One of the award shows I never pay any attention to during Oscar season is the annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. I’m not really sure why that is since I think it’s a far more credible award than the Golden Globes and carries some significance because it’s actors honoring actors. Still… I never care about it.
So last night the SAG awards were on and something curious struck me. The Dark Knight was NOT nominated for Best Ensemble Cast. The Best Ensemble is basically the the SAG version of the Best Picture award… and I was surprised… nay… STUNNED that The Dark Knight didn’t get nominated for the big SAG award.
Recently, as all of you know, The Dark Knight was not nominated for the big Oscar (prompting the ridiculous assertion by some people that the academy just purposefully “snubbed” The Dark Knight because they hate comic book movies… which doesn’t explain why they nominated Heath Ledger for his role and gave TDK a total of EIGHT… count them EIGHT Oscar nominations in total… yeah… real snub).
Anger was swift amongst The Dark Knight supporters towards the Academy and all sorts of irrational conspiracy theories about coordinated efforts to “snub” TDK surfaced. Me personally… I didn’t think TDK was one of the top 5 films of the year (although I do have in in my top 10). But here’s the funny part…
If anything, I thought The Dark Knight DID deserve a SAG nomination for Best Ensemble Cast. Not only did Heath Ledger give one of the single best performances of the year, but those turned in by Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman were all superb. Not only were they individually fantastic, but they all worked together so damn well.
If anything, in my opinion, I would have definitely given The Dark Knight a SAG nomination before the Oscar.
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t think SAG “snubbed” The Dark Knight… but I do certainly feel they made a mistake in failing to give it a nomination, especially for just the cast.
My questions is… since (in my opinion) The Dark Knight deserved a Best Ensemble nomination far more than it did a Best Picture nomination… why is the interweb not up in arms about SAG “snubbing” The Dark Knight? Where are the scores of people proclaiming SAG just hates comic book movies or some other form of prejudice?
Just a thought. What are your thoughts?
Tim: Neuter yourself.
I’m 104% right, The Dark Knight was carried by Heath Ledger’s performance, nothing more. If he wasn’t in that movie the Dark Knight would’ve been awful.
uh…John…dude….you have had Wale as your number 1 on a couple lists…uuuh…but you wouldn’t even put TDK in your top five? Sounds like a personal issue. Something is seriously “koo koo” in that head of yours.
Like….get off of the Wale cock for two seconds, wipe the robo skeet from your eyes and feast them upon a bigger and brighter world of seriously upper-echelon films like The Dark Knight.
Others? Tell that to the legions of guild members who voted for it throughout the precursor season and the critics that chimed in, making it one of the two most critically acclaimed films of 2008.
100 infinity %. And I’m fucking your girlfriend.
Check mate.
By the way, if you still contend that the Academy has no prejudice against comic book movies (given the tone of your last statement in the post), well, “deluded” ain’t the half of it.
Silly silly Tapley,
I know it’s fun seeing conspiracy theories behind every tree when things don’t go the way you think they should… but reality isn’t as convenient.
I know The Dark Knight wasn’t one of the 5 best of the year… so maybe… just maybe, others thought the same without the conspiracy.
I’m 102% right… and I’m rubbing my ball sack on your blu ray collection.
An Oscar nomination for Best Pic is a lot different than perpetuating the myth that the SAG ensemble award is the guild’s equivalent of Best Pic. So snub vs. snub doesn’t really compute here, John.
Man, sometimes it takes me all day to explain the ins and outs of awards season to you. But I’ve been knee deep in this mess for nearly a decade now and you haven’t, so, you’re forgiven.
That said, I never once said the Academy “didn’t snub it because it was nominated in eight categories.” I said it was nominated in eight categories and you made a quip, “Jeez, that’s not snubbing it.”
Sorry to go into the specifics of a personal conversation and bore your readers, but somebody’s gotta tell the truth ’round here.
I’m 101% correct.
More pointless Bat bashing. Get a decent argument and run with it, but stop with the half-baked analysis. Some of us were a little disappointed that SAG didn’t nominate the film for Best Ensemble (which has been mythologized into being the group’s “Best Picture award” — you think SAG saw “The Birdcage” as the Best Picture of 1996 or “The Station Agent” as one of the five Best Pictures of 2003? No.)
