AWARDS SEASON

Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt Land Surprise SAG Awards 2017 Nominations

The Screen Actors Guild awards handed surprise nominations to Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep on Wednesday morning, once again upsetting the seasonal Hollywood awards race.


Hugh Grant and Meryl Streep
J. Kempin/Getty Images

It’s a weekday in December, which means, yes, indeed, there’s another slew of nominations announced from an awards show. This time it’s the Screen Actors Guild awards. That’s the one that’s most interesting because it means that it’s actors voting for their favorite performances by other actors. In most categories, the guild lined up pretty neatly with the rest of the awards show circuit, but the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role category has two very big A-List surprises in the shape of Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt. All in all, a good day for the The Devil Wears Prada costars.

Yes, Natalie Portman’s performance in Jackie and Emma Stone’s in La La Land are still very much the general awards season frontrunners in various best actresses categories, and they’re included here as well. The guild also nominated Amy Adams for Arrival in the category, as have many other critics’ circles and venerable awards.

However, the actors have also nominated Meryl Streep for Florence Foster Jenkins, the quirky period comedy that has generally been well received, and it’s been nominated before by both the Golden Globes and Critic’s Choice Awards. She actually won the latter, though, those nominations came in categories that specifically singled out performances in comedy films. This is Streep’s first major nomination for the performance in a general acting category.

The bigger shock is the inclusion of Blunt for Girl on a Train. Yeah, people generally liked her performance in that movie, but no one was looking it at as a serious awards contender. In fact, this is Blunt’s first major nomination all season.

Of course, Blunt and Streep’s inclusion means that several other actresses were shut out. Those snubs include Annette Benning for 20th Century Women, Ruth Negga for Loving, and Isabelle Huppert for Elle.

Meanwhile, the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture category, the closest thing the SAG awards have to a Best Picture category, also has some interesting choices. The list includes Captain Fantastic, Fences, Hidden Figures, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight. All fine, deserving movies, but that means La La Land finds itself sitting on the outside (though both Stone and her co-star Ryan Gosling are nominated on their own).

On the TV side of things, the SAG Awards also have a few quirks, but far less dramatic than the movie snubs. The body really, really loves the actresses of Stranger Things (both Winona Ryder and Millie Bobby Brown were nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Drama) and they really, really love the actresses of Grace and Frankie with both Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin nominated. It’s actually the first time the pair has been nominated together for a major award, but we’re talking Fonda and Tomlin here, so it’s about time.

Here’s the full rundown of awards:

MOVIES

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Captain Fantastic

Fences

Hidden Figures

Manchester by the Sea

Moonlight

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

Amy Adams, Arrival

Emily Blunt, The Girl on the Train

Natalie Portman, Jackie

Emma Stone, La La Land

Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge

Ryan Gosling, La La Land

Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

Denzel Washington, Fences

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

Mahershala Ali, Moonlight

Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water

Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins

Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea

Dev Patel, Lion

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Viola Davis, Fences

Naomie Harris, Moonlight

Nicole Kidman, Lion

Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures

Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

Captain America: Civil War

Dr. Strange

Hacksaw Ridge

Jason Bourne

Nocturnal Animals

TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

The Crown

Downton Abbey

Game of Thrones

Stranger Things

Westworld

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things

Claire Foy, The Crown

Thandie Newton, Westworld

Winona Ryder, Stranger Things

Robin Wright, House of Cards

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

Sterling K. Brown, This Is Us

Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones

John Lithgow, The Crown

Rami Malek, Mr. Robot

Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

The Big Bang Theory

Black-ish

Modern Family

Orange Is the New Black

Veep

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson, Black-ish

Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Ty Burrell, Modern Family

William H. Macy, Shameless

Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black

Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie

Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Mini-series or Television Movie

Riz Ahmed, The Night Of

Sterling K. Brown, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Bryan Cranston, All the Way

John Turturro, The Night Of

Courtney B. Vance, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Mini-series or Television Movie

Bryce Dallas Howard, Black Mirror

Felicity Huffman, American Crime

Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill

Sarah Paulson, The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story

Kerry Washington, Confirmation

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

Game of Thrones

Marvel’s Daredevil

Marvel’s Luke Cage

The Walking Dead

Westworld

Watch Meryl Streep an Emily Blunt confess to their surprising crushes: