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The IFP announced the 17th Annual Gotham Awards nominees today, spotlighting the breakthrough indie films of the year.

Great World of Sound, a comedy about a bumbling Southern duo who traverse the country to discover unsigned "talent" for a record label, garnered the most nominations for Best Feature, Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actor. In Craig Zobel's documentary-style debut, real performers auditioned without knowing it was actually a film shoot. With hidden cameras, the interaction was recorded between the lead actors and the unsuspecting musicians.

Into the Wild, Sean Penn's film adaptation of the Jon Krakauer book, was also nominated for Best Feature and a Breakthrough Actor nod for star Emile Hirsch.

Mr. Hirsch told Hillary Frey in the Observer:

“There were times when it was really, really, really hard,” he continued. “But there were times when Chris [McCandless] was on the road and it was really, really, really hard. I just knew that that was part of the commitment. I didn’t go into it thinking it was gonna be a ball. It’s amazing how you can go into it thinking it’s not really gonna be a ball, but you really don’t realize what that means until you’re doing it.”

“I think it’s important to be willing to suffer, if that’s what it takes,” said Mr. Penn of his expectations for his star.

The awards will be presented at Steiner Studios in New York on Tuesday, Nov. 27.

View the full list of nominees after the jump.

Best Feature

Great World of Sound

Craig Zobel, director; Melissa Palmer, David Gordon Green, Richard Wright, Craig Zobel, producers (Magnolia Pictures)

I’m Not There

Todd Haynes, director; Christine Vachon, James D. Stern, John Sloss, John Goldwyn, producers, (The Weinstein Company)

Into the Wild

Sean Penn, director; Sean Penn, Art Linson, Bill Pohlad, producers (Paramount Vantage & River Road Entertainment)

Margot at the Wedding

Noah Baumbach, director; Scott Rudin, producer (Paramount Vantage)

The Namesake

Mira Nair, director; Lydia Dean Pilcher, Mira Nair, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Best Documentary

The Devil Came on Horseback

Annie Sundberg & Ricki Stern, directors; Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg, Gretchen Wallace, Jane

Wells, producers (International Film Circuit)

Jimmy Carter Man from Plains

Jonathan Demme, director; Jonathan Demme, Neda Armian, producers (Sony Pictures Classics)

My Kid Could Paint That

Amir Bar-Lev, producer/director (Sony Pictures Classics)

Sicko

Michael Moore, director; Michael Moore, Meghan O’Hara, producers (The Weinstein Company)

Taxi to the Dark Side

Alex Gibney, director; Alex Gibney, Eva Orner, Susannah Shipman, producers (THINKFilm)

Best Ensemble Cast

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris, Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brian F. O’Byrne, Amy Ryan, Michael Shannon, Marisa Tomei (THINKFilm)

The Last Winter

Connie Britton, Kevin Corrigan, Zach Gilford, James LeGros, Ron Perlman (IFC First Take)

Margot at the Wedding

Jack Black, Flora Cross, Ciarán Hinds, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Zane Pais, John Turturro (Paramount Vantage)

The Savages

Philip Bosco, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Talk to Me

Cedric the Entertainer, Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mike Epps, Vondie Curtis Hall, Taraji P. Henson, Martin Sheen (Focus Features)

Breakthrough Director

Lee Isaac Chung for Munyurangabo

Stephane Gauger for Owl and the Sparrow

Julia Loktev for Day Night Day Night (IFC First Take)

David Von Ancken for Seraphim Falls (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Craig Zobel for Great World of Sound (Magnolia Pictures)

Breakthrough Actor

Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage)

Kene Holliday in Great World of Sound (Magnolia Pictures)

Ellen Page in Juno (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Jess Weixler in Teeth (Roadside Attractions)

Luisa Williams in Day Night Day Night (IFC First Take)

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You

August the First

Lanre Olabisi, director; Shawn Alexander, Gabriel “Swede” Sedgwick, Nicky Arzeu Akmal, Lanre

Olabisi, producers

Frownland

Ronald Bronstein, director; Marc Raybin, producer

Loren Cass

Chris Fuller, director; Chris Fuller, Frank Craft, Kayla Tabish, producers

Mississippi Chicken

John Fiege, director; John Fiege, Anita Grabowski, Victor Moyers, producers

Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa

Jeremy Stulberg & Randy Stulberg, directors; Eric Juhola, Jeremy Stulberg, Randy Stulberg.

