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Our Web site had a hairball for most of the day, so excuse the Culture Czar for coughing up these stories a little late. Here’s what we missed:

Into the Wild was, predictably, the big winner at the Gotham Awards last night in Brooklyn. Go Emile!

The Weinstein Co. has acquired publishing and screen rights to Bridie Clark's upcoming novel I Think She's Got It, which is billed as a modern version of Pygmalion set in New York.

25 million people watched Dancing With the Stars. We’re losing faith in humanity.

Carrie Brownstein ponders Rock Band vs. real bands.

Morrissey is no longer a free agent after signing with Polydor/Decca.

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

Those brothers who brought us The Matrix trilogy made a film version of the 1960s Japanese Speed Racer cartoon and they'll be premiering it on the last day of the Tribeca Film Festival on May 3. Andy and Larry Wachowski are releasing their first directorial project since we followed them down the rabbit hole for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions in 2003, and this new Wonderland looks like a cross between The Fifth Element and Knight Rider. They traded leading man fav. Keanu Reeves for Into the Wild actor (and Penn's Good Boy) Emile Hirsch. He's a demon and he's gonna be chasing after someone! (Apparently, that will be Christina Ricci, who plays hot babe girlfriend Trixie). Joel Silver, a frontman for the bashful Wachowski bros and producer of Racer and the Matrix films, told USA Today last May that the film will have a "retro future" look and will center on Speed sticking it to the man (or, men in the corporate world) and trying to get famous on the race track. Go Emile, Go!

Three hunky actors have got Milk this morning, landing roles in the biopic based on the life of Harvey Milk. He was America's first openly gay elected official, assassinated in 1978. (His killer launched the infamous "Twinkie defense," arguing that exposure to the Hostess treat rendered him powerless to stop himself from the dramatic shooting spree.) Emile Hirsch (Into the Wild It boy), Josh "Thrashin'" Brolin (when did Barb Streisand's stepson step out of B roles and become a Big Hollywood Actor with American Gangster and No Country for Old Men roles this year?) and James Franco (Spiderman's former bff-turned-Green Goblin) will star with Sean Penn. Gus Van Sant is directing.

The Hollywood Reporter tells us:

Brolin will play Dan White, the rival politician and supervisor who shot Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone to death at City Hall. Hirsch has been cast as gay rights activist Cleve Jones, an intern and close ally of Milk's, who went on to found the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Franco will play Scott Smith, Milk's lover and campaign manager.

The Tribeca Film Festival went as it had come: with another glitzy premiere.

Merely two weeks after the festival encroached on our city with the much-hyped premiere of Baby Mama, the Wachowski brothers’ Speed Racer closed the festivities to an equally if not more star-treaded red carpet and winding line of rubbernecking ticket holders.

The film’s principal cast of Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman turned out on Saturday to introduce the remake of the 1960's Japanese anime cartoon.

“Most of it was done on green screen, it was just like doing a play when I was a kid,” Mr. Goodman told the Observer. “We did plays in church basements and since we didn’t have any money for anything, we’d imagine everything. I’d imagine myself naked!”

“You just kind of have to keep it interesting for yourself all the time,” said Speed himself, Mr. Hirsch. “You have to keep your imagination going and pretend things are there when they’re not.”

The 23-year-old Mr. Hirsch is perhaps too young to remember the 1960's cartoon, but the other actors were fully aware of its legacy. “I loved Speed Racer when I was a kid and I like the Wachowski brothers, so I thought the two would be dynamite together,” said Mr. Goodman. And Vincent D'Onofrio, who came out to see the film with his son, said, "I watched the cartoon all the time and I have no idea what to expect."

Peter Fernandez, the original voice of Speed Racer, arrived wearing a Speed Racer fleece vest. “The Wachowski brothers told me that they would go home every day after school and watch the show,” he said. “I’ve been hearing that it’s getting made for like 15 years, so I’m glad it finally got made.”

A certain Ausstralian actor with the amazing name of Kick Gurry, who plays the mechanic in the film, said his role was a stretch.

