AIDS drama ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ wins SAG nominations

Jessica Herndon, AP Film Writer

Los Angeles (AP) — Steve McQueen's historic saga "12 Years a Slave," Jon Wells' dysfunctional family adaptation "August: Osage County," Jean-Marc Vallee's AIDS drama "Dallas Buyers Club" and the sweeping White House servant tale "Lee Daniels' The Butler" topped the list of outstanding performances for the 20th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. "12 Years a Slave" scored four nominations, while "Osage County" and "The Butler" earned three nominations in Wednesday's announcements.

Each of the three films was nominated for overall performance by their casts. Also nominated for best ensemble cast was David O. Russell's 1970s con-artist romp "American Hustle."

"12 Years a Slave" attained individual acting nominations, as well, including male lead for Chiwetel Ejiofor as a displaced free black man, Michael Fassbender for supporting actor as a ruthless slave owner and Lupita Nyong'o for female supporting as a favored fieldworker.

"August: Osage County" had individual nominations for Meryl Streep for female lead as the conflicted matriarch in the adaptation of Tracy Letts' Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play, and Julia Roberts as the domineering daughter for supporting female actor.

"Dallas Buyers Club" also scored nominations for Matthew McConaughey as the HIV-positive rodeo-lover in the best actor category and Jared Leto as a transgender for supporting actor.

Forest Whitaker received the lead actor nomination for his performance as a long-time White House butler in "Lee Daniels' The Butler."

Also bringing in a lead actor nominations were Bruce Dern for his performance of an aging dreamer in Alexander Payne's small town dark comedy "Nebraska" and Tom Hanks, who plays the title role in the Paul Greengrass Somali pirate story.

Additional best-actress nominees included Cate Blanchett as a fallen socialite in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine," Sandra Bullock as a brave astronaut in Alfonso Curaon's lost-in-space odyssey "Gravity," Judi Dench as a woman in search of her son in "Philomena" and Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers in the Disney comedy "Saving Mr. Banks."

The SAG Awards will be presented Jan. 18. The guild nominations are one of Hollywood's first major announcements on the long road to the March 2 Academy Awards.

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The Gayly – December 11, 2013 @ 9:45am