They're wild for Sean Penn, those movie critics. Into the Wild received seven nominations for the 13th Critics Choice Awards, announced today by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The film got nods for picture, director, writer, actor, supporting actor for Hal Holbrook, supporting actress for Catherine Keener and best song for Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" (What? No props for Emile?).

The Observer's Rex Reed wrote about Into the Wild:

It’s a sad story that runs two and a half hours, and you already know going in that the protagonist is going to die in the end, so it is positively amazing that Into the Wild is so consistently fresh, riveting and profoundly moving. Its seismic impact must be credited to Mr. Penn’s passion for and enormous dedication to his material.

...

Here’s something else: As much as I admire Mr. Penn’s consuming drive to get this story on the screen, I also salute him for resisting the temptation to nominate McCandless for sainthood. God knows he was brave, but a hero? In addition to his fearlessness, he was also something of a selfish brat, never once making an effort to contact caring parents back home, driven to the lip of madness with worry, not knowing if he was dead or alive. In my opinion, he was thoughtless, arrogant, cruel in his ignorance of the needs and feelings of others and a train wreck waiting to happen. I applaud his spiritual quest, but heading into the wild without maps, compasses or matches is more than a little bit loopy. In the end, McCandless learns life’s most valuable lesson—that real happiness and personal fulfillment come not in alienation from the society you distrust, but through relationships with others. Tragically, McCandless was never able to share what he learned, but his story does teach us something vital about the human condition. He was a breed apart from what you would call average; his life is still haunting, and so is this film.

Juno racked up six nominations, while Atonement, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Sweeney Todd and Hairspray each got five nominations apiece. The winners will be announced on Jan. 7 in Santa Monica.

Full list of nominees after the jump.

Best Picture
American Gangster
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Into the Wild
Juno
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood

Best Actor
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling - Lars and the Real Girl
Emile Hirsch - Into the Wild
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

Best Actress
Amy Adams - Enchanted
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie en Rose
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Ellen Page - Juno

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook - Into the Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Catherine Keener - Into the Wild
Vanessa Redgrave - Atonement
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton

Best Acting Ensemble
Hairspray
Juno
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd
Gone Baby Gone
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Best Director
Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Sidney Lumet - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Sean Penn - Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Joe Wright - Atonement

Best Writer
Diablo Cody - Juno
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton
Nancy Oliver - Lars and the Real Girl
Sean Penn - Into the Wild
Aaron Sorkin - Charlie Wilson's War

Best Animated Feature
Bee Movie
Beowulf
Persepolis
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

Best Young Actor
Michael Cera - Juno
Michael Cera - Superbad
Freddie Highmore - August Rush
Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada - The Kite Runner
Edward Sanders - Sweeney Todd

Best Young Actress
Nikki Blonsky - Hairspray
Dakota Blue Richards - The Golden Compass
AnnaSophia Robb - Bridge to Terabithia
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement

Best Comedy Movie
Dan in Real Life
Hairspray
Juno
Knocked Up
Superbad

Best Family Film
August Rush
Enchanted
The Golden Compass
Hairspray
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Best Picture Made for Television
The Company
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Tin Man
The War

Best Foreign Language Film
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
La Vie en Rose
Lust, Caution
The Orphanage

Best Song
"Come So Far", Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley - Hairspray
"Do You Feel Me", Anthony Hamilton - American Gangster
"Falling Slowly", Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, Jesse L. Martin and Cast - Once
"Guaranteed", Eddie Vedder - Into the Wild
"That's How You Know", Amy Adams - Enchanted

Best Composer
Marco Beltrami - 3:10 to Yuma
Alexandre Desplat - Lust, Caution
Clint Eastwood - Grace Is Gone
Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood
Dario Marianelli - Atonement
Alan Menken - Enchanted

Best Documentary
Darfur Now
In the Shadow of the Moon
The King of Kong
No End In Sight
Sharkwater
Sicko

Sean Penn and his wife of over a decade, Robin Wright Penn, will divorce, a rep for the famous couple told People. The Into the Wild director, 47, and his actress wife, 41, who began dating in the early 90’s, have two children, Hopper Jack, 14, and Dylan Frances, 16.

