Thursday’s Golden Globe nominations saw a number of first-time nominees and also some well-deserved performances shockingly getting the recognition they, well, deserve. HitFix spoke to three happy nominees who could fall into either of those buckets this morning: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Oscar Isaac and Ms. Greta Gerwig.

Ejiofor received his third and fourth Globe nods for Best Actor in a Drama for Steve McQueen’s “12 Years A Slave” and for his role in the mini-series “Dancing on the Edge.” The Brit had just returned to London from the Paris premiere of “12 Years” last night when he got the news of the double dip, which comes on the heels of yesterday’s SAG Awards lead actor and ensemble nominations.

“Just thrilled. Thrilling and really excited about all of this,” Ejiofor said. “And really excited for who was nominated. Michael and Lupita are both so exceptional in the film. Steve McQueen, it was just an exceptional group of people to work with. And the ensemble to get the nomination!”

As for the response to “12 Years” in Paris, Ejiofor says it’s “extraordinary and they just embraced the film. The reaction has been so exceptional so again, last night they were amazing.”

For Oscar Isaac, who was passed over by his peers in SAG (in a much more competitive category), the Globe nod was part of a long journey he’s taken with the Coen Bros. “Davis” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, but Isaac was first cast in the role well over a year before.

“It was a year and a half, waiting for a long time for people to see it,” Isaac said. “So all of this is unexpected and so much more. For me, once I got the lead in a Coen Bros. and the fact that people have respect for it? It’s more than I can say.”

Isaac found out about his nomination while hanging around The Today Show to plug the film. CBS Films no doubt was convinced a nomination would happen so he could go on the air and talk about it, but…what if?

“Yeah, yeah I was hoping that wouldn’t happen,” he said. “They had me there in the morning supporting the movie and I got nominated so they had me back.”

Since the long publicity campaign for “Davis” began in May, Isaac has done more live performing than many might have expected. He appeared in both the New York “Another Day, Another Time” concert (premiering in documentary form on Showtime this weekend), showed up at an LA mini-version of the same concert and has appeared on numerous talk shows. Back in Telluride, where he also performed, Isaac told me he’d been spending a bit more time on his own music again after concentrating on acting for so many years. That is still the case.

“I have always spent a lot of my time playing music and writing,” Isaac said. “The fact I have this community of artists and I’ve become really good friends with some of them including the Punch Brothers and the Milk Carton Kids, we’ve been starting to play together and write some music.”

The concerts were a star-studded affair with music legends such as Barbra Streisand holding court in Los Angeles and others like Joan Baez and Jack White joining on stage in New York.

“Both of those moments were bizarre,” Isaac humbly recalled. “At any moment, I feel like someone was going to say, ‘How did this guy get in here?’ These are icons. The show at town hall? The fact I was given a place at that table and that stage? It was completely humbling.”

Another actor who was incredibly humble this morning was Greta Gerwig. The indie star was a surprise nominee in the Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical category for “Frances Ha.” She was clearly not ready for her world to flip on the nomination news today.

“I was in bed,” Gerwig said. “I’m in LA taking meetings and doing auditions and looking for my next job. It was very early in the morning. I turned my phone off and saw a bunch of messages and thought maybe I’m in trouble. I honestly can’t believe it.”

She continued: “I actually keep expecting someone to call and take it back. I’m so honored and thrilled and really I’ve been incredibly proud of what the movie has done so far. I did not expect this in the least. I’m very moved and kind of hysterically laughing and crying every few minutes.”

Like “Davis” for Isaac, “Frances Ha” has been a long journey for Gerwig. It debuted at the 2012 Telluride Film Festival and was released in May. It grossed over $4 million, becoming one of the indie hits of the summer and IFC Films’ fifth-biggest release ever.  Many actors will run into fans of their films on the streets, but Gerwig, who lives in New York, has been getting an unexpectedly enthusiastic reaction.

“The most exciting thing for me…is it opened and a couple of people just high-fived me on the street,” Gerwig revealed. “At first I said, ‘What is this for?’ And they are like, ‘You know what it’s for. It’s for ‘Frances.”’ Oh, that’s awesome. And someone else high-fived me [a few days later]. It was sort of like…I never played high school sports, but it made you feel like those athletes who high-fived each other in the hallways.”

As for what’s next, Gerwig and her “Frances” collaborator, Noah Baumbach, are still planning on making another film together.

“I’m not sure what is going to happen to it, but there is another movie that exists,” Gerwig said. “It’s in color.”

Ejiofor, Isaac and Gerwig will enjoy the 71st Golden Globes in person at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Sunday, Jan. 12. and will be broadcast live at 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST on NBC.

You can’t please everyone, but amazingly, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association created a system that pretty much allowed the Golden Globes to be the best friend of every motion picture studio and TV network in Hollywood.  Well, not this year. There were a ton of surprising omissions and most of those were based on the media’s expectations for the HFPA to go as star heavy as possible (and they didn’t completely backtrack from that tendency).  The worst? Well, it wasn’t the lack of nominations for “Homeland,” “Mad Men” or “August: Osage County for best picture – comedy or musical. No, the no. 1 oversight? You just can’t snub Oprah (Really, HFPA?)

For a complete rundown on this year’s best and worst, check out the embedded story gallery. 

Agree or disagree with us? Share your thoughts below.

It was clear this morning that there was an opportunity in the Golden Globes category of Best Actress in a Drama for some lucky actress to step up to the plate. With the usual suspects in the lead actress field being split off and Meryl Streep finding herself in the comedy/musical field, who was going to land the recognition? Would it be critical darling Adèle Exarchopoulos? Indie hopeful Brie Larson? Or someone else entirely?

In the end, it was Kate Winslet who showed up, receiving her first awards recognition of the season for her performance in Jason Reitman’s “Labor Day.” In the process, the Oscar-winning actress picked up her tenth Globe nomination to date and finds herself in the thick of a talented group of women. Some time ago I talked with Winslet about tackling the role of the fragile, emotionally cut-off Adele in the love story, which was adapted from Joyce Maynard’s novel. Read through our back and forth below.

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HitFix: You’ve done so much at this point in your career, I’m curious what kind of opportunity “Labor Day” represented for you that was new or exciting.

