land in Alaska in Into the Wild.
| Screen Actors Guild selected nominees |
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| Best male in a leading role |
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| Bestfemale in a leading role |
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| Bestmale in a supporting role |
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| Best female in a supporting role |
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| Best ensemble cast |
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Other best actor nominees were George Clooney as the legal fixer in Michael Clayton and Daniel Day Lewisin There Will be Blood.
Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Marion Cotillard as singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose and Angelina Jolie as journalist Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart are vying for best actress honours.
Blanchett also was nominated for supporting actress as one of six actors who played Bob Dylan at various stages of his life in I'm Not There.
Ruby Dee in American Gangster, Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone and Tilda Swinton as the compromised lawyer in Michael Clayton are competing for the same award.
No Country for Old Men 's Javier Bardem and fellow star Tommy Lee Jones earned nominations for best supporting actoralong with Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton.
Prime contenders
The strong showing for films such as No Country for Old Men, American Gangster and Michael Clayton seems to make them prime contenders for Oscar nominations to be released Jan. 22.
However, Into the Wild was not noticed by the Golden Globes and the SAG awards have snubbed Atonement, which led Golden Globe nominations.
In the TV categories, Boston Legal, The Closer, Grey's Anatomy, Mad Men and now-completed mob drama The Sopranos are on the list of nominations of best ensemble case in a TV drama.
For best comedy, the nominees are 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, Entourage, The Office and Ugly Betty.
The SAG awards will be presented Jan. 27 in a ceremony televised on TNT and TBS.