Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.
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2021 SAG AWARDS PREDICTIONS:
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
UPDATED: Jan. 14, 2020
While its difficult for young performers to be nominated at the Oscars, the SAG awards are far more open to nominating them, as seen by past nominees like Dakota Fanning (“I Am Sam”), Freddie Highmore (“Finding Neverland”) and Jacob Tremblay (“Room”). Helena Zengel’s work in “News of the World” might be the strongest play for the film with the SAG awards, possibly spilling over into the Academy’s graces.
Another point, is SAG loves to retroactively reward what they got wrong on the road to the Oscars. Judi Dench won best supporting actress at the Academy Awards for “Shakespeare in Love” but lost at the SAG awards. The very next year, she won the SAG award for “Chocolat.” Even the year following Paul Giamatti’s glaring snub for “Sideways” at the Oscars, he mustered a SAG win for “Cinderella Man” before losing to George Clooney (“Syriana”). So who fits that bill this year? Olivia Colman won Globes, BAFTA and Oscars for “The Favourite” but lost the SAG award to Glenn Close in 2019. Will they want to correct it for “The Father” or is Maria Bakalova the new “favourite?”
(Awards Circuit Winners Chart (2020-2021)
Helena Zengel in “News of the World” – directed by Paul Greengrass
Courtesy of UNIVERSAL PICTURES
AND THE PREDICTED NOMINEES ARE:
Olivia Colman"The Father" (Sony Pictures Classics)
ROLE: AnneSAG HISTORY: 4 nominations, 1 win
(2020) - "The Crown" - Female actor in a drama series
(2020) - "The Crown" - Cast ensemble in a drama series (WINNER)
(2020) - "Fleabag" - Cast ensemble in a comedy series
(2019) - "The Favourite" - Female actor in a leading role in a motion picture
–DIRECTOR: Florian ZellerSYNOPSIS: A man refuses all assistance from his daughter as he ages. As he tries to make sense of his changing circumstances, he begins to doubt his loved ones, his own mind and even the fabric of his reality.STARRING: Olivia Colman, Mark Gatiss, Anthony Hopkins, Imogen Poots, Rufus Sewell, Olivia Williams
Maria Bakalova"Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" (Amazon Studios)
ROLE: Tutar SagdiyevSAG HISTORY: Never nominated
–DIRECTOR: Jason WolinerSYNOPSIS: A satire on Trump’s America that follows a Kazakh journalist who’s sent to America to deliver a gift from his government to Vice President Mike Pence. Along the way, his worldview is turned upside down and steadfast beliefs are challenged by his teenage daughter.STARRING: Sacha Baron Cohen, Maria Bakalova
Amanda Seyfried"Mank" (Netflix)
ROLE: Marion DaviesSAG HISTORY: 1 nomination
(2013) - "Les Misérables" - Cast ensemble in a motion picture
–DIRECTOR: David FincherSYNOPSIS: 1930s Hollywood is re-evaluated through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay of Citizen Kane for Orson Welles.STARRING: Tom Burke, Lily Collins, Joseph Cross, Charles Dance, Monika Gossman, Ferdinand Kingsley, Jamie McShane, Tuppence Middleton, Toby Leonard Moore, Gary Oldman, Tom Pelphrey, Amanda Seyfried, Sam Troughton
Ellen Burstyn"Pieces of a Woman" (Netflix)
ROLE: ElizabethSAG HISTORY: 4 nominations
(2015) - "Flowers in the Attic" - Female actor in a television movie or miniseries
(2008) - "Mitch Albom's For One More Day" - Female actor in a television movie or miniseries
(2001) - "Requiem for a Dream" - Female actor in a leading role in a motion picture
(1996) - "How to Make an American Quilt" - Cast ensemble in a motion picture
–DIRECTOR: Kornél MundruczóSYNOPSIS: When a young mother's home birth ends in unfathomable tragedy, she begins a year-long odyssey of mourning that fractures relationships with loved ones in this deeply personal story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.STARRING: Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn, Iliza Shlesinger, Benny Safdie, Sarah Snook, Molly Parker
Helena Zengel"News of the World" (Universal Pictures)
OSCAR HISTORY: Never nominatedROLE: Johanna Leonberger
–DIRECTOR: Paul GreengrassSYNOPSIS: A Civil War veteran agrees to deliver a girl, taken by the Kiowa people years ago, to her aunt and uncle, against her will. They travel hundreds of miles and face grave dangers as they search for a place that either can call home.STARRING: Tom Hanks, Helena Zengel, Elizabeth Marvel, Mare Winningham, Michael Angelo Covino, Ray McKinnon
Yuh-jung Young in “Minari” (A24)
Courtesy of A24
NEXT IN LINE CONTENDERS:
Jodie Foster"The Mauritanian" (STXfilms)
