Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Later today the Screen Actors Guild Awards are under the spotlight with a lot of fantastic performances in the running for major honours.
The SAG awards have always been known as the awards that give a clearer indication as to where the big Oscars will go net month.
At this very moment the Oscar race is wide open and there are very few red hot favourites for the major gongs - which will make it one of the most exciting ceremonies in recent years.
But back to the SAG’s and this is a night where the actors take centre stage as there are no prizes for movies or directors - and we are going to try and predict who will win what.
Lincoln, Les Miserables and Silver Linings Playbook are the major players and they will be doing battle in most of the categories.
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role is a loaded field with Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), John Hawkes (The Sessions), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables) and Denzel Washington (Flight) are all nominated.
At the Golden Globes the two actor awards went to Day-Lewis and Jackman but the SAG’s will see the two go head to head and this award is possibly between these two.
Day-Lewis has been the lead performance that everyone has been talking about and he is the favourite going into the Oscars to make it a trio of Best Oscar wins.
Prediction to win: Daniel Day-Lewis. Watch out for: Hugh Jackman.
Outstanding Performance by a Female actor in a Leading Role is another high quality field with Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Helen Mirren (Hitchcock) and Naomi Watts (The Impossible) all in the running.
Much like the actor category there are two frontrunners in the form of Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence and they have been sharing the gongs on the award’s circuit so far.
They both deliver knockout performances in their respective films and they were both rewarded with a Golden Globe earlier this month.
Prediction to win: Jessica Chastain. Watch out for: Jennifer Lawrence.
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role has been one of the tightest categories on the award’s circuit all year as you could make a strong case for all the nominees.
Alan Arkin (Argo), Javier Bardem (Skyfall), Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook), Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) and Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) are all in the running and have all given splendid performances this year.
Christoph Waltz was the Golden Globe winner in this category only a couple of weeks ago but he has been overlooked at the SAG’s.
Prediction to win: Tommy Lee Jones. Watch out for: Robert De Niro.
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role is the one category that has a clear cut favourite when it comes to the Oscars and that is Anne Hathaway.
Hathaway is nominated for her role in Les Miserables but she faces some tough competition from Sally Field (Lincoln), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy) and Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel).
Hathaway may only have around fifteen minutes of screen time as Fantine in Les Miserables but she delivers a truly memorable performance with her rendition of I Dream A Dream being a major moment in the film.
Prediction to win: Anne Hathaway. Watch out for: Sally Field.
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture is the equivalent to Best Picture at the SAG’s as they celebrate the performances of the cast rather than the movie itself.
Much like the Best Picture category at all of the other award ceremonies this is a highly competitive field with the casts from Argo, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Les Miserables, Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook all picking up a nomination.
Despite the Oscar snob of Best Director for Best Affleck at the Oscar he went on to win Best Director and Best Film at the Golden Globes.
All of these movies are filled with fantastic performances with all of these films picking up gongs and nominations in recent weeks.
Prediction to win: Lincoln. Watch out for: Silver Linings Playbook.
The Screen Actors Guild Award winners will be announced later