This news comes a day after actor Brendan Fraser, 39, and his wife of 9 years, Afton Smith, announced plans to legally end their marriage. A rep for the Mummy film franchise star said: “They continue to maintain a close and caring friendship.”

Into the Wild led contenders for the Screen Actors Guild Awards with four nominations, including honors for lead actor Emile Hirsch and supporting players Hal Holbrook and Catherine Keener. The nominations were announced this morning.

Directed by Sean Penn, Into the Wild also was nominated for performance by its overall cast, along with the Western 3:10 to Yuma, the crime sagas American Gangster and No Country for Old Men, and the musical Hairspray.

Guild awards will be presented Jan. 27 in a ceremony televised on TNT and TBS.

The Associated Press reports that unlike the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, which face turmoil caused by striking Hollywood writers, the guild awards look as though they can come off as planned. With actors showing strong solidarity on strike issues, SAG has reached an agreement with the Writers Guild of America for one of its members to write the ceremony.

Full list of nominees after the jump.

14th ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS® NOMINATIONS

THEATRICAL MOTION PICTURES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

GEORGE CLOONEY / Michael Clayton – “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS / Daniel Plainview – “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage)
RYAN GOSLING / Lars Lindstrom – “Lars And The Real Girl” (Sidney Kimmel Entertainment)
EMILE HIRSCH / Christopher McCandless– “Into The Wild” (Paramount Vantage)
VIGGO MORTENSEN / Nikolai – “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

CATE BLANCHETT / Queen Elizabeth I – “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal Pictures)
JULIE CHRISTIE / Fiona – “Away From Her” (Lionsgate)
MARION COTILLARD / Edith Piaf – “La Vie En Rose” (Picturehouse)
ANGELINA JOLIE / Mariane Pearl – “A Mighty Heart” (Paramount Vantage)
ELLEN PAGE / Juno MacGuff – “Juno” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

CASEY AFFLECK / Robert Ford – “The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
JAVIER BARDEM / Anton Chigurh – “No Country For Old Men” (Miramax Films)
HAL HOLBROOK / Ron Franz – “Into The Wild” (Paramount Vantage)
TOMMY LEE JONES / Ed Tom Bell – “No Country For Old Men” (Miramax Films)
TOM WILKINSON / Arthur Edens – “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

CATE BLANCHETT / Jude – “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
RUBY DEE / Mama Lucas – “American Gangster” (Universal Pictures)
CATHERINE KEENER / Jan Burres – “Into The Wild” (Paramount Vantage)
AMY RYAN / Helene McCready – “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax Films)
TILDA SWINTON / Karen Crowder – “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

3:10 TO YUMA (Lionsgate)

CHRISTIAN BALE / Dan Evans
RUSSELL CROWE / Ben Wade
PETER FONDA / Byron McElroy
GRETCHEN MOL / Alice Evans
DALLAS ROBERTS / Grayson Butterfield
VINESSA SHAW / Emmy Roberts
BEN FOSTER / Charlie Prince
ALAN TUDYK / Doc Potter
LOGAN LERMAN / Will Evans

AMERICAN GANGSTER (Universal Pictures)

ARMAND ASSANTE / Dominic Cattano
JOSH BROLIN / Detective Trupo
RUSSELL CROWE / Richie Roberts
RUBY DEE / Mama Lucas
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR / Huey Lucas
IDRIS ELBA / Tango
CUBA GOODING, JR. / Nicky Barnes
CARLA GUGINO / Laurie Roberts
JOHN HAWKES / Freddie Spearman
TED LEVINE / Lou Toback
JOE MORTON / Charlie Williams
LYMARI NADAL / Eva
JOHN ORTIZ / Javier J. Rivera
RZA / Moses Jones
YUL VAZQUEZ / Alfonse Abruzzo
DENZEL WASHINGTON / Frank Lucas

HAIRSPRAY (New Line Cinema)