“I break a lot of cars, but I’ve never been able to fix them," he said. "It’s weird, I’ll get into a car and four months later, it just doesn’t work anymore.”

It turned out that the premiere was his first time visiting New York.

“I think New York and London could almost be the capitals of the world,” he said. “It just doesn’t even feel American, it feels bigger than that. It seems like it would be hard to get lonely in this town.” Kick, you have no idea!

Then just as the stars were being hurried into the screening by their publicists, festival king Robert DeNiro walked with his wife on his arm along the narrow defile of screaming photographers and fans, flashing the crowd that crooked side-smirk.

And just like that, Tribeca came to an end.

O.K., temperatures may only sporadically hitting the 70s, but summer blockbuster season is officially here. Iron Man opened last weekend with a whopping $104.2 million stateside and another 96.8 million overseas ($201 million all together in its first five days). That beats even what the studio was hoping for (a mere $90 million domestically) and out there in Hollywoodland, executive types are thrilled that all the bemoaning and hand-wringing over the death of the box office was premature. Iron Man came in right behind Spider-Man in the top-ten best openings of all time. For irresistible star Robert Downey Jr., and the newly short-skirted (and likable!) Gwyneth Paltrow, this is a whole new world, as we’re guessing you could add up the grosses of their last four or five movies and not come near Iron Man’s one-weekend haul. Hey, Batman, are you ready for this jelly?

ANOTHER BIGGIE COMES our way this weekend: Speed Racer. This is the first directorial outing for the Wachowski brothers since the Matrix trilogy (though they wrote the screenplay for V for Vendetta) and we’ve been eager to see if Speed Racer could blow our minds the way Neo/Keanu did back in ’99. The answer is … sorta? But not necessarily in the way you might want your mind blown. It’s true that Speed Racer looks like nothing you’ve ever seen before—insane (insane!) colors, a wholly imagined universe of loop-de-loop race tracks, flying machines and Crayola-blue skies. Emile Hirsch stars as Speed Racer, a boy who idolizes older brother Rex Racer and is devastated when the object of his hero worship dies in a car crash. We could go on and lay out what the rest of the plot is about, but in truth, halfway through this movie we were rubbing our eyes and looking around to see if anyone else was as confused as we were. Because we were lost somewhere around the time we were trying to understand the role of the monkey (yes, we know it’s from the cartoon, but whatever), and wondering what it was Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, John Goodman, Matthew Fox and Mr. Hirsch—all talented actors—were thinking about as they delivered lines of dialogue that never went quite far enough to be camp, so instead ended up just sounding … flat. And bad, actually. (It’s never good when snickers arise over things that aren’t supposed to be funny.) We’d like to give this movie the benefit of the doubt—we get that it is geared toward preadolescent boys who will be delighted by the colors and the speed and won’t miss anything like characters or plot. But can’t we have both? And if so, can we request one that doesn’t induce a headache and vertigo?

Speed Racer opens Friday at Regal Union Square, Regal E-Walk 42nd Street and AMC Loews Lincoln Square IMAX.

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

SPEED RACER
Running Time 129 minutes
Written and directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski
Starring Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci, John Goodman

Even for summer trash, this abomination by the creatively challenged Wachowski brothers is a train wreck so bad that words literally fail me, but I will say it looks like somebody ate 25 cafeteria Jello-O congealed salads and then threw up all over the sets. Happily, I was out of town for Iron Man and have no intention of catching up, but slashing whatever I.Q. points I saved was Speed Racer, an obnoxious two-hour-and-15-minute tribute to noise and Fiestaware from the muttonheads who polluted the planet with the Matrix trilogy; it’s pretty much in a garbage pile of its own. Summer isn’t even officially here yet, but for me Speed Racer fires the opening shot for what threatens to be a three-month school-vacation Marvel-comics festival of violence, stupidity, junk and unsaturated fat, aimed at morons with I.Q.’s of 40 and under, and starring assorted hulks, Spider-Men, Batmen, ninjas, robots, superheroes that are anything but super, and Adam Sandler. Few summer movies promise to be more nauseating than Speed Racer, unless you count the one with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as siblings (you need a barf bag just for the trailers).