Kate Winslet: Well, that’s such an interesting thing to say and an interesting question because I always feel like I haven’t done that much. (Laughs.) I always feel like but I’ve got so much to do! So for me it didn’t sort of strike me as hard. The script came my way and was just, I thought, so different to everything I’ve done before. And I’m an enormous admirer of Jason’s work. And the same with Josh, who was already attached by the time the script came to me. And it just represented an opportunity to play an incredibly interesting character with two very, very interesting men whom I have so much respect for. I just felt very lucky. You know, it’s always such a blessing. It doesn’t matter how long I’ve been doing this, and it’s 20 years now, but it’s always just such a blessing and such a thrill when a really great piece of writing comes along and represents a new opportunity to try something else and try and play a different character. I mean, that’s what acting is. It’s about playing, playing a role, playing a part. And to me Adele was very much a woman whose skin I really hadn’t been in before, and I knew that would bring up some stuff for me that would be challenging. And I also knew that there would be sides of it that I would find uncomfortable as well. And so yeah, I guess it was a combination of all of the above really.

There’s such a specificity to the role, too, due to the character’s sort of shut-in neurosis. Is that specificity, for lack of a better word, “fun” to you as an actor?

Well, it was. Yes, it absolutely was because I’m used to playing characters who are more obviously one thing or another. And certainly I’m used to playing characters who are always quite passionate and quite full-blooded. And to me I felt as though Adele was the opposite of that. I felt that she was very, very thinly veined. You know, she almost reminded me of an empty vein, you know, when you press the vein of somebody who’s really pumping, that beautiful purple vein just sort of pops right back up and I sort of felt that Adele’s veins were all just sad and tired and a bit empty. And so yes, for me, it really was a challenge to play somebody who on the one hand is very obviously fragmented and emotionally fractured, you know? But at the same time, she did have a passionate side to herself. She did have a big heart and was capable of great active love I think. And there were many sides of her that she had simply let go and forgotten about in her past with all her sadness. She had left behind the glorious sides of who she once was. And I really appreciated the journey that she does go on in the sense that when you meet her at the beginning of the story, and certainly this is the case in the novel, you know, I wanted for her to feel uncomfortable to be around because of how nervy and uneasy she is with herself and with the world. And as a story goes on, of course, and as this love develops between herself and Frank, I really loved the fact that you do actually see her literally come to life again and shift and change. I thought it was quite special how Joyce managed to write that into her book and make that happen in the space of a few days and actually make it believable. I really always believed the love story very much. It was interesting. Someone actually said to me not so long ago, “Do you think this really could have happened?” Well, the answer is I don’t know. But I was absolutely taken by the story. And I think is an actor, you absolutely have to believe in what’s happening to your character and the characters themselves to be able to put your full self behind it. And that was never a challenge for me. I really do believe that you can actually meet somebody and really fall in love with them very quickly. I do believe that. And I also think that because the ending of the film is such, we really do know that this was true love. This wasn’t some random crazy, you know, sweaty four days. It really was very, very real for both of them.

It’s interesting because I hear that opinion sometimes, that this love story is rather far-fetched, but to me it’s rather obvious that this is a woman starved of affection. Her poor son is in this strange psychological role of serving that purpose in some ways and it’s not too much of a leap to understand that someone shows her a kindness and she would fall for him.

I would agree. And also, you know, something happens to women when they are alone and when they aren’t touched and loved and there’s no shred of affection being shown to them. Something actually happens inside. And so yeah, I do believe that this man could walk into her world and do this to her heart. I do, and that they would do that for each other. You know, let’s not also forget that yes, he’s escaped, he’s a convict and he’s on the run and he’s all those big frightening things. Aside from that, he is a wonderful man. And she does see that in him and believes in that side of him. So there is an extraordinary trust that is forged between the two of them because it has to be. But then that’s spills into something that they naturally both feel quite quickly. It’s what Joyce wrote.

Did you do any kind of research like looking into things such as agoraphobia, or did you just play it as it lay on the page?

I did a bit. Jason is not a fan of separation and rehearsal, and I found that, for myself, I found that quite challenging. I have to be ready. I have to sort of go off and just do my own little bits of homework in my own quite way. But not rehearsing I didn’t mind at all. And actually, it’s an interesting question. People are saying, ‘Do you like to rehearse or do not like to rehearse?” And it seems like such a fucking British thing to say, “Oh, I need rehearsal.” I don’t know, do we need rehearsal? Do we ever need rehearsal? Is it a good thing? is it a bad thing? I’ve always been very on the fence about it to be honest. And I’ve always enjoyed going with whatever a director feels they need because at the end of the day that who we’re there for. And so I really did feel that Jason’s choice to stay away from rehearsal lent itself particularly to a film like “Labor Day” because it meant that we really didn’t know what was going to happen next. We really didn’t.

And that was absolutely crucial that it felt very, very fibrous and real in terms of the atmosphere of the story. Particularly for young Gattlin, you know. He was so nervous of the whole experience and every fiber of his being was so alive with the age that he is and just endless questions about life and the world and himself. And it’s that glorious, questioning, confusing age and I think that always being left feeling slightly unaware of what was around every corner for Gattlin meant that I felt that same way as well. And that was how we were supposed to feel as characters. And that, of course, is what you’re supposed to feel when you watch the film itself, it you just do not know what’s gonna happen next. In terms of my own preparation, yes, I did talk to some people, actually, who had suffered from agoraphobia and forms of depression. It’s not much fun doing that type of prep, I have to say. And it’s not much fun, you know, talking to friends of people who have experienced miscarriages or any of those awful, horrific things. So it wasn’t that much fun doing this prep. It wasn’t. But then the sort of more spirited side of Adele’s past, you know, the fact that she was this passionate woman who loved to dance and loved life and loved to love, you know, that was great fun thinking about that, of course, because that’s kind of me in a way. You know, love to love and love life and, you know, so that side of it was a little gentler.

It’s a unique setting for a film. It takes place in New Hampshire and you filmed outside of Boston, so there’s this New England atmosphere. How did that atmosphere and setting shape what you were doing as an actress? Or did it?

It absolutely did. I mean walking into that house was like walking into another world. It was like really walking into a time warp. And we were stuck in it. I mean it was very, very claustrophobic, very claustrophobic. And I would have to say as well that something that Jason pulled off brilliantly was not having a very big crew, very small crew of people. And so we really did feel there were times when we really did feel as though it was just us in the house. And you’d almost go, “Shit, where’s the camera? Oh, there it is.” You’d turn and it would be just outside of the window and hidden behind the curtain. That would happen a lot. And they were very good at keeping monitors and things and anyone else who needs to be around they would always be upstairs. It was actually a three-story house and the top floor itself was kind of air-conditioned and everyone would kind of disappear up there, and the rest of the house was Adele and Henry’s world. It was quite bizarre, actually, because of course it was a fairly modern house I think initially, but was transformed.

The set decoration really sets a time and place. You feel like you’re absorbed into a time and period.

