The 2012 Screen Actors Guild Award winners were announced tonight, and The Help took home the top film prize, “Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Motion Picture”.  The drama also took home awards for Best Actress (Viola Davis) and Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer).  If you think that’s no big deal in terms of affecting the Oscar race, I have one word for you: Crash.  Granted, The Help didn’t even pick up an Oscar nomination for Best Director, but actors make up the largest block of Academy voters (25 percent).  And as we’ve seen, actors really like movies that make us think we’ve defeated racism, which we totally have.  That’s why all African-American actors pull in huge salaries.  Actors like Will Smith and…Will Smith.  I wouldn’t put The Help ahead of The Artist just yet, but Davis and Spencer should now be considered serious contenders in their respective catagories (Spencer is almost at a lock at this point).

The American Cinema Editors have announced their list of nominees for the 62nd Annual Eddie Awards. Before you brush editing off as an insignificant category, take note that no film has won the Best Picture Oscar without at least a Best Editing Eddie nomination in 20 years. Martin Scorsese’s longtime collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker was nominated for her work on Hugo, as were last year’s Oscar winners Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Other films singled out include The Artist, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, and Young Adult.

On the television side of things, Breaking Bad, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Friday Night Lights, and Game of Thrones all landed nods. Hit the jump to see the full list of nominees. ACE’s 62nd awards ceremony, hosted by Patton Oswalt, will be held February 18th.

I’ve just spent the past three hours watching and live-blogging the 2012 Golden Globe Awards.  My brain feels mushy.  After the jump and presented without comment is a list of this year’s winners. If you don’t even want to hit the jump, The Artist and The Descendants won Best Comedy/Musical and Best Drama, respectively.  If you want to awards prognosticate, I’ll save you the trouble: both were nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.  Those nominations haven’t been announced yet, but they were nominated.  Trust me.  I’m a professional.

Also, feel free to sound off on the winners and losers.  Lord knows I’ve been doing it for the past three hours.

I like to see the guild awards, because the specificity allows for nominees that you won’t see on more general lists.  The Art Directors Guild is especially interesting because they separate the films into three categories: period, fantasy, and contemporary.  The 15 nominees highlight everything from Oscar favorites Hugo and The Artist, to crowd-pleasers Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 and Captain America, to poorly received films like Cowboys & Aliens and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.  There’s a similar contrast in the TV nominees between the classy HBO programs you’d expect (Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, and Mildred Pierce) and the critical punching bags American Horror Story and The Playboy Club.  The full list of nominees is after the break.

The American Society of Cinematographers announced their nominations for the best-photographed TV of 2011.  Boardwalk Empire topSthe list with 2 nominations in the one-hour drama category.  HBO also had a presence in the movie/miniseries category with Mildred Pierce and the half-hour series category with Bored to Death.  (This is the first year the ASC introduced a half-hour category.)  I am happy to see Pan Am among the nominees, because the pilot was gorgeous.  Due to the specific nature of the awards, there are a few curious selection that won’t get awards attention anywhere else, like Chase and Man Up.  Reminds me of my surprise at discovering that Home Improvement won 7 Emmys, all of which were awarded to apparent lighting guru Donald A. Morgan for Outstanding Lighting Direction.

Hit the jump for the full eclectic list of ASC nominees.

Tonight was the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards and the winner’s list included some great names.  Perhaps the best win of the night was Peter Dinklage picking up Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Game of Thrones.  Not far behind was Kyle Chandler finally picking up an Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series for the final season of Friday Night Lights (the show also picked up an Emmy for Best Writing in a Drama Series).  Martin Scorsese picked up an award for his direction of Boardwalk Empire‘s pilot episode, and ubiquitous character actor Margo Martindale won Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Mags Bennett on FX’s Justified.

The top awards for Best Drama, Best Comedy, and Best Variety, Music or Comedy Series went to last year’s winners Mad Men, Modern Family, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, respectively.  Best Miniseries or TV Movie was awarded to  PBS’ Downtown Abbey while CBS’ The Amazing Race picked up another Emmy for Best Reality-Competition Program.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

The nominations for the 2011 Primetime Emmys have been announced.  HBO, as always, led the pack as the miniseries Mildred Pierce picked up 21 nominations, Boardwalk Empire picked up 18 nominations, and Game of Thrones nabbed 13 nominations.  Also, as usual, Mad Men held the most nominations of any dramatic series by picking up 19 nods.  The Emmys also once again overlooked Community in favor of garbage like Glee, but they also finally showed Parks and Recreation some love.  It’s also cool that Louis C.K. (Louie), Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), and Walton Goggins (Justified) picked up nominations, but overlooking Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) was just one of the many snubs that the Emmys have become known for.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced Sunday, September 18th at 8/7c on Fox.

Back in September, we got our first look at the anticipated HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce in the form of an impressive first trailer. Now HBO has released another trailer as we inch closer to the March 27th premiere. The miniseries (directed by Far from Heaven helmer Todd Haynes and based on James M. Cain’s novel) follows a proud, single mother (Winslet) struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the depression in middle-class Los Angeles. You’ll probably recognize the song from the first half of the trailer as the very same one that graced the first half of the trailer for The Fighter, but don’t take my word for it. Check out the new trailer after the jump.  Mildred Pierce premieres March 27th.