Speed Racer is everything I despise about what passes for filmmaking today, overwhelmed as it is by digital effects, Japanese animation, buzz-saw CGI combined with live action, 3-D storyboard animation, Asian martial arts, and flying racing cars dubbed automotive “Car-Fu”; there’s no way to underestimate the paralyzing boredom of it all. All attempts at dialogue, human relations and the sign of a real heartbeat are decimated by a triteness that reduced the preview audience to screams of laughter. But there, wandering open-mouthed with bewilderment through the ugliness and eardrum-puncturing cacophony, are people like Emile Hirsch, trashing his reputation from Into the Wild; John Goodman, in an old Shirley Temple wig, and Susan Sarandon, of all people, as his parents; and Christina Ricci, dressed like a pinafored Finger-Me doll and looking like Little Lulu, as a girlfriend-companion since childhood named Trixie. Based on the plotless Japanese TV cartoons that invaded American after-school living rooms in the 1960’s, the movie limply tells of the racing-obsessed Racer family, a suburban coven from Leave It to Beaver who live in a tangerine-flaked fruit-loop world that looks like a Peter Max nightmare, with Pops Racer (Goodman) designing psychedelic racing cars in his garage; Mom Racer (Sarandon) serving up cherry red food and green coffee in orange cups; Speed Racer (Hirsch), who dreams of racing his Mach 5 in something called the Casa Cristo Classic 5000; bratty kid brother Spritle (played by a butterball who babbles so incoherently you can’t understand a word he says); and a karate-chopping chimpanzee that brains the bad guys with a “monkey wrench”—get it? These are the laughs. All of them mourn the early death of older brother and family champ Rex Racer, who crashed and burned, but nothing depresses this family long—not even their cotton-candy world that seems drawn with a kindergarten 100-size box of aqua, topaz, pomegranate and purple Crayolas. Yes, there are villains: a rival diver called Taejo Togokahn, played by forgettable Asian pop star Rain in his American film debut; and a corrupt corporate tycoon named Royalton (Roger Allam), who fixes races and runs his cartel in a speeding truck, where he feeds his enemies to a tank of hungry piranhas. Trying to seduce Speed into the cartel, he takes the family through an assembly line replete with owls, penguins and gilt-edged gambling casinos, like a futuristic space ride at Disney World. When Speed turns down the offer to become rich and famous, Royalton declares war on the entire Racer legacy. Backed by another sponsor, Speed gets into the big race, spouting reams of teenage drivel about tire shanks, battery boosters and activation shields, while girlfriend Trixie pilots a helicopter overhead. The acting consists of a lot of teeth-clenching, eye-narrowing and mouth-gaping, but there’s nothing here to play anyway. Here are a plethora of good actors visibly enjoying their paychecks in front of saffron yellow rear projectors, but there’s no trace of humanity in anything they do or say. To save Pops’ motor company, Speed teams up with Racer X (Matthew Fox from TV’s Lost), a racing deity who takes it upon himself to act as surrogate older brother without ever removing his mask. Although the audience is now raising the roof with belly laughs, Speed is the last one to recognize his long lost brother Rex with a face lift.

The race goes on for half an hour. But this movie is determined to break one more record. It wants to be the first movie in history that never ends. There’s still the Grand Prix to endure, but first they have to invent a new car that flies, with Trixie drilling holes and Mom feeding everyone peanut butter. Nothing in it makes one lick of sense. When people say things like “You don’t do it because you’re a driver—you do it because you’re driven,” you just cringe. If this is supposed to be some loud science-fiction, alternate-reality universe, then why, when the blasting crunches, squealing brakes, screeching tires and revved-up motors quiet down long enough for Speed and Trixie to park in Lover’s Lane, are lush soundtrack strings playing “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” by Rodgers and Hart? Even when people pucker up to form words, they compete with a pointless synergy of stop-motion camerawork and a heavenly choir yelling “Hallelujah!” in tempo. The press notes quote producer Joel Silver on the Wachowski brothers: “They wanted to change the way you see movies again.” They failed. Speed Racer makes you want to never see a movie again as long as you live. I can sit through just about anything, but I draw the line at two hours and 15 minutes of fuchsia vomit. To suffer through this kind of hell, movie critics deserve combat pay.

