The Screen Actors Guild, which represents film and television actors, on Thursday nominated the performers in grim crime thriller No Country for Old Men and western 3:10 to Yuma for best ensemble cast in a movie. Joining them on the list for SAG's top award were the casts of musical Hairspray, crime drama American Gangster and wilderness tale Into the Wild. In the category for best film actor in a drama, SAG nominated George Clooney for his role as a troubled attorney in Michael Clayton, Daniel Day-Lewis in oil prospecting drama There Will Be Blood, Ryan Gosling for heartwarming comedy Lars and the Real Girl, Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild and Viggo Mortensen for crime thriller Eastern Promises. Film actress nominations went to Cate Blanchett for drama Elizabeth: The Golden Age," Julie Christie in Alzheimer's tale Away from Her, French actress Marion Cotillard for her role as singer Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose, Angelina Jolie as the wife of slain journalist Daniel Pearl for A Mighty Heart, and Ellen Page in teen pregnancy comedy, Juno. The Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be given out on January 27 in Los Angeles, often indicate who will be nominated for the film industry's top honors, the Oscars, because actors make up the largest group of Academy Award voters. But unlike the Oscars, which are given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, SAG also hands out awards in TV categories. The top TV award is best cast in a drama and that grouping featured familiar names like The Sopranos, Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, The Closer and cable TV newcomer, Mad Men. The nominees for best ensemble cast in a TV comedy also featured a list of programs that have been nominated for past Hollywood awards, including 30 Rock, Desperate Housewives, Entourage, The Office and Ugly Betty.
The Oscars may be a lot shorter this year. The Writers Guild of America will not allow its members to write for the February 24 awards show nor the Golden Globes on January 13. On Monday, the Associated Press cited a guild source, who declined to say when the decision had been made. Still no word from Academy Award host Jon Stewart, a writers guild member, who has so far honored the strike. Stewart may not be the only awards show no-show. Nominee Katherine Heigl said Friday at a screening for her movie 27 Dresses: "I've been asked by my Guild not to cross the picket line, and I really have to respect that. "But I think I would feel uncomfortable doing that because I think it makes a really big statement I'm not sure I really want to make," she added. "The reality is, I really want to go – so I really wish that they'd get their waiver."
New daddy Diddy is the subject of an investigation by the LAPD for allegedly assaulting a man at an Oscar party on Sunday night. 27-year-old Gerard Rechnitzer was on his way to the parking lot at the Roosevelt Hotel at around 2 a.m. and stopped off to use the bathroom. He emerged to find his fiancee surrounded by Diddy and five other men, and approached to get his fiancee to leave with him. Diddy reportedly invited Rechnitzer's fiancee to a party he was having and when Rechnitzer asked his date to leave again, Diddy allegedly punched him in the jaw. Rechnitzer called 911, but by the time the LAPD arrived on scene Diddy had left. The LAPD are said to be looking into the matter.
According to Us Weekly, Kirsten Dunst might have had an eleventh-hour realization about her Oscar dress. Bumping into the Spider-Man actress on her way to the bathroom last night, Dunst told the mag, "I love this dress. Isn't it pretty?" of her Chanel ensemble, which showed up on more than a few worst-dressed lists today. Once back in the theater, Dunst was seen tugging at her frock, and reportedly told her friend, "I don't really feel relaxed. I don't want to spill water on this dress or you can see through it." Shortly before hitting the stage with Tobey Maguire to present, the Marie Antoinette star said to her friend, "I want to get this over with so I can relax. I can't f**k up my speech. I am presenting Best Screenplay and it will be career suicide if I f**k it up! I really need water. I just want to get out of here already!"
