SAG Awards Will Give Oscar Forecasters Data
The awards hoopla is not over yet--not by a long shot. On Tuesday, the Screen Actors Guild nominations will be announced and, if the past is any indicator, Hollywood insiders will be watching keenly. With the Golden Globes and most of the critics awards over, the SAG nominations are one of the last indicators of who’s hot and who’s not before the Oscar nominations are announced Feb. 13. SAG decided to jump into the awards craze in 1995, when the festivities debuted from a sound stage at Universal Studios and the winners received the first Actors statuettes. In its brief history, the SAG awards--which also honor television performers and ensemble casts in movies and TV series--have served as a good barometer of the coming Oscar nominations. Two years ago, for example, SAG was the first group to nominate Italian director-actor Roberto Benigni for best actor in “Life Is Beautiful.” Benigni then went on to win best actor at the Oscars. The same year, Gwyneth Paltrow, who won a best actress Oscar, also won an Actor for “Shakespeare in Love.” The SAG-Oscar connection doesn’t always hold. For instance, in 1997, Gena Rowlands got a SAG nomination for best actress for “Unhook the Stars,” an independent movie directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes, but didn’t even receive an Oscar nomination. And Lauren Bacall won the Actor that year for best supporting actress in “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” then lost the Oscar to Juliette Binoche (“The English Patient”). Last year’s acting awards matched the Oscars in three categories: best actor (Kevin Spacey), best supporting actress (Angelina Jolie) and best supporting actor (Michael Caine), but Annette Bening won the Actor for best actress while Hilary Swank won the best actress Oscar.
Putting Their Power Sources to Good Use
Think of it as energy--um, synergy, PBS-style. In an unusual collaboration, four public-TV stations in California are combining resources to produce a one-hour program on the state’s energy crisis. “California’s Power Play” will air Thursday at 7 p.m. on KCET-TV here, and on KVIE-TV in Sacramento. It also will be televised that night at 6 p.m. on KQED-TV in San Francisco and at 10:30 p.m. on KPBS-TV in San Diego. The news forum will be produced by KCET and hosted by Jess Marlow and Val Zavala (“Life & Times Tonight”), while KVIE, KPBS and KQED will contribute stories on the politics of the crisis, the reasoning behind deregulation and the role of the consumer in all this. In addition, KCET will file a story about the construction of additional energy plants. KCET news director Al Corral said, “We see it as our responsibility to offer intelligent commentary on this problem and organize discussion with key players on this issue to come to coherent, responsible and valuable solutions.”
Making Whoopi, or Rosie or Ellen Host
A host of questions surround the Grammys this year, not least among them the matter of a host. Watch this week for the music industry’s premiere gala to announce who will emcee the global broadcast on Feb. 21 from Staples Center. Much of the talk leading up to the show has been focused on bad-boy rapper Eminem and whether he will perform on the show (he’s nominated for the coveted best album trophy), but Grammy officials also have been intently focused on finding someone to handle the all-important hosting chores. Sources close to the show said that Oscars veteran Whoopi Goldberg was tapped for the duty but now may be withdrawing her name from consideration, perhaps opening the door for a return by Rosie O’Donnell, she of the tepid reviews the past two years. “Whoopi would be a huge coup for the show,” says Thomas O’Neil, author of “The Grammys,” a history of the show, but he also thought that O’Donnell was adequate last time. Are previous standout hosts Ellen DeGeneres and Garry Shandling in the mix? The question was put to C. Michael Greene, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, but he was not in a hinting mood: “You know better than that.”
--Compiled by Times staff writers