NIKKI BLONSKY / Tracy Turnblad
AMANDA BYNES / Penny Pingleton
PAUL DOOLEY / Mr. Spritzer
ZAC EFRON / Link Larkin
ALLISON JANNEY / Prudy Pingleton
ELIJAH KELLEY / Seaweed
JAMES MARSDEN / Corny Collins
MICHELLE PFEIFFER / Velma Von Tussle
QUEEN LATIFAH / Motormouth Maybelle
BRITTANY SNOW / Amber Von Tussle
JERRY STILLER / Mr. French
JOHN TRAVOLTA / Edna Turnblad
CHRISTOPHER WALKEN / Wilbur Turnblad

INTO THE WILD (Paramount Vantage)

BRIAN DIERKER / Rainey
MARCIA GAY HARDEN / Billie McCandless
EMILE HIRSCH / Chris McCandless
HAL HOLBROOK / Ron Franz
WILLIAM HURT / Walt McCandless
CATHERINE KEENER / Jan Burres
JENA MALONE / Carine McCandless
KRISTEN STEWART / Tracy Tatro
VINCE VAUGHN / Wayne Westerberg

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Miramax Films)

JAVIER BARDEM / Anton Chigurh
JOSH BROLIN / Llewelyn Moss
GARRET DILLAHUNT / Wendell
TESS HARPER / Loretta Bell
WOODY HARRELSON / Carson Wells
TOMMY LEE JONES / Ed Tom Bell
KELLY MACDONALD / Carla Jean Moss

PRIMETIME TELEVISION

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

MICHAEL KEATON / James Jesus Angleton – “The Company (TNT)
KEVIN KLINE / Jacques – “As You Like It” (HBO)
OLIVER PLATT / George Steinbrenner – “The Bronx is Burning” (ESPN)
SAM SHEPARD / Frank Whiteley – “Ruffian” (ABC)
JOHN TURTURRO / Billy Martin – “The Bronx is Burning” (ESPN)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries

ELLEN BURSTYN / Posey Benetto – “Mitch Albom’s For One More Day” (ABC)
DEBRA MESSING / Molly Kagan – “The Starter Wife” (USA)
ANNA PAQUIN / Elaine Goodale – “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” (HBO)
QUEEN LATIFAH / Ana – “Life Support “ (HBO)
VANESSA REDGRAVE / Woman – “The Fever” (HBO)
GENA ROWLANDS / Melissa Eisenbloom – “What If God Were the Sun?” (Lifetime)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series

JAMES GANDOLFINI / Tony Soprano – “The Sopranos” (HBO)
MICHAEL C. HALL / Dexter Morgan – “Dexter” (Showtime)
JON HAMM / Don Draper – “Mad Men” (AMC)
HUGH LAURIE / Dr. Gregory House – “House” (FOX)
JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore – “Boston Legal” (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

GLENN CLOSE / Patty Hewes – “Damages” (FX)
EDIE FALCO / Carmela Soprano – “The Sopranos” (HBO)
SALLY FIELD / Nora Walker – “Brothers & Sisters” (ABC)
HOLLY HUNTER / Grace Hanadarko – “Saving Grace” (TNT)
KYRA SEDGWICK / Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson – “The Closer” (TNT)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series

ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – “30 Rock” (NBC)
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott – “The Office” (NBC)
RICKY GERVAIS / Andy Millman – “Extras” (NBC)
JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold – “Entourage” (HBO)
TONY SHALHOUB / Adrian Monk – “Monk” (USA)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE / Samantha Newly – “Samantha Who?” (ABC)
AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez – “Ugly Betty” (ABC)
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – “30 Rock” (NBC)
MARY-LOUISE PARKER / Nancy Botwin – “Weeds” (Showtime)
VANESSA WILLIAMS / Wilhelmina Slater – “Ugly Betty” (ABC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

BOSTON LEGAL (ABC)

