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On Wednesday morning, the Screen Actors Guild will announce its nominations for the 18th annual SAG Awards. This is exciting news because, over the years, SAG Award nominations — which are determined by a nominating committee composed of a randomly selected 3% of the union’s overall membership (2100 for film categories and 2100 for television categories) — have become the single best predictor of which performances will go on to receive acting nods from the Academy.

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Each awards season, moviegoers and the media devote their attention to some new breakthrough star (i.e. Amy Adams, Carey Mulligan, Jennifer Lawrence, etc.), but the people who make the industry go ’round — studio chiefs, agents, managers, publicists, etc. — focus even more on a breakthrough filmmaker (i.e. Jason Reitman, Oren Moverman, Tom Hooper, etc.).

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Anton Yelchin seems much older and more mature than his 22 years, both in Drake Doremus’s film Like Crazy (which might well turn him into one of the top movie stars of his generation) and in person (as I found when I sat down with him for a half-hour interview in New York on Monday, and as you can see in the above video of that meeting).

These days, the actor — who was born in Russia, moved with his family to America as a baby, and has worked here professionally since the age of nine — is probably best known for his appearance in J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek (2009), if not for some of his stronger work in smaller films like Nick Cassavetes’s Alpha Dog (2006), Jon Poll’s Charlie Bartlett(2007), and Jodie Foster’s The Beaver (2011). That will all change, however, on Oct. 28, when Paramount begins its platform release of Like Crazy in Los Angeles and New York.

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I am very pleased to be able offer readers of this blog an exclusive first look at the teaser one-sheet for Shame, Steve McQueen’s controversial new drama about a sex addict (Michael Fassbender) and his sister (Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan) that premiered at Venice — where Fassbender was named best actor — and played Telluride and Toronto in September, was acquired soon thereafter by Fox Searchlight, and will be released theatrically on December 2. The poster will be on display for the first time tomorrow night at the New York Film Festival’s gala red carpet screening of the film. (Text continues below image.)

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The vast majority of this year’s awards hopefuls have already played at least once on the festival circuit (Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, and/or New York) and/or gone into general release. Most of those that have not are set for October or November releases. But a select few others are being held until December, the last month in which they are eligible to qualify for Oscar consideration this year, and only being selectively screened for the press before then, if at all.

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• Los Angeles Times: Michael Palin, an actor who is best known for his BAFTA Award winning performance as a stutterering buffoon in “A Fish Called Wanda” (1988), pens an op-ed in the New York Times in which he shares the story of his father’s real battle with a stutter, his own work to help those who suffer from the affliction, and his feelings about the importance of “The King’s Speech.”

• Thompson on Hollywood: Anne Thompson suggests that Helena Bonham Carter, a best supporting actress Oscar nominee for her performance as the Queen Mum in “The King’s Speech,” has gained ground on presumptive frontrunners Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”) and Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”) because of her witty behavior at the recent Oscar nominees luncheon and acceptance speech at the BAFTA Awards.

• Editors Guild Magazine: Michael Goldman profiles Pamela Martin, the Oscar-nominated editor of “The Fighter,” who previously worked with director David O. Russell on his directorial debut “Spanking the Monkey” (1994) and subsequently received an ACE Eddie nod — if not an Oscar nod — for her work on “Little Miss Sunshine” (2006). I find it noteworthy that two of the best movies set in the male-dominated world of boxing, “Raging Bull” (1980) and “The Fighter,” were both edited by women!
• The Odds: Steve Pond shares a slideshow of recent street-art that has gone up in and around Hollywood and is believed to be the work of Banksy, the famously-anonymous street artist who is now an Oscar nominee for his documentary (feature) “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” Is this, as Pond and others have suggested, part of an unconventional “Oscar campaign”?

• Art of the Title: Jim Helton and Charles Christopher Rubino share their inspirations for and creative process designing the stunning end credits of Derek Cianfrance‘s “Blue Valentine,” which — spoiler alert — features photos from various stages of the relationship that has apparently just come to an end, set against exploding fireworks.

