Monday January 22, 2018
Your 2017 Oscar Picks, Courtesy of SAG
If you're in an Oscar pool, these should probably be your picks in the acting categories this year:
- Actor: Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
- Actress: Francis McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
- Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
- Supoorting Actress: Allison Janey, “I, Tonya”
They should be your picks because they were the winners at the 24th Annual Screen Actors Guild/SAG Awards last night, and because SAG has predicted—or, to be fair, preceded—the Oscar choices in at least three of the four acting categories every year since 2009. Often it was a clean sweep. Here are the SAG choices, with differences with Oscar highlighted:
Year | Lead Actor | Lead Actress | Supporting Actor | Supporting Actress |
2016 | Denzel Washington | Emma Stone | Mahershala Ali | Viola Davis |
2015 | Leonardo DiCaprio | Brie Larson | Idris Elba | Alicia Vikander |
2014 | Eddie Redmayne | Julianne Moore | J.K. Simmons | Patricia Arquette |
2013 | Matthew McConaughey | Cate Blanchett | Jared Leto | Lupita Nyong'o |
2012 | Daniel Day-Lewis | Jennifer Lawrence | Tommy Lee Jones | Anne Hathaway |
2011 | Jean Dujardin | Viola Davis | Christopher Plummer | Octavia Spencer |
2010 | Colin Firth | Natalie Portman | Christian Bale | Melissa Leo |
2009 | Jeff Bridges | Sandra Bullock | Christoph Waltz | No'Nique |
In 2011, the Academy went Meryl Streep for “Iron Lady” rather than Viola Davis for “The Help” (bad choice, Oscar), and in 2012, it opted for Christoph Waltz reprising his cooky Tarantino villainy in “Django Unchained” rather than Tommy Lee Jones' 19th-century gravitas in “Lincoln” (another bad choice). Two years ago, it tapped Mark Rylance in “Bridge of Spies” over Idris Elba's straight-to-Netflix monstrous commander in “Beasts of No Nation,” which, being straight-to-Netflix, wasn't even nominated by the Academy (I lean Rylance). And last year, it went Casey Affleck in “Manchester By the Sea” over Denzel directing himself in “Fences” (another wash, but, given my preference for “Manchester,” and Denzel's closetful of awards, I lean Affleck).
So: 28 of 32. Almost a lock.
It actually feels like more of a lock than that. It doesn't take Ta-Nehesi Coates to see that three of the four differences between SAG and Oscar involved race: SAG chose African-American actors, Oscar didn't. Only in one (Jones/Waltz) was white traded for white. And of course Jones was one of the Men in Black.
So now we're at 31 of 32. Tough to get better odds.
Oscar nominations announced tomorrow morning.
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