Filed at 1:06 a.m. ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood stars toast their own on Sunday at a Screen
Actors Guild ceremony that could produce surprises in an award season
dominated by "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button."
Angelina
Jolie and her partner, Brad
Pitt, Meryl
Streep, Kate
Winslet, Anne
Hathaway and Robert
Downey Jr. are among the nominees for top acting honors.
The SAG Awards, in which 120,000 actor members reward their peers, are known
for placing roadblocks on the path to Oscar glory.
"SAG has the potential to throw the Oscars into turmoil," said Tom O'Neil,
columnist for Web site www.TheEnvelope.com.
"The 'Slumdog Millionaire' actors are relatively unknown to American members
of SAG, while 'Doubt' has all those respected A-listers who delivered really
strong performances," he said.
"Doubt," a story of suspected abuse in the Roman
Catholic Church, leads with five SAG nominations, including the top prize of
best ensemble cast, but it did not win a best picture Oscar nomination last
week.
Streep, who plays a vindictive nun, and fellow cast members Philip
Seymour Hoffman, Amy
Adams and Viola
Davis are all also nominated for acting awards.
"Benjamin Button" leads the Oscar field with 13 nominations but has just
three chances of a SAG award.
Quadruple Golden Globe winner "Slumdog Millionaire," the uplifting tale of a
Mumbai slum dweller who makes good on a TV game show, has two SAG nominations
for best ensemble cast and best supporting actor for Dev Patel.
David Poland, editor of Movie City News, thought neither "Button" nor
"Slumdog" would win big on Sunday.
"I think the likelihood is that SAG won't go for 'Slumdog,'" Poland said.
"People admire 'Benjamin Button' but they don't love it. It is big and the
acting is beautiful but it doesn't hit them emotionally."
"Frost/Nixon," which recounts journalist David Frost's interviews with
disgraced U.S. President Richard
Nixon, and "Milk" about slain San Francisco gay rights activist Harvey
Milk, are also in the running for best ensemble cast.
Late Australian actor Heath
Ledger, who has won a slew of posthumous awards for his role as the Joker in
Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight," is the front-runner for a best supporting
actor SAG award.
Sean
Penn, who plays Harvey Milk, is seen as the strongest best actor challenge
to Mickey
Rourke, who picked up a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for playing a
washed-up athlete trying for a comeback in "The Wrestler."
The strength of Hollywood's gay community could play well for Penn's chances,
particularly after a bitter November 2008 referendum that outlawed same-sex
marriage in California.
"It is exactly the kind of movie you would think SAG would go for," said
Poland.
SAG also hands out awards to TV actors. Tina
Fey and her comedy show "30 Rock" are expected to continue their 2008 sweep,
while "House," "Boston Legal", "Dexter," "The Closer" and "Mad Men" are
competing for best TV drama ensemble cast.