Guild Round-Up

So let’s pause for a moment and do a little Guild recap, shall we?

Producers Guild: Little Miss Sunshine

Directors Guild: The Departed

Screen Actors Guild (Ensemble): Little Miss Sunshine

Writers Guild: Little Miss Sunshine; The Departed

Cinematography: Children of Men

Editing: Babel; The Departed (tie)

Art Direction: Curse of the Golden Flower; Pan’s Labyrinth; Casino Royale

Costume: Curse of the Golden Flower; Pan’s Labyrinth; The Queen

Cinema Audio Society: Dreamgirls

That’s three for Sunshine and Departed, two for Labyrinth and Golden Flower, and one for Babel, Children of Men, Casino Royale, The Queen and Dreamgirls.

I’d say that Sunshine and Departed still have the Best Picture advantage. If you are one of those who believes in the magic of Editing (i.e. no Best Picture winner has won without an Editing nomination since 1980’s Ordinary People) then I guess The Departed is your current front-runner, with Babel running close behind.

Tom O’Neil of Goldderby – who I suppose we have to take seriously since he called the Crash upset last year based on his informal polling of Academy voters – is saying Babel has the momentum. Kris Tapley of In Contention – a very good Oscar blog – is sticking with Letters from Iwo Jima, the only BP candidate without a single Guild win (or nomination, for that matter.) Entertainment Weekly says The Departed, with Little Miss Sunshine running a close second.

Oy.

In any case – hang on to those Guild winners, especially in the Tech categories – they’ll help you round out your Oscar ballot. The real Oscar ballots are due tomorrow. At this point it’s still anybody’s guess for Best Picture.