SAG Awards may yield Oscar clues

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- "Slumdog Millionaire," Sean Penn and Meryl Streep may have taken a step toward Oscar gold after winning SAG Awards in Los Angeles Sunday night.

"Slumdog Millionaire" won the Screen Actors Guild's top acting honor for best cast of a motion picture, while Penn was named best male actor for "Milk" and Streep took best female actor honors for "Doubt."

Although there are exceptions, the SAG Awards tend to provide a hint to Academy Award outcomes.

"Slumdog Millionaire" -- which took the Producers Guild of America's top honor Saturday night -- took the SAG prize in a field that included "Doubt," "Milk," "Frost/Nixon" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." All of those films except "Doubt" are nominated for the best picture Oscar, a field that also includes "The Reader."

In addition to Penn, the nominees for the SAG male actor award were Richard Jenkins for "The Visitor," Frank Langella for "Frost/Nixon," Brad Pitt for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and Mickey Rourke for "The Wrestler." The same five actors are up for the best actor Oscar.

Streep won over a SAG field that included Anne Hathaway of "Rachel Getting Married," Angelina Jolie of "Changeling," Melissa Leo of "Frozen River" and Kate Winslet of "Revolutionary Road." All five all also up for the best actress Oscar, although Winslet's Oscar nomination is for her performance in "The Reader," for which she won a female supporting actor SAG prize Sunday.

With the exception of Winslet, the SAG nominees for best female supporting actor -- Amy Adams of "Doubt," Penelope Cruz of "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Viola Davis of "Doubt" and Taraji P. Henson of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" -- are all nominated for the supporting actress Oscar, along with Marisa Tomei of "The Wrestler."

The late Heath Ledger won the SAG prize for male supporting actor for "The Dark Knight." Three of the other four SAG nominees -- Josh Brolin of Milk," Robert Downey Jr. of "Tropic Thunder" and Philip Seymour Hoffman of "Doubt" -- are also up for an Oscar, while the fourth, Dev Patel of "Slumdog Millionaire" was left off the Oscar list for Michael Shannon of "Revolutionary Road."

The SAG Awards were presented in ceremonies at the Shrine Auditorium, televised by TBS and TNT.

The 81st Academy Awards will be presented Feb. 22 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, in ceremonies to be televised by ABC.