RENE AUBERJONOIS / Paul Lewiston
CANDICE BERGEN / Shirley Schmidt
JULIE BOWEN / Denise Bauer
SAFFRON BURROWS / Lorraine Weller
CHRISTIAN CLEMENSON / Jerry Espenson
TARAJI P. HENSON / Whitney Rome
JOHN LARROQUETTE / Carl Sack
WILLIAM SHATNER / Denny Crane
JAMES SPADER / Alan Shore
TARA SUMMERS / Katie Lloyd
MARK VALLEY / Brad Chase
GARY ANTHONY WILLIAMS / Clarence/Clarice Bell
CONSTANCE ZIMMER / Claire Simms

THE CLOSER (TNT)

G.W. BAILEY / Det. Lt. Provenza
MICHAEL PAUL CHAN / Lt. Tao
RAYMOND CRUZ / Det. Sanchez
TONY DENISON / Lt. Andy Flynn
ROBERT GOSSETT / Commander Taylor
GINA RAVERA / Det. Irene Daniels
COREY REYNOLDS / Sgt. David Gabriel
KYRA SEDGWICK / Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson
J.K. SIMMONS / Asst. Police Chief Will Pope
JON TENNEY / FBI Agent Fritz Howard

GREY’S ANATOMY (ABC)

JUSTIN CHAMBERS / Alex Karev
ERIC DANE / Mark Sloan
PATRICK DEMPSEY / Derek Shepherd
KATHERINE HEIGL / Izzie Stevens
T.R. KNIGHT / George O’Malley
CHYLER LEIGH / Lexie Grey
SANDRA OH / Cristina Yang
JAMES PICKENS, JR. / Richard Webber
ELLEN POMPEO / Meredith Grey
SARA RAMIREZ / Callie Torres
ELIZABETH REASER / Jane Doe/Ava/Rebecca Pope
BROOKE SMITH / Erica Hahn
KATE WALSH / Addison Montgomery-Shepherd
ISAIAH WASHINGTON / Dr. Preston Burke
CHANDRA WILSON / Dr. Miranda Bailey

MAD MEN (AMC)

BRYAN BATT / Salvatore Romano
ANNE DUDEK / Francine Hanson
MICHAEL GLADIS / Paul Kinsey
JON HAMM / Don Draper
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS / Joan Holloway
JANUARY JONES / Betty Draper
VINCENT KARTHEISER / Pete Campbell
ROBERT MORSE / Bertram Cooper
ELISABETH MOSS / Peggy Olson
MAGGIE SIFF / Rachel Menken
JOHN SLATTERY / Roger Sterling
RICH SOMMER / Harry Crane
AARON STATON / Ken Cosgrove

THE SOPRANOS (HBO)

GREGORY ANTONACCI / Butch DeConcini
LORRAINE BRACCO / Dr. Jennifer Melfi
EDIE FALCO / Carmela Soprano
JAMES GANDOLFINI / Tony Soprano
DAN GRIMALDI / Patsy Parisi
ROBERT ILER / Anthony Soprano, Jr.
MICHAEL IMPERIOLI / Christopher Moltisanti
ARTHUR NASCARELLA / Carlo Gervasi
STEVEN R. SCHIRRIPA / Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri
MATT SERVITTO / Agent Dwight Harris
JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER / Meadow Soprano
TONY SIRICO / Paulie “Walnuts” Gaultieri
AIDA TURTURRO / Janice Soprano
STEVEN VAN ZANDT / Silvio Dante
FRANK VINCENT / Phil Leotardo

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

30 ROCK (NBC)

SCOTT ADSIT / Pete Hornberger
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy
KATRINA BOWDEN / Cerie
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon
JUDAH FRIEDLANDER / Frank Rositano
JANE KRAKOWSKI / Jenna Maroney
JACK McBRAYER / Kenneth Parcell
TRACY MORGAN / Tracy Jordan
KEITH POWELL / Toofer
LONNY ROSS / Josh Girard

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES (ABC)