It looks like Resident Evil: Extinction (#1) will not be following its own advice. After a $24 million dollar opening weekend, the Sony franchise based on a video game looks like it is here to stay. And it appears New Yorkers are just fine with that: the movie grossed a very respectable $337,000 at 9 theaters over the weekend.

But the big story for Manhattan box office continues to be the success of Eastern Promises (#2) and Across the Universe (#3). The Cronenberg-helmed thriller Promises expanded into 10 theaters from 1 last week, tripling its gross (while quartering its average). It bumped down the Beatles-scored musical Universe, which expanded from 3 theaters into 7, from its number 2 perch.

In Manhattan, both movies easily beat out Good Luck Chuck (#4), the romantic comedy starring Jessica Alba and Dane Cook. The movie averaged about $13,000 on 10 screens, grossing little more than Superbad had—in its 5th week. Despite bad reviews and, well, Dane Cook and Jessica Alba, the movie grossed a total $14 million. Expect a steep drop-off next weekend as its male audience begins to realize that the closest they’re going to get to seeing Ms. Alba naked is the panty-shot they already saw in the preview. Or so I hear … ahem.

The Sean Penn-directed Into the Wild (#6) opened strong on 2 screens with a $46,000 average. If this film does well, it will make Emile Hirsch more successful at 22, than well … all of us. Good luck with Speed Racer!

And the Straight-to-Netflix-Queue Award this week goes to In the Valley of Elah (#10). Not even a cast of more stars than you could shake a stick at could save this one. Susan Sarandon! Tommy Lee Jones! Charlize Theron! Jason Patric! Iraq! Er … The movie, now in its second week, just barely broke into the top ten here in Manhattan. It has an anemic $6,896 average and it hasn’t even hit its stride. You think the other studios with movies that take place in the Middle East are getting a little bit nervous? Uh, yea.

Manhattan Weekend Box Office: How moviegoers in the multiplexes of middle America choose to spend their ten-spot is probably a big deal in Hollywood. But here in Manhattan, the hottest movies aren't always the ones making the big bucks nationwide. Using Nielsen numbers for Manhattan theaters alone and comparing them to the performance of the national weekend box office can tell you a lot about our Blue State sensibilities. Or nothing at all! Each Monday afternoon, we will bring you the results.

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.

Because cases of mistaken celebrity identity can be really annoying, here follows a list of some stars—most of whom are out-of-towners—in New York over the next seven days. So if you happen to find yourself at, say, Da Silvano on Wednesday night and could swear that Tom Hanks is sitting at the next table over, you’ll know that it’s probably him. (Mr. Hanks comes to town today to promote his new film, Charlie Wilson’s War.)

Herewith, some other stars in town to push a little flesh this week:

• Emile Hirsch: Back for more interviews and TV appearances to promote Sean Penn’s Into the Wild.

• Adrian Grenier: To co-host the 2nd anniversary “Charity: Water” event tonight, which raises money to build potable water wells in Africa, at the Metropolitan Pavillion on West 18th St.

• Ashlee Simpson: Will premiere the video for her new single, “Outta My Head,” on MTV’s TRL today.

• Rachel Covey: The star of Enchanted will don an elf costume for Animal Fair Magazine’s 2nd annual Toys for Dogs benefit tonight at Touch on West 52nd St.

• Mikhail Baryshnikov: The Russian dancer will star in the New York Theatre Workshop’s Buckett Shorts tomorrow on East 4th St.

• Paula Poundstone: Slated to perform at the Blender Theater at Gramercy on Saturday night.

• Jenna Fischer: Will conduct interviews and TV appearances to promote her role in Columbia Pictures’ Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story.

• Public Enemy: To take the stage at two concerts, on Dec. 19 and 20, at Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza and Warsaw in Brooklyn, respectively.

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 >