Well, that’s right. And also you very much feel as though this is a woman who has not updated her kitchen utensils for literally in 15 years. And that was very much what it was. I mean, you know, you had it set in the ’80s, but there was a lot of that house that felt distinctively ’60s to me. You know, late ’60s, early ’70s. And that was very much the idea. It had to feel as though once you ventured into the outside world she really was stepping into another world. And the point is her isolated world was so similar to Frank’s in many respects, you know. And they had both experienced having to muddle through their own pasts day after day after day, and hence the bond between them.

This was a very different film for Jason, obviously, and such a departure. Was that apparent to you from the outset, and how did he strike you as a director on the set?

Well, yes, it struck me is being different yes, but then all of Jason’s films are different from each other. You know, there is no real sort of common thread I don’t think, other than he’s clearly fascinating in the human condition, as am I, and people fascinate him, clearly. So it actually didn’t really feel like a departure at all. It just felt like here was Jason Reitman making a movie that he really wanted to make and it was different from the others that he has made. I mean it was nothing more complicated than that. And I don’t think, if you asked him that question, that he would say it was conscious choice to do something that felt like a departure. I just think he just, you know, it was just what his instinct was saying to him I suppose. And then look at Soderbergh. You know, I mean look at Soderbergh. His career choices are absolutely fantastic because they’re so flamboyantly different. Every single movie is different to the one he did before. And that’s great for the world, isn’t it? I mean it’s fantastic.

As a director, I felt with Jason – you know, if there was one sort of phrase I could use to sum him up, he’s incredibly specific. He had made the film in his head before we got there. He knew exactly the story he wanted to tell. He knew absolutely how he wanted everything to look. Brilliantly he knew how he wanted to shoot everything. And on the one hand that was tremendously reassuring to be in such safe hands, but then on the other, that was quite new for me. I don’t think I’ve ever worked with somebody who was so incredibly precise about what he wanted. So the freedom that I think we found as actors had to come very much after the framing was set. That was all Jason. I mean that was definitely different for me. And it wasn’t something that I either liked or didn’t like. It was just different. Yeah, but he’s a very, very talented guy. I mean it’s really exciting, I think, that we’ve got someone like Jason who is always so prepared to essentially take risks because no one will ever know, I think, what he’s going to do next. And I love that. And I would hope that people never know what I’m going to do next, or at least they would be surprised by it, you know?

I think a large audience for this film is women, and we kind of touched on this a moment ago, but as a woman, when you read the script, how did the material strike you? Did it feel true? Did empathy take hold?

I don’t know if it necessarily struck me in any ways that are specifically to do with being a woman. I would certainly say that because Adele’s journey is so much centered around longing for family and longing for her place in the world and that sense of the longing that comes with being a parent, I would certainly say that I absolutely connected with that, of course, because that’s my own situation being a very fortunate mommy myself. And also her ability to somehow raise this little boy in spite of everything that she lacked. She was somehow still able to do that. He was an okay kid; he was a decent child. And she wasn’t dragging him up. She wasn’t, you know, she wasn’t drinking herself into, you know, sort of a stupor by 3:00 in the afternoon, and neither was she on any kind of medication. She somehow was able to pull it together to do what she knew she had to do, which was to love and raise her child. And I admired that in her, I really did admire that in her, because, Christ knows, we hear horror stories about the consequences of negligence on the part of a mother who’s suffered some terrible emotional distress and what can happen to children as a result. So I think as a woman I probably connected, really, with that maternal side of her and her desire to expand her family and have that sense of purpose in life.

“Labor Day” is set for limited release on Dec. 27.

Today’s Golden Globe nominees were rustled out of bed by publicists with great news or found themselves unable to sleep as they awaited their fate from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. As ever, the usual wave of responses and reactions has begun to roll in, so what did folks like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Lawrence and Julianna Marguiles have to say about their good fortune? Check out their thoughts and more in the gallery below.

Coming into today’s Golden Globes nominations announcement, we knew a couple of things. We knew the Hollywood Foreign Press Association loved two movies that may or may not find Best Picture traction with the Academy: Stephen Frears’ “Philomena” and Ron Howard’s “Rush.” Both picked up nominations in the Best Picture – Drama category. We knew “August: Osage County” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” two films that went over like gangbusters with SAG yesterday, weren’t the group’s cup of tea. The former picked up only two nods while the latter was shut out entirely (no Oprah, even). And we knew “Saving Mr. Banks” was dinged up after landing just one nomination yesterday. It only managed that same nomination this morning.

The HFPA’s list is a respectable one across the board, really. And not overly surprising: I went 45/53 in the predictions I bothered making on a whim last night on Twitter, nailing all four lead acting races 100%. It’s not rocket science; chatter happens in this town as the Globes soothsayers have loose lips and you’re well aware of what the HFPA likes down the stretch. The only real curiosity to me is that “Monsters University” didn’t show up in the animated feature category and that “The Wolf of Wall Street” ended up well-liked enough to land a Best Picture – Comedy/Musical nomination (as I had heard they didn’t exactly love it). Oh yeah, and Oprah.

Nevertheless, none of it – but none of it – means one bit when it comes to the Academy’s choices. The Globes are one giant marketing opportunity and all the players are present. These ought to make for some spiffy ad notations and TV blurbs in the coming weeks, and the Jan. 12 ceremony will provide air time for this or that contender to put the finishing touches on a speech, but the upcoming guild announcements, as ever, will be more significant indicators of industry and Academy support. For now, this 90-ish-member group has provided a PR bump for a lot of the year’s best films.

It will be interesting to see if Universal – or, more to the point, the banks that are cutting the campaign checks – takes this as a sign to step up its Oscar campaign for “Rush” and try to find traction again. The film failed to catch at the box office and has seemed dead in the water despite the fact that a great many love and adore it.

Meanwhile, on the Weinstein side, it will be interesting to see how Harvey’s massive slate continues to take shape in the season. It’s been a roller-coaster in just these last two days, and truly, “Philomena” is a film that goes down much better for a great many voters than “August” or “The Butler.” So it could be “the one” at the end of the day. (No surprise “Fruitvale Station” came up empty-handed today, either; HFPA no likey.)

Obviously “12 Years a Slave” and “American Hustle” get the biggest bumps, leading the way with seven nominations apiece. And producer Scott Rudin must be pleased to see eight nominations shared across his three films – “Captain Phillips,” “Frances Ha” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

(Speaking of “Davis,” worth noting: “Please Mr. Kennedy” picked up a nomination today and will likely land more from other critics and precursor groups. But I’m told it is not eligible with the Academy so don’t expect it to show up there.)

I’m most pleased for Greta Gerwig and Julie Delpy this morning. Many had conceded the comedy actress ranks to dubious stuff like “The Heat” (which I liked, but, you know). But I had a hunch the HFPA would go for these two performances, and thank God they did. They are two of the best performances of the year.

