The only difference between last year’s Producers Guild and Oscar’s best picture was that The Dark Knight was replaced by The Reader. However, Slumdog Millionaire still managed to pull off the win for both the PGA and, of course, the Oscar. Slumdog, in fact, won everything, even the SAG ensemble, thus it was easy to see why the producers would have gone for it. The year before, they chose No Country for Old Men, which also won the DGA and the Oscar. But the year before that, the PGA went for Little Miss Sunshine over The Departed. It was won of the few times the group had gone for a film that the Academy didn’t.
They went for Brokeback Mountain over Crash; The Aviator over Million Dollar Baby, Moulin Rouge over A Beautiful Mind, Saving Private Ryan over Shakespeare in love, Apollo 13 over Braveheart and The Crying Game over Unforgiven.
There have been enough mismatches that they can’t be considered as much of a sure thing as the Directors Guild, which is still the Big One. This year, though, the PGA have expanded their slate to ten. That is going to make for a very interesting lineup, I suspect. They don’t only honor blockbusters – they also honor little indies and courageous productions.
Our PGA chart with Oscar comparison is here.
You’ve all been filling out our contest to predict the PGA and I’m sure you will all have a much better idea of how they will go than I do. But, I am going to make the general assumption that they will honor these ten films – or some variation of them.
Most certain:
The Hurt Locker
Avatar
Up in the Air
Precious
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Pretty sure:
Invictus
An Education
The Blind Side
District 9
Wild card possibilities include films like Sugar (with an outside shot, but it made the AFI), A Single Man, A Serious ManWhere the Wild Things Are, Bright Star, Crazy Heart.
We will know by tomorrow morning and thus our Big Ten race formally begins.