ANDREA BOWEN / Julie Mayer
RICHARDO A. CHAVIRA / Carlos Solis
MARCIA CROSS / Bree Van De Kamp Hodge
DANA DELANY / Katherine Mayfair
JAMES DENTON / Mike Delfino
NATHAN FILLION / Adam Mayfair
LINDSY FONSECA / Dylan Mayfair
TERI HATCHER / Susan Mayer
ZANE HUETT / Parker Scavo
FELICITY HUFFMAN / Lynette Scavo
KATHRYN JOOSTEN / Mrs. McCluskey
BRENT KINSMAN / Preston Scavo/Porter Scavo
SHANE KINSMAN / Porter Scavo/Preston Scavo
JOY LAUREN / Danielle Van De Kamp
EVA LONGORIA PARKER / Gabrielle Solis Lang
KYLE MacLACHLAN / Orson Hodge
SHAWN PYFROM / Andrew Van De Kamp
DOUG SAVANT / Tom Scavo
DOUGRAY SCOTT / Ian Hainsworth
NICOLETTE SHERIDAN / Edie Britt
JOHN SLATTERY / Victor Lang
BRENDA STRONG / Mary Alice Young

ENTOURAGE (HBO)

RHYS COIRO / Billy Walsh
KEVIN CONNOLLY / Eric Murphy
KEVIN DILLON / Johnny Drama
JERRY FERRARA / Turtle
ADRIAN GRENIER / Vincent Chase
REX LEE / Lloyd
JEREMY PIVEN / Ari Gold
PERREY REEVES / Mrs. Ari

THE OFFICE (NBC)

LESLIE DAVID BAKER / Stanley Hudson
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER / Kevin Malone
CREED BRATTON / Creed
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott
JENNA FISCHER / Pam Beesly
KATE FLANNERY / Meredith Palmer
ED HELMS / Andrew Bernard
MINDY KALING / Kelly Kapoor
ANGELA KINSEY / Angela Martin
JOHN KRASINSKI / Jim Halpert
PAUL LIEBERSTEIN / Toby Flenderson
B.J. NOVAK / Ryan Howard
OSCAR NUÑEZ / Oscar Martinez
PHYLLIS SMITH / Phyllis Lapin
RAINN WILSON / Dwight Schrute

UGLY BETTY (ABC)

ALAN DALE / Bradford Meade
AMERICA FERRERA / Betty Suarez
CHRISTOPER GORHAM / Henry
MARK INDELICATO / Justin
ASHLEY JENSEN / Christina
JUDITH LIGHT / Claire Meade
ERIC MABIUS / Daniel Meade
BECKI NEWTON / Amanda
ANA ORTIZ / Hilda
TONY PLANA / Ignacio
REBECCA ROMIJN / Alexis
KEVIN SUSSMAN / Walter
MICHAEL URIE / Marc
VANESSA WILLIAMS / Wilhelmina Slater

SAG HONORS FOR STUNT ENSEMBLES

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

300 (Warner Bros.)
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM (Universal)
I AM LEGEND (Warner Bros.)
THE KINGDOM (Universal)
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD’S END (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series

24 (FOX)
HEROES (NBC)
LOST (ABC)
ROME (HBO)
THE UNIT (CBS)

Screen Actors Guild Awards 44th Annual Life Achievement Award

Charles Durning

There were so many war films at the Toronto Film Festival that all I could think of was Virginia Mayo’s line in King Richard and the Crusaders: “Oh, fight, fight, fight! That’s all you ever think of, Dickie Plantagenet!” After witnessing bloody battles in Rwanda, Darfur, Iraq, Elizabethan England, Northern Ireland, Vietnam and the ghettos of New York and L.A., one felt grateful for the wicked humor of George Clooney. Plugging Michael Clayton, an incomprehensible new flick about corrupt lawyers, he dodged the usual idiotic questions about girlfriends, then responded to one about the similarity between himself and his character with: “Well, we’re both the same height.”

At last year’s circus, Sean Penn was so bored and hostile that he ignored the city’s no-smoking ordinance and chain-puffed his way through his own press conference, costing the Sutton Place Hotel about $600 in fines. This year he was back at the same hotel with a wonderful film called Into the Wild that he wrote, directed and co-produced, and for which he even served as cinematographer during much of the arduous shooting schedule. In a euphoric mood, he refrained from attacking the Bush administration, avoided the subject of politics and only blasted the photographers twice for distracting him with their cameras. Instead of lighting up, he chewed on a glass of ice cubes and left the dubious award for Most Unpopular Star to Tommy Lee Jones, who scowled and cursed the press so much that one boldface headline crowned him “Mr. Crankypants.” Mr. Penn had good reason to be cordial, and so did the press. After 34 war films in 10 days, it was a pleasure to see Into the Wild, which arrives commercially this week at a crowded cinema near you.

