The Cloudy Oscar Forecast Should Clear Some After This Morning

The nominations for each Oscar category are decided upon by the members of that branch - in other words cinematographers nominate cinematographers, directors nominate directors etc. etc. etc. Because of this the nominations for each of the various individual guilds acts as the best barometer for who will be picking up Oscar nods. The Writer's guild nominations yesterday were very promising. It will be a very good thing if The 40 Year-Old Virgin is nominated for best original screenplay. This morning the Director's Guild and the Screen Actor's Guild will unveil their nominations. The producer's guild passed on almost all of the "big" productions, instead focusing on such worthy small efforts as Good Night and Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain, and Capote leaving Munich, King Kong, and Memoirs of a Geisha behind. This will be the last big spurt of awards until the Golden Globes are presented on the 16th.