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BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Just as with the lead-actress category, the supporting race features three sure things running laps around the rest of the pack. The critical favorite by far is AMY RYAN, whose fierce turn as Gone Baby Gone's trash-mouthed Boston mom has earned her 15 critics' awards to date. She's already a two-time Tony nominee; she'll be an Oscar one before the month is over. Three years after winning this prize for playing a showbiz legend (Katharine Hepburn) in The Aviator, CATE BLANCHETT will make the short list again for her astonishingly convincing take on another: Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. And after two decades of toiling in mostly avant-garde cinema, great Scot TILDA SWINTON finally broke through this year as a blazingly insecure corporate cog in Michael Clayton. Save her a seat at the Kodak (if the show happens, of course).
Beyond that, it's anyone's guess. The dark horses include Atonement's Vanessa Redgrave, who managed to be devastating in less than seven minutes of screen time (though seven minutes might not be enough); Julia Roberts, who made an impression with that mascara trick in Charlie Wilson's War but wasn't given much else to do; Margot at the Wedding's neurotic little sis Jennifer Jason Leigh, who'll have a tough time overcoming the film's chilly reviews; Juno scene-stealer Allison Janney, whose character may not boast the requisite arc; and No Country for Old Men's Kelly Macdonald, who shed her Scottish lilt to play Josh Brolin's mystified Texan wife but will need a major No Country sweep to make the cut.
Following five years of butt-kicking on Alias, Jennifer Garner knocked us out anew with her perfectly calibrated and surprising turn as Juno's wannabe mom. And the remarkably self-assured Saoirse Ronan showed poise and talent far beyond her 13 years as Atonement's jealous troublemaker Briony Tallis and has a Globe nomination to show for it. But we're going with the two ladies who were recognized by the SAG nominating committee: CATHERINE KEENER, a past nominee for Being John Malkovich and Capote, was immensely affecting as Into the Wild's melancholy hippie mother, while, at age 83, RUBY DEE channeled her vast experience to play Denzel Washington's wide-eyed yet domineering mother in American Gangster and stands to earn her first-ever Oscar nod.
DAVE KARGER'S PICKS FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Ruby Dee, American Gangster
Catherine Keener, Into the Wild
Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
NEXT PAGE: Best Director
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