But in point of fact, the SAG did NOT snub the film. Wouldn’t you know it, it was the only contender to walk away with two trophies.
Like I said — come up with a smarter argument if your shtick in the face of necessary griping over the Oscar snub is going to be a continuous onslaught against “The Dark Knight.”
Oh poor deluded Tapley,
First of all, I was not “Bat bashing”. I said in my post that I thought it deserved the SAG nomination for the top award.
You’re also flip flopping on your arguments. You just said:
“SAG did NOT snub the film. Wouldn’t you know it, it was the only contender to walk away with two trophies.”
You’re the same guy who when I tried to point out that the Oscars didn’t “snub” TDK because they had EIGHT Oscar nominations… you said it didn’t matter because they weren’t the big one.
Well which is it. Do the “other” nominations count or don’t they?
I’m 100% correct.
you’re %100 right John I dont know why the net-nerds weren’t pissed at the news.
I myself was blown-away. I thought IF ANYTHING TDK would be a lock for best ensemble cast at SAG. Oh well it got best stunt ensemble LOL
It’s weird too because SAG is a collection of Bale’s, Oldman’s peers. You think they would have understood. Oh well…
The more time passes the more Im not as pissed off at the Academy for not nominating TDK for….oh wait….nope still pissed….even seeing Winslet’s abundant tit shots in the Reader hasn’t made the anger subside ;)
I’m pretty sure the reason why people haven’t mentioned this awards show was because most of the mainstream public that have been bitching about The Dark Knight for the Oscars, don’t even know that the SAG awards exist. I know a lot of people that have asked me since I follow movies a lot and they ask me what I thought about Dark Knight not being nominated and I mentioned the other films were definitely more worthy and they didn’t even know the existence of the other films nominated. I saw some article saying that people are complaining that the AMPAS has lost touch with the mainstream audience by picking obscure movies and not listening to the public. If we listened to the public and as to what was popular, we would have Notorious, My bloody Valentine, meet the spartans, and all kinds of other garbage being recognized. In retrospect, the academy has always; in my opinion, given credit where credit is due to the films that are truly an art form and something special. Not saying the Dark Knight isn’t, but I’m honestly more suprised and upset that Darren Aronofsky didn’t get nominated for a Best Director nod and that The Wrestler didn’t make the Best Picture group as well.
“bigsampson says:
January 26, 2009 at 12:37 pm
maybe its cause hollywood is a joke?”
ya, too bad hollywood makes such shit as the dark knight. a joke movie.
Just like you said, nobody cares.
ya but milk is now where nere the ensemble of batman…..i really thought batman was drawn out to much….but look at the cast names alone…i would shit my pants to be near any movie with half the actors….shit freeman and eckhart alone make a top notch cast…..add 5 more solid people thats a award IMO…this post hits the nail on the coffin for retarded contests on tv for douchebag actors…..BY ME A CHEESEBURGER then ill grovel!
I don’t think the Dark Knight deserved an Oscar nom – best ensemble? Besides Heath, (who won the award – well deserving) – who else was that outstanding? Everyone was great, but…I wouldn’t consider the Dark Knight an incredibly intense movie for acting – best picture oscar, on the other hand, definitely!
Because the SAG awards are on the same timea s American Idol?
people still watch American Idol?
These award shows seem to be under the impression that Best Picture means Best Drama. It shouldn’t.
cause i dont give a sh*t about the sag awards. i dont even know if it even aired already or not…
The biggest issue that I’ve noticed amongst people I’ve spoken too is not the snubbing of TDK for The Best Picture, but the snubbing of Nolan. Given that the film has racked up 8 Oscar nominations, most of which are in the technical deptarment, it seems ridiculous that Nolan has not been put forward for Best Director considering all the nominations are in categories that need a Directors influence.
I think too few people know what the SAG awards are to care personally.
