The Screen Actors Guild on Thursday nominated the performers in The King’s Speech and The Fighter for four awards each, including best cast, boosting the films’ chances in Hollywood’s Oscar sweepstakes.
Joining those films among nominees for best ensemble cast, which is SAG’s top film honour, are the actors in Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right and The Social Network.
The Screen Actors Guild represents film and television actors and actresses, and each year their awards are closely watched for tips as to which movies and performers may also compete for the Oscars, the film industry’s top honours.
The King’s Speech, which tells of the stuttering problems of British King George VI on the eve of World War Two, also picked up SAG nods for Colin Firth as lead actor and Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush in the supporting actress and actor categories, respectively.
Likewise, boxing drama The Fighter, scored nominations for Christian Bale in the supporting actor category and for Amy Adams and Melissa Leo in the supporting actress group. Absent from the SAG list for the lead actor race is the movie’s star, Mark Wahlberg.
Instead, SAG placed five other performers among the nominees for best actor, including Firth, Jeff Bridges in True Grit, Robert Duvall in Get Low, James Franco for 127 Hours and Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network. Similarly, performers in the top two movie contenders were shut out of the best actress grouping. In that race, Annette Bening in Kids Are All Right will compete against Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole, Natalie Portman for Black Swan, Hilary Swank in Conviction, and newcomer Jennifer Lawrence with Winter’s Bone.