Actors guild goes for Oscar favorites

ANDY SEILER, USA TODAY

Originally published Wednesday, January 30, 2002

The Screen Actors Guild award nominations are in, with the contenders including Oscar favorites Russell Crowe (''A Beautiful Mind'') and Sissy Spacek (''In the Bedroom''). Another big winner: perennial nominee Judi Dench, nominated in the best-actress category (''Iris'') and the best-supporting-actress category (''The Shipping News'').

Surprise nominees: Kevin Kline and Hayden Christensen (best-actor and supporting-actor nominees for ``Life as a House''), and Dakota Fanning (supporting actress for ``I Am Sam'').

Surprisingly missing: Will Smith and Jon Voight, snubbed for ``Ali''; Nicole Kidman, not nominated for ``Moulin Rouge'' or ``The Others''; and Billy Bob Thornton, overlooked for ``Bandits,'' ``The Man Who Wasn't There'' and ``Monster's Ball.''

Oscar watchers pay close attention to the SAG awards, which will air on TNT on March 10 (8 p.m. ET/PT), because winners in the acting categories often are Academy Award winners as well.

``It's usually considered to be a crystal ball, but it's not exactly,'' says Oscar analyst Emanuel Levy, author of ``Oscar Fever: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards,'' who points out that last year's results at the SAG Awards and the Oscars were wildly divergent.

``Mind'''s Jennifer Connelly is perhaps the most shocking SAG nominee announced Tuesday -- not because she was nominated, but because she was nominated in the ``wrong'' category.

Because of a clerical error at Universal Pictures, Connelly was submitted to SAG for consideration in the best-actress category. But in ads in Hollywood trade newspapers, Universal has been pushing Connelly for a best-supporting-actress Oscar nomination.

``This will create a tremendous headache for Universal and DreamWorks,'' Levy says. (The studios co-produced the film.) Oscar voters are likely to vote for Connelly in both categories, Levy says, thus splitting her vote and possibly denying her either nomination.

``I'm not worried,'' counters Eddie Egan, executive vice president for marketing for Universal Pictures. ``What this demonstrates is the tremendous support that Jennifer's performance is getting from her fellow actors.'' He says that because Oscar nomination polls close on Friday, it would affect only the remaining small fraction of votes.

Universal's mistake has other repercussions, too. Levy speculates that if Connelly had been submitted in the supporting category, Kidman would not have been left out. More nominees:

-- Best actor. In addition to Kline and Golden Globe winner Crowe, there's Sean Penn (''I Am Sam''), Denzel Washington (''Training Day'') and Tom Wilkinson (''In the Bedroom'').

-- Best actress. In addition to Globe winners Spacek and Connelly, there's Halle Berry (''Monster's Ball''), Judi Dench (''Iris'') and Renee Zellweger (''Bridget Jones's Diary'').

-- Supporting actor. In addition to Christensen, there's Globe supporting-actor winner Jim Broadbent (''Iris''), Ethan Hawke (''Training Day''), Ben Kingsley (''Sexy Beast'') and Ian McKellen (''The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'').

-- Supporting actress. In addition to Dench and Fanning, there's Cate Blanchett (''Bandits''), Cameron Diaz (''Vanilla Sky'') and Helen Mirren (''Gosford Park'').

-- Ensemble cast. ``A Beautiful Mind,'' ``Gosford Park,'' ``In the Bedroom,'' ``The Lord of the Rings'' and ``Moulin Rouge.''

On the Web:

www.sagawards.com

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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