Nothing really took a major knock. You could say “Saving Mr. Banks” feels like it’s in need of a little life support now, but it’s playing perfectly well to Academy members and should be able to manage just fine. And “Dallas Buyers Club” was never going to be a player here beyond its two central performances, so yesterday’s surprising SAG ensemble nomination will remain the happy unexpected news for Focus this week.

What else can you really say other than that? Nothing is coming to mind. And the season forges on. Regional critics will continue to speak up in the coming weeks, likely building more consensus steam behind “12 Years a Slave,” and with the new year will come further guild announcements: WGA, DGA, PGA. By then, if not sooner, the picture of the 2013-2014 Oscar race will have settled, leaving everyone to wonder just what surprises, if any, the Academy will have up its collective sleeve on the morning of Jan. 16.

The 71st annual Golden Globe Awards will take place on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014.

Even if you’re not up at some obscenely early hour, the Golden Globe nominations are a lot to take in — the addition of those musical/comedy categories making the slate that much more inclusive and, sometimes, eccentric. Not so much this year, though: never before have the comedy fields been so stuffed with prestigious, semi-dramatic awards bait, which means fewer top-tier contenders than usual were left on the sidelines. Still, the HFPA did manage to rustle some genuinely surprising inclusions and exclusions, and I’ve rounded up a few of them after the cut.

“Mr. Banks” needs saving — again: This would-be Best Picture hopeful received only one nomination for Emma Thompson from SAG yesterday, and the Globes followed suit. Disney must be panicking.

“The Butler” is dismissed: After a strong SAG showing, the White House drama received zilch from the HFPA — not even a nod for Oprah. We’d heard they didn’t care for it, but…

“Rush” races back into contention: Largely written off as a player, the box-office flop snagged a surprise Best Picture bid, while Daniel Brühl followed up on yesterday’s SAG nod.

“Mandela” keeps walking: Idris Elba beat out Forest Whitaker, among others, to a Best Actor (Drama) bid, and with two music nods, the HFPA clearly had some time for this critically dismissed biopic.

No double nod for Sandra Bullock: She managed it easily with “The Proposal” and “The Blind Side” in 2009, but the comedy field was too prestige-heavy this year for hilarious summer hit “The Heat” to register. 

Greta Gerwig finally gets some love: After she was passed over by the Gothams and the Spirit Awards, who’d have thought it’d fall to the HFPA to do right by the indie queen, and her delightful turn in “Frances Ha?”

The HFPA’s Kate Winslet crush abides: With a cursory qualifying release, “Labor Day” has largely bowed out of the race, but the Globes couldn’t resist inviting another star to the table. Sorry, Adele Exarchopoulos.

“Philomena” shows her steel: We’d heard the British dramedy was an HFPA favorite, and the the rumors panned out, with Picture and Screenplay nods padding out Judi Dench’s nod. The Oscars could follow.

Sally Hawkins elbows out Oprah: With “The Butler” missing out even in Supporting Actress, the lovable British actress (a Globe winner five years ago) proved “Blue Jasmine” isn’t just the Cate Blanchett show. 

The “Wolf” howls at last — but quietly: Martin Scorsese’s late entry finally made its presence felt in the season with two nods in the comedy races, but missed out in Directing, Screenplay and Supporting Actor. 

Julia Roberts bests Margo Martindale once more: Poor Martindale has the baitiest supporting role in “August: Osage County,” but it’s Roberts’ miscategorized lead turn that has nabbed SAG and Globe nods.

Pixar misses the animation cut: General consensus has it that “Monsters University” isn’t among the studio’s finest works — but losing out to “The Croods” and “Despicable Me 2” is pretty shocking.

Bradley Cooper does the “Hustle”: Cooper probably needed to register here to stay in the race, and he did. No sure thing, considering he had to edge out Tom Hanks, Jonah Hill and…

HFPA sheds no tears for James Gandolfini: A SAG nod yesterday built on his steady presence in the precursors thus far, but the Globe voters weren’t in a sentimental mood.

The Coens get sidelined: The HFPA evidently liked “Inside Llewyn Davis” to a point, nominating it in the comedy Picture and Actor categories, but its creators missed out on Director and Screenplay recognition.

No song nomination for Lana Del Rey: “Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?” she croons in her “Great Gatsby” theme. The Globes’ response: “We don’t even love you now.”

Which Golden Globe nominations and omissions surprised you most? Share your thoughts in the comments!

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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the nominees for the 71st Golden Globes this morning and while they spread the love to all the major motion picture studios, as usual, there were significantly more surprises than had been expected.

Fox Searchlight’s “12 Years A Slave” and Sony Pictures’ “American Hustle” led all films with 7 nominations each.  “12 Years A Slave” landed picture – drama, director (Steve McQueen), lead actor – drama (Chiwetel Ejifor), supporting actor (Michael Fassbender), supporting actress (Lupita Nyong’o), screenplay (John Ridley) and original score (Hans Zimmer) nominations.  “Hustle” took best picture – comedy or musical, director (David O. Russell), screenplay (Russell), actress – comedy or musical (Amy Adams), actor – comedy or musical (Christian Bale), supporting actor – comedy or musical (Bradley Cooper) and supporting actress – comedy or musical (Jennifer Lawrence).

The remaining best picture nominations on the drama side include “Gravity,” “Philomena,” “Captain Phillips” and, certainly a surprise for Universal Pictures, Ron Howard’s “Rush.”  The comedy or musical field is rounded out by Spike Jonze’s “Her,” Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska” and the Coen Bros.’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

Notable omissions from the best picture fields included “August: Osage County” in the comedy or musical and, shockingly, “Saving Mr. Banks” in the drama category.  Word had leaked that the HFPA were not fans of “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” so missing a best picture – drama nomination was expected. The Weinstein Company didn’t believe, however, that the film’s venerable Oprah Winfrey would miss the supporting actress cut. The other supporting actress honorees include Julia Roberts (“August: Osage County”), June Squibb (“Nebraska”), Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”) and the aforementioned Lawrence.

Independent film was somewhat ignored by the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations on Wednesday, but the HFPA rectified that a bit by including “Francis Ha’s” Greta Gerwig and “Before Midnight’s” Julie Delpy in the lead actress comedy or musical field. The aforementioned Adams, “August’s” Meryl Streep and “Enough Said’s” Julia Louis-Dreyfus rounded out the field. Dreyfus also earned a nomination on the television side for her work on HBO’s “Veep.”

