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| Warner Bros./Paramount Picture/Open Road Films |
There was a lot up grabs this weekend as two major guilds, the
Screen Actors and American Cinema Editors handed out their top prizes for 2015
films. Last weekend saw The Big Short
picking up a huge win from the Producers Guild of America (PGA) along with all
the momentum that comes with it. It also set up a showdown with Spotlight, another major best picture
Oscar contender, at last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG). However, due
to Spotlight not receiving an
American Cinema Editors Award (Eddie) nomination the door was open for another
film to join The Big Short and Spotlight at the front of the Oscar
race.
Mad Max: Fury Road
was that film as it took home the Eddie for Best Edited Dramatic Feature Film,
beating out The Martian, The Revenant, Sicario and Star Wars: The
Force Awakens. This win for Mad Max
may not be enough to call it a front runner or to drop Spotlight or The Big Short
out of the top two spots (mainly because they won big this weekend as well but
I’ll get to that in a moment) but it does add a bit of intrigue. Mad Max: Fury Road now looks to be the
Oscar frontrunner for Best Editing. Its director George Miller is also looking
like the frontrunner to be recognized next weekend by the Directors Guild of
America (DGA) as Best Director for his latest outing, also meaning he is the
frontrunner in the Oscar race. Winning these categories can only help Mad Max’s Best Picture chances but like
I said, its toughest competitors, Spotlight
and The Big Short, also won big this
past weekend.
Matching Mad Max’s success
at the Eddie’s was The Big Short as
it won Best Edited Comedic Feature Film on Friday and continuing its winning streak
that started with its PGA award (the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding
Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures). These wins certainly gave The Big Short lots of momentum, even
making it the frontrunner for Best Picture at the Oscars heading into last night’s
SAG Awards, putting Spotlight in a position
to play spoiler in the process.
And that’s exactly what happened as Spotlight won the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast
in a Motion Picture at last night’s ceremony, beating out The Big Short along with
Straight Out of Compton, Beast of No Nation and Trumbo. A Big Short win
would have made it a safe bet for Best Picture but Spotlight winning makes things very interesting. If history is any indication,
The Big Short may still have the
upper hand as the PGA winner has gone on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture
70% of the time whereas the SAG winner has gone on to win the Oscar 50% of the
time. As you can see, winning these guild awards leading up to the Oscars does
not guarantee a Best Picture win but Spotlight
and The Big Short look to be the two
films in front at this point.
This showdown down will continue at next weekend’s DGA Awards
where Thomas McCarthy for Spotlight
and Adam McKay for The Big Short are
both nominated. Standing in there way though is, as I mentioned, George Miller
for Mad Max. If Miller is to win, it
may be appropriate to start seeing Mad
Max: Fury Road, with its 10 Oscar Nominations and guild accolades, as a serious
contender to take on Spotlight and The Big Short. Personally, I believe we
are looking at a year that will feature a Best Picture/Director split with
Miller winning and either Spotlight or The Big Short winning Best Picture. But anything can
happen.
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