The five-part HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce, based on James M. Cain’s 1941 novel and premiering March 27^th, tells the epic story of a proud single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the Great Depression in middle-class Los Angeles. Mildred Pierce (Kate Winslet) is a uniquely independent woman and her story is an intimate portrait of a new divorcee, struggling to carve out a new life for herself and her daughter, Veda (Evan Rachel Wood), for whom she is unreasonably devoted.

During a recent interview to promote the intriguing new project, actress Kate Winslet and co-writer/director/executive producer Todd Haynes talked about their approach to this complex and nuanced work, the marathon experience of bringing this story to life, working in television for the first time, and steering clear of the original film, in developing the portrayal of this woman. Check out what they had to say after the jump:

In the five-part HBO mini-series event Mildred Pierce, debuting on March 27^th, Kate Winslet stars in the title role, playing a proud single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the Great Depression in middle-class Los Angeles. Based on James M. Cain’s 1941 novel of the same name, the drama offers an intimate portrait of a uniquely independent woman who finds herself newly divorced and struggling to carve out a new life for herself and her family. The story explores Mildred’s unreasonable devotion to her insatiable daughter, Veda (Evan Rachel Wood), as well as the complex relationships she shares with the less than desirable men in her life.

While at the HBO portion of the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, actress Evan Rachel Wood talked about working with Kate Winslet and director Todd Haynes, the intense music training she had to go through for the role, and doing her first nude scene. She also talked about her return to HBO’s hit television series True Blood for Season 4 and her upcoming film project The Ides of March. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

More news straight out of the Television Critics Association press tour has HBO finally announcing the premiere dates for two of its anticipated project in 2011. First, the new medieval series (watch the trailer here Game of Thrones has been promoted all over the cable network, and now they’ve finally announced the series will premiere on April 17th. Based on George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire the sprawling tale set in the mythical land of Westeros tells the story of the noble Stark family who become caught up in high court intrigue when patriarch Eddard (played by Sean Bean) becomes the king’s new right-hand man.

Also, HBO announced their miniseries Mildred Pierce, starring Kate Winslet, will debut on March 27th. You can watch the trailer right here but for a quick refresher, the miniseries (directed by Far from Heaven helmer Todd Haynes and based on James M. Cain’s novel) follows a proud, single mother (Winslet) struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the depression in middle-class Los Angeles. As with pretty much all of HBO’s projects, both look very promising, and I’m looking forward to see them in the spring. How about you?

HBO has released the first trailer for their upcoming five-part miniseries, Mildred Pierce.  Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven) is director, with Kate Winslet starring as “a proud, single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the depression in middle-class Los Angeles.”  As expected, the miniseries looks like it will be just as cinematic as Haynes’ previous works, and Winslet looks like she will deliver another great performance.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer along with a plot synopsis for the source material.

Since the dawn of the new year, it’s been hard to keep up with all the film talent HBO was luring to the channel for various projects.  Michael Mann is directing a pilot for Luck from Deadwood creator David Milch.  Charlize Theron and David Fincher are teaming for the serial killer series Mind Hunter.  Russell Crowe and Maria Bello are set to star in Emergency Sex from Slumdog Millionaire scripter Simon Beaufoy.  Zooey Deschanel will headline a series adaptation of I’m With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie.  And most recently HBO acquired the Todd Haynes miniseries adaptation of Mildred Pierce with none other than Kate Winslet attached to star.  Plus miniseries The Pacific, which counts Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks among its producers, will begin a ten-week run on March 14th and the Martin Scorsese-directed pilot for Boardwalk Empire starring Steve Buscemi is set to air later in the year.

But they’re not done just yet.  The Hollywood Reporter announced that recent Oscar-nominee (and soon-to-be Oscar-winner) Kathryn Bigelow will direct the pilot for The Miraculous Year from a screenplay by John Logan.  Details after the break.

Kate Winslet has long been attached to star in Todd Haynes’ upcoming miniseries Mildred Pierce based on the James M. Cain novel. However, it wasn’t known who would be showing it.  Now Variety is reporting HBO has landed the five-hour period piece.

Haynes will direct and help write the miniseries along with Jonathan Raymond, who previously wrote the Michelle Williams starrer Wendy and Lucy. Haynes previously wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated Bob Dylan biography I’m Not There. Variety describes Winslet’s role as:

“A proud, single mother struggling to earn her daughter’s love during the depression in middle-class Los Angeles.”

For more on Mildred Pierce, including the Oscar pedigree a feature film adaptation had in 1945, hit the jump.

I’ve never read “Mildred Pierce”.  I’ve actually never read any book that has a woman’s name in the title.  Not “Jane Eyre”, not “Emma”, not “Madame Bovary”, or any of the others.  It’s because I’m sexist.  I read manly books like “Lumberjacks” and “Construction Workers” and anything by Ann Coulter.  Unfortunately for me, Variety says Kate Winslet is set to star in a miniseries adaptation of “Mildred Pierce” which will probably go to HBO and that’s good enough for me.

That’s the end of the story but because Kate Winslet is smoking hot, I’ve included another photo of her after the jump.