The nominations for the 21st annual Screen Actors Guild were announced this morning in Los Angeles and the actors had a few tricks up their sleeves even as expected favorites like Birdman and Boyhood made major impressions. The victor this morning in terms of bragging rights for the most nominations was Fox Searchlight’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), which earned four SAG Award nods including one for Best Ensemble Cast, the top film award. The film also received acting nods for Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, and Emma Stone. Fox Searchlight led the nomination tally among distributors as well, with the four Birdman mentions, plus two others – one for Reese Witherspoon’s leading role in Wild and a slightly surprising Ensemble Cast mention for Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel.

Also performing well this morning was Boyhood, the critical steamroller from director Richard Linklater and distributor by IFC Films. The film, which has already collected Best Film mentions from the New York and Los Angeles film critics, earned three mentions – Ensemble Cast, a Supporting Actor nod for Ethan Hawke, and a Supporting Actress mention for Patricia Arquette. The film, which was made over the course of twelve years and chronicles the coming of age of a young man and his Texan family, earned an Ensemble Cast nod despite really only having four principle players (Arquette, Hawke and newcomers Ellar Coltrane and Lorelai Linklater) likely because of its top status in the awards race.

Focus Features’ The Theory of Everything and The Weinstein Company’s The Imitation Game also each earned three nominations and rounded out the Ensemble Cast category. The big surprises of the group, and there were a couple, included a mention for Jake Gyllenhaal in the Lead Actor category for his dark and manic turn in the critically respected Nightcrawler, and Jennifer Aniston’s inclusion in the Lead Actress category as a woman battling chronic pain in the late entry indie Cake. And perhaps most surprising of all was the nomination for Naomi Watts in the comedy St. Vincent, in which she plays a pregnant Russian stripper.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards recognize the best performances of the year on film and screen and are voted on by members of SAG-AFTRA. The nominations were voted on by members of SAG Nominating Committee, a smaller group made of SAG members. While the SAG Awards have a history of being a bit quirkier than the Academy Awards, they are still considered a good bellwether for what the eventual Oscar line-ups may look like – this isn’t particularly surprising considering the biggest branch of the Academy is made up of actors. Last year, the Screen Actors Guild gave American Hustle, an Oscar also-ran, their top prize for Ensemble Cast, while the four other acting winners (Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong’o) matched up perfectly with both groups. The Screen Actors Guild Awards will take place on January 25, 2015. The next step in the awards race occurs tomorrow with the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations.  Full list of film nominees below:

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A CAST OF A MOTION PICTURE

• Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
  
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• The Theory of Everything

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• Jennifer Aniston, Cake
• Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspooon, Wild

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
• Michael Keaton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
• Naomi Watts, St. Vincent

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Robert Duvall, The Judge
• Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
• Edward Norton, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
• Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE

• Fury
• Get On Up
• The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies
• Unbroken
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Debbie Reynolds