As far as Slumdog Millionaire winning the SAG award for Best Ensemble Cast, I think that was kind of BS. Don’t get me wrong, Slumdog was a great movie. But if we are talking about *acting* only I would say Milk or Doubt should have one. Slumdog’s cast was ok, they did what they had to do, but it isn’t like they sunk into a character the same way Sean Penn, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Heath Ledger did. It was basically indian teenagers playing indian teenagers.
I think TDK should have at least been nominated for best ensemble cast!
I always hate this time of year, the industry focuses on the same five to seven movies and ignores the great films and performances from earlier in the year (why is Josh Brolin not nominated for W???)
Animated movies (wall-e), comedies (pineapple express, forgetting sarah marshall), and action movies (the dark knight, iron man) always get snubbed.
no one is accusing SAG of snubbing Dark Knight because no one cares about the SAG awards.
It didn’t get nominated because of Maggie Gylenhaal’s face… that bitch
but she got blown up, that scene alone should have gained an oscar.
Neither was Synecdoche, NY nominated – which is complete bullshit. Which is why I couldn’t care less about the SAG awards. Oh, and it’s a lot of TV stuff which I just don’t have time for.
I was a little surprised it didn’t get nominated for best picture or best ensemble. I don’t think anyone outside the guild really cares, though. I mean, it’s a night of them, for them, and they can have it, it’s really boring. Anyway, I don’t think it deserves the Oscar, but, maybe a nomination would be deserved. I don’t think they care, they have billions, they can buy their own statue.
“Why Is No One Accusing SAG Of Snubbing The Dark Knight?”
Cause it’s not the Oscars silly.
Beyond the top five best picture nominees, I’ve always been curious about the next five runner-ups. I’m sure the Academy has a list somewhere of which movies almost got on the ballot.
Don’t you have to be apart of the SAG in order to get nominated? Was Heath? Or any of the others?
They are all in SAG. Heath actually won the best supporting actor award at the SAG awards.
The SAG awards is (IMO) one of the awards that is very much a hardcore movie-goers award show. Some people don’t care very much about the SAG awards. I don’t have cable, so unless I see it advertised elsewhere (online or print) I don’t really pay attention to what’s going on. The Oscars is the #1 movie awards show that people watch… which is why a lot of people have an opinion about it: a lot of people care. I love the SAG awards, but really have only online contact with it, which means I only find out who wins afterwords. I am surprised that they didn’t get great ensemble cast. Also, do we know anything about how much TDK was campaigned for the SAG awards? That might have something to do with it.
I think you made a good point and it’s one that crossed my mind earlier this morning when I was looking at the list of winners. SAG is no less valid than the Oscars when you really think about it. The Oscars simply have more glitz and a cool golden statue.
I am part of the minority that doesn’t think TDK got snubbed and actually feel that too many people were naive enough to think it was going to get a best picture nom. I think it was honored with the noms it deserved though I would have liked to have seen Nolan get a nod for Director, especially over Van Sant, which I don’t think deserved the nom over Aronofsky or Eastwood.
Well im not suprised TDK didnt get the Oscar for Best Picture. I agree that it maybe just wasnt as cinamtic as classier pictures. Personelly I am suprised Grand Terino wasnt nominated. Any hoo I do think SAG snubbed TDK. This was a great cast that worked well on and off each other. Hell even small bit characters like Colman Reese, Sole, Gabbo, and the police detective whos friends were killed by the Joker did well. But kay sara, I love the movie as did millions of others and we dont need an award to tell us that.
I think you answered that question in your first sentence. “One of the shows I never pay attention to during Oscar season…” It is just that. Nobody paid attention and thus nobody cared. Everyone knows about the Oscars.
maybe its cause hollywood is a joke?
SAG? really what it should be called is….”hey we are real people too…..NOT….HAHA pass the caviar we are rich and chatting it up with the rest of are inflated ego posse” IMO TDK was 45 min too long. Hey we all have differant opinions and all like differant stuff…..but the SAG’s are depressing for normal people to watch….all u see is rich ass people acting like there normal and it just seems so out of place..and i agree ..why not give it best ensemble….really to me thats all TDK did along with great look at the joker character…other then that it wasnt that great.
Maybe it was Bales voice that turned people off?