While the Coen Bros., Scorsese, and Spike Jonze were effectively snubbed, a very competitive directing category includes McQueen, Russell, “Gravity’s” Alfonso Cuaron, “Nebraska’s” Alexander Payne and “Captain Phillips” helmer Paul Greengrass. Russell and Cuaron also earned screenplay nominations alongside Jonze for “Her,” Steve Coogan for “Philomena,” Ridley for “12 Years A Slave” and Bob Nelson for “Nebraska.”

The HFPA’s foreign language film nominees will make most high brow critics very pleased.  Cannes winner “Blue is the Warmest Color,” “The Hunt,” “The Past,” “The Great Beauty” and “The Wind Rises” round out the field.  Hayao Miyazaki’s last film, the animated “Wind Rises” was not eligible for best animated film, but the HFPA found room for it in foreign language instead.  Only three films made the animated feature cut: Dreamworks Animations’ “The Croods,” Universal Pictures’ “Despicable Me 2” and Walt Disney Animation’s “Frozen.”

For a complete list of all the 2014 Golden Globes nominations including the television categories, click here.

The 71st Golden Globes will be held on Sunday, Jan. 12 and broadcast live at 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST on NBC.

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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced nominees for the 71st Golden Globes this morning in Beverly Hills, CA.

The nominees are as follows…

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama
“12 Years A Slave”
“Captain Phillips”
“Gravity”
“Philomena”
“Rush”

Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
“American Hustle”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Chiwetel Ejifor, “12 Years A Slave”
Idris Elba, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Tom Hanks, “Captain Phillips”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Robert Redford, “All is Lost”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Emma Thompson, “Saving Mr. Banks”
Kate Winslet, “Labor Day”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight”
Greta Gerwig, “Frances Ha”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Enough Said”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical
Christian Bale, “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Oscar Isaac, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Joaquin Phoenix, “Her”

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years A Slave”
Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
Daniel Bruhl, “Rush”
Bradley Cooper, “American Hustle”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years A Slave”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Director – Motion Picture
Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity”
Paul Greengrass, “Captain Phillips”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years A Slave”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
David O. Russell, “American Hustle”

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“American Hustle”

Best Animated Feature Film
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Frozen”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Blue is the Warmest Color”
“The Great Beauty”
“The Hunt”
“The Past”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Original Score – Motion Picture
“All is Lost”
“The Book Thief”
“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
“Gravity”
“12 Years A Slave”

Best Original Song – Motion Picture
“Atlas” from “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
“Please Mr. Kennedy” from “Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Sweeter Than Fiction” from “One Chance”

TELEVISION

Best Television Series – Drama
“Breaking Bad”
“Downton Abbey”
“The Good Wife”
“House of Cards”
“Masters of Sex”

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
“The Big Bang Theory”
“Brooklyn Nine-Nine”
“Girls”
“Modern Family”
“Parks and Rec”

Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series, Drama
Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”
Liev Schreiber, “Ray Donovan”
Michael Sheen, “Masters of Sex”
Kevin Spacey, “House of Cards”
James Spader, “The Blacklist”

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Taylor Schilling, “Orange Is The New Black”
Robin Wright, “House of Cards”
Tatiana Maslany, “Orphan Black”
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”
Kerry Washington, “Scandal”

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel, “New Girl”
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Jason Bateman, “Arrested Development”
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Michael J. Fox, “The Michael J. Fox Show”
Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”
Andy Samberg, “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
“American Horror Story: Coven”
“Behind the Candelabra”
“Dancing on the Edge”
“Top of the Lake”
“White Queen”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Helena Bonham Carter, “Burton and Taylor”
Rebecca Ferguson, “White Queen”
Jessica Lange, “American Horror Story: Coven”
Helen Mirren, “Phil Spector”
Elisabeth Moss, “Top of the Lake”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Matt Damon, “Behind the Candelabra”
Michael Douglas, “Behind the Candelabra”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Dancing on the Edge”
Idris Elba, “Luther”
Al Pacino, “Phil Spector”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jacqueline Bisset, “Dancing on the Edge”
Janet McTeer, “White Queen”
Hayden Panettiere, “Nashville”
Monica Potter, “Parenthood”
Sofia Vergara, “Modern Family”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Josh Charles, “The Good Wife”
Rob Lowe, “Behind the Candelabra”
Aaron Paul, “Breaking Bad”
Corey Stoll, “House of Cards”
Jon Voight, “Ray Donovan”

The 71st Golden Globes will be held on Sunday, Jan. 12 and broadcast live at 5 PM PST, 8 PM EST on “the magnificent” NBC.

What do you think of this year’s nominees? Share your thoughts below.

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists have revealed their long, long list of nominations. As usual, it’s a mix of fairly standard picks in the conventional categories — “12 Years a Slave” leads the way with 13 nominations — and more distinctive choices in categories created to celebrate female filmmakers and denigrate industry sexism.

Not all of them make a lot of sense: why on earth does Melissa McCarthy “need a new agent” when “The Heat” and “Identify Thief” were so successful? And calling out the “egregious age difference” between Dermot Mulroney and Abigail Breslin seems somewhat pointless, given that the film does the same. They also made plain their disapproval of “The Counselor,” though I’m not sure I’d call it sexist per se — it’s a female character, after all, who holds all the cards in it. But I guess they mean well.

Lake Bell, Sarah Polley and Nicole Holofcener, Julie Delpy and “Frozen” director Jennifer Lee are among the female directors and screenwriters singled out for their achievement, though I think the AWFJ could dig a little deeper when championing their own gender. Shouldn’t “Concussion” director Stacie Passon be here, for starters? (Meanwhile, of those, only Holofcener, Polley and “Blackfish” director Gabriela Cowperthwaite received nods in the mixed-gender categories.) Anyway, full list below:

Best Film
“American Hustle”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“12 Years a Slave” 

Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity”
Spike Jonze, “Her”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
David O. Russell, “American Hustle”

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine” 
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity” 
Judi Dench, “Philomena” 
Brie Larson, “Short Term 12”
Emma Thompson, “Saving Mr. Banks”

Best Actor
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska” 
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave” 
Oscar Isaac, “Inside Llewyn Davis” 
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club” 
Joaquin Phoenix, “Her” 
Robert Redford, “All is Lost”  

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips” 
Bobby Cannavale, “Blue Jasmine” 
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club” 
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave” 
Will Forte, “Nebraska”  

Best Original Screenplay
“American Hustle”
“Enough Said”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Captain Phillips”
“Philomena”
“Short Term 12”
“The Spectacular Now”
“12 Years a Slave”  

Best Non-English Language Film
“Blue is the Warmest Color”
“The Grandmaster”
“The Hunt”
“The Past”
“Wadjda”

Best Documentary
“The Act of Killing”
“After Tiller”
“Blackfish”
“20 Feet From Stardom”
“Stories We Tell”

Best Animated Film
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Frozen”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Ensemble
“American Hustle”
“August: Osage County”
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“Nebraska”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Editing
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Gravity”
“Rush”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Cinematography
“All is Lost”
“Gravity”
“Nebraska”
“Prisoners”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Music
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Woman Director
Lake Bell, “In A World…”
Gabriele Cowperthwaite, “Blackfish”
Nicole Holofcener, “Enough Said”
Jennifer Lee, “Frozen”
Sarah Polley, “Stories We Tell”

Best Woman Screenwriter
Lake Bell, “In A World…”
Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight”
Nicole Holofcener, “Enough Said”
Jennifer Lee, “Frozen”
Sarah Polley, “Stories We Tell”

Best Female Action Star
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
Chloe Grace Moretz, “Kick Ass 2”  

Best Animated Female
Anna (Kristen Bell), “Frozen”
Eep (Emma Stone), “The Croods”
Elsa (Idina Menzel), “Frozen”  

Best Breakthrough Female Performance
Brie Larson, “Short Term 12”
Lupita Nyong”o, “12 Years A Slave”
Shailene Woodley, “The Spectacular Now”

Best Actress Defying Age and Agism
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”  

AWFJ Female Icon Award 
Sandra Bullock, for the strong, capable and very positive female image presented in “Gravity”
Angelina Jolie, for continued commitments to humanitarian causes, and for promoting awareness about breast cancer.
Jennifer Lawrence, for “American Hustle” and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” and for handling her high degree of celebrity extremely well

Outstanding Achievement by a Woman in the Film Industry
Haaifa Al-Mansour, for directing “Wadjda” and challenging the limitations placed on women within her culture
Cheryl Boone Isaac, for becoming President of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Jahane Noujaim, for risking life and limb to document the Egyptian revolution in “The Square”

AWFJ Hall of Shame Award
“The Counselor” 
“Grown Ups 2”  
“Movie 43”

Actress Most in Need of a New Agent
Cameron Diaz, “The Counselor”
Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgins, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, “Spring Breakers”
Melissa McCarthy, “Identity Thief,” “The Heat”  

Movie You Wanted to Love But Couldn’t
“All is Lost”
“Blue Is The Warmest Color”
“The Counselor”  

Unforgettable Moment Award
“Gravity” – George Clooney reappears
“12 Years A Slave” – Patsy pleads for soap
“Her” – Phone sex sequences
“Nebraska” – “That”s not my air compressor”
“12 Years A Slave” – Solomon hanging

Best Depiction of Nudity, Sexuality or Seduction
“Blue Is The Warmest Color,” Lea Seydoux and Adele Exarchopoulos
“Her,” Scarlett Johansson and Joaquin Phoenix
“The Spectacular Now,” Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller

Sequel or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made
“Carrie”
“Grown Ups 2”
“The Hangover”
“Kick Ass”
“Oz the Great and Powerful”  

Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man and Love Interest
“August: Osage County,” Dermot Mulroney and Abigail Breslin
“The Invisible Woman,” Ralph Feinnes and Felicity Jones
“Last Vegas,” Michael Douglas and Bree Blair
“The Lifeguard,” Kristen Bell and David Lambert
“Oblivion,” Tom Cruise and Andrea Reisborough/Olga Kurylenko

Well received by critics but struggling to connect with audiences, Scott Cooper’s “Out of the Furnace” faces a tough climb to awards recognition — but it has at least one unique FYC plea in its arsenal. In guest piece for Variety, John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania — the town where the film is set — acknowledges that it may seem a tough watch, but urges people to make the effort: “Understandably, many would rather not set foot into a bleak world where most of the social contracts in America are void and rusted through. If the story of a Braddock, and towns like her, is indeed worth telling, there couldn’t be a more eloquent, forceful and honest interpretation than what Mr. Cooper and his three leads have delivered in “Out of the Furnace.” [Variety] 

Pedro Almodovar picks “The Act of Killing” as his film of the year; his list also includes “Mud” and “Blue is the Warmest Color.” [Cinemania]

Palestinian Oscar submission “Omar” has won the top prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards; “The Grandmaster” star Zhang Ziyi won Best Actress. [Hollywood Reporter]

Meanwhile, Belgian Oscar submission “The Broken Circle Breakdown” has won the European Parliament’s Lux Prize for films that “deal with Europe-wide issues.” [Screen Daily]

Steve Pond rounds up some of the season’s most notable breakthrough — and comeback — performances. [The Wrap]

I’m just loving Nathaniel Rogers’ “Team FYC” series. “Blue Jasmine” for Best Costume Design is such a smart call. [The Film Experience]

Brilliant piece by Wesley Morris on the year in bodies: from Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club” to Miley Cyrus in… very little. [Grantland]

The first part of another mammoth list from the folks at Film.com: the 100 best scenes of 2013. Lots of fun, this. [Film.com]

Finally, here’s an interesting future project: “Waltz With Bashir” director Ari Folman is planning an animated adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary. [Variety]

Everyone had a keen eye on this morning’s Screen Actors Guild nominations because, as ever, the group’s Best Ensemble category can be highly indicative of where the Best Picture Oscar race might be heading. But i’s also a unique opportunity for actors to spotlight their own through recognition of a movie’s cast, something critics often do on the precursor circuit but the Academy hasn’t taken to yet.

Unfortunately, more often than not, that merely translates to a slew of SAG notices for big, sprawling casts full of movie stars. That’s doubly unfortunate in a year such as 2013, which has been an exemplary study in brilliant ensemble work, from studio productions to indie players and all points in between. So it seemed our own spotlight was in order.

The gallery story below features my top 11 ensemble performances of the year (in alphabetical order). But what’s stunning, really, are the great casts that didn’t make the cut. Films like “Before Midnight,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Drinking Buddies,” “Frances Ha,” “Fruitvale Station,” “In a World…,” “Prisoners,” “Saving Mr. Banks” and “Spring Breakers” could easily have made this list, and I imagine “August: Osage County” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” would have made plenty others (they certainly made the SAG cut). It was simply an exemplary year for top tier cast work.

Click through to see my thoughts on the year in ensembles, and feel free to offer up your own favorites in the comments section below.

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The Screen Actors Guild announced the nominees for the 2014 SAG Awards and the big winners were “12 Years A Slave,” “Dallas Buyers Club” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” 

HitFix’s Daniel Fienberg and I took some time to chat about the nominations and whether they can really have an impact on this year’s Oscar race. You can watch our conversation in the video embedded at the top of this post.