Based on the best-selling book by Jon Krakauer, it’s the true story of 22-year-old Christopher McCandless (magnetically played by Emile Hirsch, the gifted and appealing young actor from The Emperor’s Club), an affluent, brilliant and rebellious young iconoclast who, after graduating from college in 1990, gave all of his possessions to charity, burned his money, renamed himself Alex Supertramp and headed into the wilderness seeking freedom—physical, mental and spiritual—from the greed, hate, crime, violence, injustice and materialism of mainstream society. Finding solace and companionship in books by Thoreau, Jack London and other naturalists, he turned his back on convention, and his search for knowledge and wisdom became a personal declaration of independence that took him as far from civilization as he could travel—hiking from the Grain Belt to the sea, paddling his way in a kayak down the rapids of the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon without a government permit, hopping a freight train across the border into Mexico, and arriving at last in the snowy wastes of Alaska, where peace reigns and only man is vile. Without electricity, plumbing, cellphones, heat or food, he battled the elements, learned how to hunt, fish and live on roots and berries, and in 1992, four months after reaching his destination, he died from starvation, frostbite and food poisoning in an abandoned bus from the Kansas City Transit System. After his remains were discovered by trappers a few weeks later, he became a legend among hippies, and the rusted bus where his body was found is now an Alaskan tourist attraction.

It’s a sad story that runs two and a half hours, and you already know going in that the protagonist is going to die in the end, so it is positively amazing that Into the Wild is so consistently fresh, riveting and profoundly moving. Its seismic impact must be credited to Mr. Penn’s passion for and enormous dedication to his material. He’s always been a first-rate actor, but he’s also become a director with vision and purpose; I’ve been a fan ever since his devastating and underappreciated Jack Nicholson film The Pledge. He saw something of his own restless nature in the story of Chris McCandless, and this film is sort of a tribute to idealism, from one nonconformist to another. He has chronicled the young man’s journey religiously, shooting in the actual locations and filling the screen with the array of fascinating characters McCandless met along the way and wrote about in his journals. Hal Holbrook as a surrogate father, Catherine Keener as an aging flower child in a desert commune and Vince Vaughn as a farmer who produces drugs are memorable, and Marcia Gay Harden and William Hurt are perfect as the bewildered McCandless parents. Photographing whatever catches his fancy—a flight of seabirds, the sunset over a combine harvester in a field of wheat, the dim lights of Skid Row—and capturing every experience with a dangerous immediacy and a breathtaking beauty, Mr. Penn allows us to accompany McCandless on his trip into the wild every step of the way, as close to him as his backpack.

Here’s something else: As much as I admire Mr. Penn’s consuming drive to get this story on the screen, I also salute him for resisting the temptation to nominate McCandless for sainthood. God knows he was brave, but a hero? In addition to his fearlessness, he was also something of a selfish brat, never once making an effort to contact caring parents back home, driven to the lip of madness with worry, not knowing if he was dead or alive. In my opinion, he was thoughtless, arrogant, cruel in his ignorance of the needs and feelings of others and a train wreck waiting to happen. I applaud his spiritual quest, but heading into the wild without maps, compasses or matches is more than a little bit loopy. In the end, McCandless learns life’s most valuable lesson—that real happiness and personal fulfillment come not in alienation from the society you distrust, but through relationships with others. Tragically, McCandless was never able to share what he learned, but his story does teach us something vital about the human condition. He was a breed apart from what you would call average; his life is still haunting, and so is this film. Next Page >

Last Wednesday at the restaurant in the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue, Emile Hirsch was tucked into the corner seat at a corner table, windbreaker smooshed into a ball in his lap, eating chicken noodle soup. The 22-year-old actor looked worn and pale, his fair skin all the more porcelain-like under a thick swoosh of black hair (dyed for his role in next year’s Speed Racer). He unselfconsciously plucked a cough drop from his mouth to suck down some Diet Coke. “Ow! It’s cold!” His gray-green eyes were as big as saucers.

