SAG Predictions: Best Actor in a Supporting Role

This year, the Screen Actors Guild announces its picks one day before Golden Globe nominations are revealed, which means it will be considerably tougher to predict the nominees without that helpful handicap of knowing ten likely contenders beforehand. Without knowing all that much, here are my best guesses for SAG’s five inclusions in this category.

Last year’s nominees:
Christian Bale (The Fighter)
John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone)
Jeremy Renner (The Town)
Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)
Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)

I still think this category, above all others, is wildly unpredictable. I do think, however, that SAG voters may reward some interesting choices, like Albert Brooks (Drive) and last year’s nominee John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene). Count in Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn), and maybe even Christoph Waltz (Carnage). I think this may be where a supporting player from “The Ides of March” gets honored, be it Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, or George Clooney. Other contenders include Brad Pitt (The Tree of Life), Armie Hammer (J Edgar), and Max Von Sydow (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close).

Current predictions:
Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
Albert Brooks (Drive)
John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Ides of March)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners)