SAG Predictions: Best Actor in a Leading Role

Last year’s nominees: Bruce Dern (Nebraska), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club), and Forest Whitaker (The Butler).

The rundown: I never like having the SAG nominees announced before the Golden Globes reveal their lists since it’s much easier to narrow down a day ahead from a wider field than to pick these five first. Last year, we got the big snub of Robert Redford, who ended up getting snubbed by Oscar voters, and two nominees who didn’t make it to the Oscar race. How will this year play out? Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), Michael Keaton (Birdman), and Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) should be sure things. David Oyelowo (Selma) should be safe too, and after that, it’s anybody’s guess. Will it be Steve Carell (Foxcatcher), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler), Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), or someone else? The NBR picked Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year), and I’m sure there are other possibilities we haven’t thought of yet.

Current predictions: Carell, Cumberbatch, Keaton, Oyelowo, Redmayne