Unlike the stars and starlets who parade through the tabloids each week, Mr. Hirsch wasn’t looking rough from too many nights in the clubs. It was work, plain and simple. He was in New York for two quick days after a stretch at the Toronto Film Festival, where he’d premiered and promoted his new film Into the Wild, and was leaving for Chicago right after lunch to tape an episode of Oprah with his director, Sean Penn. The travel and the talking were taking their toll. Cigarettes, he pointed out, weren’t helping.

Mr. Hirsch is a modest 5-foot-7 and compact, like a high-school point guard. He has glinty eyes that narrow in a flash to a teenager’s squint (he won’t hesitate to test an interviewer’s own knowledge of certain subjects), and his shoulders slouch just a little. But his boyishness extends beyond his looks. Over lunch, he demonstrated his one-eyebrow-raising, eye-crossing and tongue-curling skills (this last was borderline-pornographic); belted out a brief Sinatra imitation (“That’s why the chick is a tramp”); and enthused over magician David Blaine, who he’d met the night before. Mr. Hirsch was also impressed by the mini-grilled-cheese sandwiches that came with this reporter’s tomato soup. (“Wow! Look at that!”)

It’s this rare mix—the very adult dedication, the very youthful delight—that captured the eye of Mr. Penn, who first saw Mr. Hirsch in Lords of Dogtown, Catherine Hardwicke’s fictionalized version of Stacy Peralta’s skateboarding documentary Dogtown and Z-boys, which Mr. Penn had narrated. Mr. Hirsch played Jay Adams, an angry, intense young surfing and skating prodigy; over just about two hours, the quick-to grin Mr. Hirsch barely cracks a smile.

“He really struck me,” said Mr. Penn of Mr. Hirsch in Dogtown, via phone. (“If you hear some crunching, it’s just me getting a sugar rush out of Cracker Jacks,” he explained.) “Something in his eye, his physicality. All of it …”

When Mr. Penn first thought of making Into the Wild 10 years ago, he envisioned Leonardo DiCaprio, to whom Mr. Hirsch has been compared, in the lead role of Christopher McCandless. (“I must be like the shorter version. … I don’t know, he’s pretty tall! I wish they’d compared me to someone I could take in a fight!” joked Mr. Hirsch.) McCandless was a young, idealistic college graduate who ditched his privileged life and family to wander the West and ultimately perished at the hands of nature. Jon Krakauer wrote McCandless’s story first in an Outside magazine article and later expanded that article into the best-selling book Into the Wild.

McCandless, whom Mr. Hirsch resembles in stature, hitchhiked to Alaska in April of 1992, where he set up camp in an abandoned Fairbanks bus near Denali National Park. He managed to survive on a meager supply of rice and by foraging plants and hunting primarily small game for four months before getting sick, most likely from eating a poisonous seed pod. He died of starvation after his internal organs failed. Mr. Penn’s film doesn’t exactly celebrate McCandless—even in death, he remains a controversial figure among the adventuring crowd—but Into the Wild is a gorgeous paean to wanderlust, to the random kindness of strangers and to a landscape that, as Mr. Hirsch puts it, “doesn’t care about you.”

“Emile was a phenomenal thing to watch,” Mr. Penn said of his star. He never actually auditioned Mr. Hirsch—anyone familiar with his work in Dogtown or Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog, in which he played an intense, brute drug dealer, would know he could play the role—and chose instead to meet with him periodically over a handful of months—for a quiet meal, for dinner with his family, for some good old-fashioned drinking. “My intention at the time was really to get some sense beyond whether or not he could act the part,” said Mr. Penn, “which I felt fairly quickly comfortable with.”

“I go out to drinks,” said Mr. Hirsch of one of his dates with Mr. Penn, “and meet Alejandro Iñárritu. Terrence Howard. Bono. You know. It’s crazy. We don’t really talk about the movie a whole lot. About four months go by and then he calls me [here he takes on a grave tone, imitating Mr. Penn]: ‘I finished the draft of the script and the part is yours … if you read it and like it. So come on up to SF and read it.’ So I got on a plane within a few hours. I stayed over at his place overnight and read the script, and it was just one of those fantastic moments in my life where I was really happy.” Next Page >