We really need to start printing every thing we think to ourselves and or say to our friends. At least 4 weeks ago we were going on and on about “No Country For Old Men” and how it was basically a lock for Best Picture along with the Coen Brothers for Best Director to any who would listen.
Then, once the Oscars were announced all these odds makers started throwing us off when they were giving better odds to “Micheal Clayton” and the chances to “There Will Be Blood” – we started to ask ourselves? Are we wrong? Is the writing not on the wall?
Thankfully, there’s been a reality check to get our confidence back in these statements. Over the weekend Ethan and Joel Coen won the coveted DGA (Director’s Guild Award) for outstanding directorial achievement and then on Sunday night, ‘No Country’ dominated the SAG Award Telecast (Screen Actors Guild).
Both of these institutions are very strong augurs of of the Oscar outcomes (Only six times in the past 59 years have the DGA and the Academy disagreed on their choice of directors). At SAG, ‘No Country’ took the award for Best Ensemble Cast (their equivalent of Best Picture) and Javier Bardem won the Best Supporting Actor for portraying the film’s highly-principled psychopath (in five of the past 12 years, the winning SAG Best Ensemble has gone on to grab the Best Oscar Picture – though not last year as “Little Miss Sunshine” won the SAG prize, but the Oscar went to “The Departed.”)
As predictable as the sunrise, Julie Christie won Best Actress for “Away From Her” and Daniel Day-Lewis won Best Actor for “There Will Be Blood,” the latter giving a moving dedication of his award to the recently passed Heath Ledger (if your instincts tell you to bet against either of these two at the Oscars, you should probably stay at home).
The one left-field curveball the SAG awards threw (which will now throw this category into wack prognostication-wise) was awarding “American Gangster”s Ruby Dee the Best Supporting Actress award (we would have expected Cate Blanchett or Amy Ryan before Dee).
The Academy Awards, if they take place (and they should, don’t worry), will air on on February. 24.