ROLE: Nancy HollanderSAG HISTORY: 1 nomination, 1 win
(1995) - "Nell" - Female actor in a leading role in a motion picture (WINNER)
–DIRECTOR: Kevin MacdonaldSYNOPSIS: A detainee at the U.S military's Guantanamo Bay detention center is held without charges for over a decade and seeks help from a defense attorney for his release.STARRING: Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shailene Woodley
Yuh-jung Youn"Minari" (A24)
ROLE: SoonjaSAG HISTORY: Never nominated
–DIRECTOR: Lee Isaac ChungSYNOPSIS: A Korean family moves to Arkansas to start a farm in the 1980s.STARRING: Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan S. Kim, Yuh-jung Youn, Will Patton
Glenn Close"Hillbilly Elegy" (Netflix)
ROLE: MamawSAG HISTORY: 9 nominations, 2 wins
(2019) - "The Wife" - Female actor in a leading role in a motion picture (WINNER)
(2012) - "Albert Nobbs" - Female actor in a leading role in a motion picture
(2012) - "Damages" - Female actor in a drama series
(2011) - "Damages" - Female actor in a drama series
(2010) - "Damages" - Female actor in a drama series
(2008) - "Damages" - Female actor in a drama series
(2005) - "The Lion in Winter" - Female actor in a television movie or miniseries (WINNER)
(1998) - "In the Gloaming" - Female actor in a television movie or miniseries
(1996) - "Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story" - Female actor in a television movie or miniseries
–DIRECTOR: Ron HowardSYNOPSIS: An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.STARRING: Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso, Haley Bennett, Freida Pinto, Bo Hopkins, Owen Asztalos
Saoirse Ronan"Ammonite" (Neon)
ROLE: Charlotte MurchisonSAG HISTORY: 4 nominations
(2018) - "Lady Bird" - Female actor in a leading role in a motion picture
(2018) - "Lady Bird" - Cast ensemble in a motion picture
(2016) - "Brooklyn" - Female actor in a leading role in a motion picture
(2015) - "The Grand Budapest Hotel" - Cast ensemble in a motion picture
–DIRECTOR: Francis Lee
SYNOPSIS: 1840s England, acclaimed but overlooked fossil hunter Mary Anning and a young woman sent to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship, altering both of their lives forever.
STARRING: Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan, Fiona Shaw, Gemma Jones, James McArdle
Candice Bergen"Let Them All Talk" (HBO Max)
ROLE: RobertaOSCAR HISTORY: 8 nominations
(2009) - "Boston Legal" - Cast ensemble in a drama series
(2008) - "Boston Legal" - Cast ensemble in a drama series
(2007) - "Boston Legal" - Cast ensemble in a drama series
(2006) - "Boston Legal" - Female actor in a comedy series
(2006) - "Boston Legal" - Cast ensemble in a comedy series
(1996) - "Murphy Brown" - Female actor in a comedy series
(1995) - "Murphy Brown" - Female actor in a comedy series
(1995) - "Murphy Brown" - Cast ensemble in a comedy series
–DIRECTOR: Steven SoderberghSYNOPSIS: A famous author goes on a cruise trip with her friends and nephew in an effort to find fun and happiness while she comes to terms with her troubled past.STARRING: Meryl Streep, Candice Bergen, Dianne Wiest, Gemma Chan, Lucas Hedges
Dominique Fishback in “Judas and the Black Messiah” (Warner Bros.)
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
UNRANKED AWARDS CONTENDERS:
Ciara Bravo,“Cherry” (Apple TV Plus)Toni Collette,“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” (Netflix)Elizabeth Debicki,“Tenet” (Warner Bros.)Ariana DeBose,“The Prom” (Netflix)Dominique Fishback,“Judas and the Black Messiah” (HBO Max/Warner Bros.)Priyanka Chopra Jonas,“The White Tiger” (Netflix)Nicole Kidman,“The Prom” (Netflix)Valerie Mahaffey,“French Exit” (Sony Pictures Classics)Talia Ryder,“Never Rarely Sometimes Always” (Focus Features)Swankie,“Nomadland” (Searchlight Pictures)
† = no release date scheduled / could be delayed / may not be eligible
†† = could be campaigned in lead or supporting categories / original or adapted screenplay categories
The Screen Actors Guild Awards, hosted by SAG-AFTRA, is an annual award show that has become one of the most important and key indicators for the Oscars. Four films have won the most SAG awards with three: 1999’s “American Beauty,” 2002’s “Chicago,” 2011’s “The Help” and 2017’s “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Three movies have been nominated for the most SAG awards with five: 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love,” “Chicago” and 2008’s “Doubt.”
The SAG Awards are scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 4, 2021