The San Diego Film Critics Society has just announced “Her” as the year’s best film. Spike Jonze’s latest picked up three awards total, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Score. “12 Years a Slave” led the way with Tuesday’s nominations announcement, but was ultimately shut out of the winning pool entirely. Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis”) and Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”) won top acting honors, while Matthew McConaughey received a special prize for his body of work in 2013. Check out the full list of winners below, and as always, keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Best Film: “Her”

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”

Best Actor: Oscar Isaac, “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, “The Spectacular Now”

Best Adapted Screenplay: “Before Midnight”

Best Original Screenplay: “Her”

Best Cinematography: “To the Wonder”

Best Film Editing: “Captain Phillips”

Best Production Design: “The Great Gatsby”

Best Score: “Her”

Best Animated Film: “The Wind Rises”

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing”

Best Foreign Language Film: “Drug War”

Best Ensemble Performance: “American Hustle”

Body of Work: Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Mud,” “The Wolf of Wall Street”

The late screenwriter Thomas S. Cook, who passed away in January aged 65, will be honored with the Morgan Cox Award for Guild service at the Writers’ Guild Awards in February, it was announced today. Cook was best known for co-writing the 1979 issue thriller “The China Syndrome,” for which he shared in an Oscar nomination and a WGA Award. (He and his co-writers lost the former to Steve Tesich for “Breaking Away.”)

It would be his only big-screen credit. Cook subsequently worked extensively in television, collaborating on such projects as a 2000 remake of “High Noon,” and 1995’s Laurence Fishburne-starring “The Tuskegee Airmen,” a fact-based tale of American-American WWII pilots for which he earned an Emmy nomination. His last credit was the 2008 TV disaster movie “NYC: Tornado Terror.”

A longstanding Guild member, Cook was a strike captain during two WGA strikes, most recently that of 2007-8, and served on the Board of Directors from 1995 to 1997.

WGA West president Christopher Kaiser explains his contribution to the Guild: “Tom was a beloved member of this Guild, renowned both for the remarkable work he produced and for his unending commitment to give something of himself back. His service touched on every corner of our mission and lasted over three wonderful decades. Even in his final days, as a Trustee of our Health and Pension Fund, he never forgot the needs of his fellow writers, and we, in turn, will never forget him.”

The WGA Awards will take place on February 1, 2014, with simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles.

This year’s SAG Awards nominees took out their humble card Wednesday morning to thank their peers for the recognition and we’re guessing a majority of their reactions were not written by their personal publicists.  A few others? Well, judge for yourself.

To check out reactions from Jennifer Lawrence, Jared Leto, Tom Hanks and more, check out the embedded gallery below.

I’ve offered my take on this morning’s SAG Awards announcement. Guy has given his thoughts on snubs and surprises on the movie side of things and Alan has analyzed things on the TV side. The nominations brought with them a number of winners and losers in both the worlds of film and television, so to which side of the line did your favorites fall? Click through the gallery story below to get Team HitFix’s thoughts on who’s happy and who’s sad now that the actors have had their say.

SAG is usually highly sympathetic to American veterans, even in little-seen films – they”re the ones who nominated Robert Duvall for “Get Low” (remember that?), after all. So it was by far the biggest shock of the morning that Hollywood legend Redford was passed over for his one-man-show performance in J.C. Chandor”s maritime survival tale “All is Lost.” With scarcely any dialogue, Redford is required to carry the entire film through pure physical performance – you”d think that”s the kind of feat fellow actors would respect. But the film has struggled to find an audience, and perhaps many SAG members thought it sounded like too much hard work to pop in their screeners. It”s a major blow for a contender many thought could win the Oscar – in 20 years, no one has won a leading-role Oscar without a SAG nod. (To add insult to injury, the film was nominated in the Stunt Ensemble category, though Redford did much of his own stunt work.)

“Dallas Buyers Club” shows hidden strength

Everyone expected Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto to be nominated for their moving performances in Jean-Marc Vallee”s AIDS drama, and they duly were. But few saw that nomination for Best Ensemble coming – the film is full of fine character work in the margins, and Jennifer Garner was arguably been under-credited for her warmly sympathetic turn as a morally conflicted medic, but the film has largely been discussed as a two-man showcase. It”s not an undeserved nomination, but it”s one that says less about the ensemble than it does about the film”s popularity with voters – on this basis, “Dallas Buyers Club” is a serious threat for a Best Picture nod.

“Mr. Banks” needs some saving

The slot taken in Best Ensemble by “Dallas Buyers Club” is one most were expecting to go to Disney”s prime awards hopeful “Saving Mr. Banks,” which seemed something of a soft, starry lob to the SAG membership. But while they nominated Emma Thompson (netting her first SAG nod since 1995) for her entertainingly prissy turn as P.L. Travers, they clearly weren”t feeling the film that much: not only did it miss in the top category, but Tom Hanks was passed over for his baity supporting turn as Disney himself. This will have Disney nervous, particularly after the film underwhelmed commercially in the UK. Have its Oscar prospects been overestimated?

“Captain Phillips” gets a second wind

It was a morning of mixed fortunes for Hanks – he may have missed out for “Banks,” but he did secure a none-too-certain Best Actor nomination for his steelier turn in waterborne thriller “Captain Phillips.” Despite solid reviews and box office, buzz seemed to be fading a little around Paul Greengrass”s film, but SAG has given it a welcome shot in the arm – not only did Hanks get a nod, but Somali newcomer Barkhad Abdi turned out to be one of the actors blocking him in the supporting race. Abdi”s the kind of novice who could easily miss out with this group, so that nomination is a real sign of strength.

Weinstein overcomes the critics

The Weinstein Company”s 2013 awards portfolio isn”t one of its strongest: “Lee Daniels” The Butler” pleased audiences in the summer, but seems a little too square for major Oscar recognition, while “August: Osage County” premiered to polite indifference at Toronto, and has struggled to gain much buzz. Both, however, are old-fashioned, star-powered ensemble pieces that are very much in SAG”s wheelhouse – and so it proved today, as they each scored a Best Ensemble nod, plus two individual acting bids apiece. (Forest Whitaker”s nomination for “The Butler,” against tough competition, is a real coup; Julia Roberts, meanwhile, successfully got away with category fraud for “August.”) Does that make them Best Picture heavyweights? Not quite, but missing here would have put them out of the conversation for good.

Daniel Bruhl restarts his engine

Earlier in the year, German actor Bruhl was widely seen as a sure bet for a Supporting Actor nod: his performance as stubbornly cocky racing driver Niki Lauda in Ron Howard”s biographical drama has the tragic arc, feisty defiance and hefty prosthetic assistance that awards voters tend to like in a performance – it helps, too, that he”s really a lead. But as “Rush” sputtered at the box office and veered out of the Best Picture race, Bruhl”s buzz seemed to go with it. Clearly, however, the performance impressed voters independently of the film; like Lauda himself, he”s unexpectedly back in the race.

“Wolf of Wall Street” and “Her” passed over

We”ll never know how Martin Scorsese”s “The Wolf of Wall Street” would have gone over with SAG if it hadn”t started screening so late in the game – the truth of the matter is that many voters simply haven”t seen it yet. (“Django Unchained” was in a similar position last year, and that turned out fine.) So while “Wolf””s absence isn”t a surprise, it”s still a missed opportunity for a film so ensemble driven. Would it have proven too offbeat for the middlebrow SAG membership? Possibly. Spike Jonze”s “Her,” despite a healthy showing in the critics” awards thus far, clearly did.

Jennifer Lawrence does the “Hustle” by herself

A Best Ensemble nod for David O. Russell”s “American Hustle” was inevitable: the film”s both a hot Best Picture player and a colorful ensemble piece. Less certain was how it would fare in the individual categories: Amy Adams was a potential spoiler for a Best Actress nod, while Bradley Cooper had a good chance of muscling into a still-flexible Supporting Actor field. Both, however, missed out, as only surefire scene-stealer (and SAG”s reigning Best Actress) Jennifer Lawrence made the grade; SAG evidently liked “Hustle,” but didn”t go crazy for it.

This morning’s Screen Actors Guild (SAG) nominations announcement wasn’t going to have a lot of surprises. At this stage, most of the players are known. It’s a dense race, however, so the only question was, who was going to get squeezed out?

The headline here is Robert Redford’s Best Actor snub for his one-man performance in “All is Lost.” Earlier in the morning the film was nominated for the stunt ensemble award, which is interesting considering  the bulk of the stunts were performed by Redford himself. But when it came to settling on an immensely crowded lead actor field, the legendary actor joined the likes of Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B. Jordan on the sidelines as Forest Whitaker’s performance in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” remained strong enough alongside the guild to land a nomination with other names that have been topping predictions lists for months.

Many have felt that Redford has been safe because, well, he’s Redford. But in a tight year, face time makes all the difference, and the fact is he hasn’t been as present on the campaign trail as his fellow competitors. He needed the boost of that New York Film Critics Circle win a week ago more than anyone else, and with today’s snub, he’s notably the weakest link in a category that could still go a number of ways once members of the Academy’s actors branch has their say.

The only other surprise of note is the presence of “Dallas Buyers Club” in the Best Ensemble category, though the title had been bubbling up as a potential player in conversations this last week. The film went over really, really well at guild screenings (ask our Greg Ellwood, who moderated a few) and for a movie that didn’t have the powerhouse cast of a “Saving Mr. Banks” or an “Out of the Furnace” or a “Wolf of Wall Street,” and wasn’t as notable an “ensemble” film as a “Nebraska” or an “Inside Llewyn Davis,” it’s pretty significant for it to land alongside the other heavy-hitting Oscar players. It’s a huge boost for Focus Features’ awards circuit swan song and this will go a long way toward helping it secure a spot in the Best Picture lineup.

Beyond that, there weren’t really any left-field announcements. We knew “The Wolf of Wall Street” had not been widely seen enough by the nominating committee (and had landed in the middle of balloting, in any case) to make a dent, so it’s lack of nominations is merely a curiosity like last year’s goose egg for “Django Unchained.” I had expected the work of “Out of the Furnace,” which was constantly on the lips of SAG members in the lead-up to nominations, to figure in somewhere, but alas, it proved to be too competitive a year. And even though he seemed like a sure thing for so long, I hadn’t expected Daniel Brül’s wonderful “Rush” performance to make the cut, yet there he is. And “Saving Mr. Banks” revealed a little bit of vulnerability by failing to land an ensemble nod or a nomination for Tom Hanks in supporting.

The lead actress category filled out as expected. We have had the same five names in our predictions for ages at this point, at least since September. The only leading lady who can dent the lineup is Amy Adams in “American Hustle,” but I expect this group to hold strong. “Hustle” did, however, pick up an expected ensemble nomination, as did Jennifer Lawrence for her supporting performance.

Harvey Weinstein must be feeling pretty good today. While “Fruitvale Station” (which had a shot at lead actor, supporting actress and ensemble recognition) and “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (timely as ever these days) found no purchase with the guild, “August: Osage County,” “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” and “Philomena” combined for seven nominations. “August” and particularly “The Butler” rise up as his definitive players in the season, though the Globe nominations could put a damper on their momentum tomorrow morning. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association will likely, however, make a strong case for “Philomena,” so don’t sleep on that film’s Best Picture potential just yet.

And not to bury the lead, but it’s “12 Years a Slave” that unsurprisingly walked away with the most mentions: four. I had wondered whether Michael Fassbender would be a shocking shut-out this morning, though when I watched the film again last night, I knew I probably had that wrong. He terrorizes that film in such a way as to make his presence palpable even when he’s not on screen. He may not be on the circuit campaigning, but it seems that, unlike with Redford, that isn’t making much of a difference. The film also has the most critics Best Picture wins at the moment (four) and will likely remain out in front on that score, too. Will it all add up to the top Oscar at the end of the day? I remain skeptical for other reasons, but no real missteps are being made. There’s still a long way to go yet.

One other note: After sparking with the critics groups in a big way over the last week, “Her” was completely shut out of the nominations today. Nothing for Joaquin Phoenix or Amy Adams or Scarlett Johansson’s vocal performance, and no ensemble bid, which Guy had hung his hat on in predictions. That’s a tough hurdle to clear if it’s going to make good on a Best Picture nomination many had earmarked for the film in the wake of the critical approval, but like we’ve been saying, it may just be a film the critics adore, but fails to register with the Academy. We’ll have to see.

With that, the first industry group has spoken and given us a pretty good idea of the direction the race has taken. The SAG nominations often reflect early, sometimes dated buzz and momentum, however, and we have a whole month before the directors chime in with nominations at the beginning of the year. The campaigns behind the likes of “Hustle’s” Amy Adams, “Nebraska’s” Will Forte, “Fruitvale Station’s” Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer and, to be sure, “All is Lost’s” Robert Redford will want to step it up if they don’t want to be left in the dust. This is a dense race with a handful of classic Oscar-bait entries that could become the default position for voters if no one really tries to shake the race up. Consider today’s announcement a shot across their bow. Nothing is decided yet.

Check out the full list of SAG nominees below.

The 20th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014.