• Hollywood-Elsewhere: Jeff Wells has his doubtsabout the soon-to-be-released indie comedy “Meet Monica Velour,” which stars Kim Cattrall as a has-been porn star, but I actually saw the film at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival, before Anchor Bay Studios picked it up, and felt that it was quite good, in a quirky, “Napoleon Dynamite” (2004)-meets-”Little Miss Sunshine” (2006) kind of way.

• MSNBC: Mickey Rooney, the 90-year-old Hollywood legend who I had the privilege of interviewing back in July, has been granted a restraining order against his 52-year-old step-son, whom he is accusing of abuse and intimidation.

• Vanity Fair: Matt Tyrnauer, the director of the grossly-underappreciated doc “Valentino: The Last Emperor” (2009) and a great writer, has penned one of the finest long-form articles that I have ever read about Hollywood — or anything else — in this month’s magnificent “Hollywood Issue.” Do yourself a favor and read this remarkable true story of Janet de Cordova, a Beverly Hills socialite, and Gracie Covarrubias, her loyal friend.

Photo: Helena Bonham Carter and Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech.” Credit: The Weinstein Company.

• The Hollywood Reporter: Sofia M. Fernandez received word today from Fandango editor Chuck Walton that “The King’s Speech,” which opened eight weeks ago, is — on the heels of receiving 12 Oscar nominations yesterday — today’s top-selling movie ticket, with sales up about 75% from the same day last week. Walton also notes that the film “has received more ‘Must Go’ user ratings” on Fandango than any other film of the last few months.”

• Company Town: Ben Fritz learns about some of Harvey Weinstein’s plans for “The King’s Speech” to try to capitalize on its nominations and “rope in more movie-going commoners who normally wouldn’t go near a historical drama about a British king.” Among them: “re-editing the movie to excise coarse language and secure a lower rating that will open [the film] to a broader audience” (although “a recut version wouldn’t hit theaters until after the Oscars ceremony”), as well as a publicity campaign that will launch around Valentine’s Day and encourage people to “see it with the person who inspired you and changed your life.”

• Awards Daily: Sasha Stone passes along the news that the 26th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival has decided to honor “The King’s Speech” with its first ever “best motion picture ensemble award.” The film’s Oscar nominated lead actor Colin Firth, supporting actor Geoffrey Rush, supporting actress Helena Bonham Carter, and director Tom Hooper will be on hand to accept the honor when it is presented on Monday evening following a long-planned tribute to Rush, specifically.

• Slate: Christopher Hitchens, meanwhile, rains a little on “The King’s Speech” parade, describing it as “an extremely well-made film with a seductive human interest plot” but also “a major desecration of the historical record.” He alleges that “it perpetrates a gross falsification of history” in the way that it depicts Winston Churchill (who is played in the film by Timothy Spall). He writes, “[Churchill] is shown as a consistent friend of the stuttering prince and his loyal princess and as a man generally in favor of a statesmanlike solution to the crisis of the abdication,” but, in fact, “was — for as long as he dared — a consistent friend of conceited, spoiled, Hitler-sympathizing [King] Edward VIII” (who is played in the film by Guy Pearce). Hitchens asks, “Would the true story not have been fractionally more interesting for the audience?”

• Washington Post: Valerie Strauss believes that the Academy’s documentary branch “”got it right” when it denied “Waiting for ‘Superman’” a best documentary (feature) Oscar nomination yesterday. She argues that “classic documentaries are factual and straightforward, and don’t, as did ‘Superman,’ fake scenes for emotional impact.” She further alleges, “[Director Davis] Guggenheim edited the film to make it seem as if charter schools are a systemic answer to the ills afflicting many traditional public schools, even though they can’t be, by their very design. He unfairly demonized Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and gave undeserved hero status to reformer and former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee.”

• Washington City Paper: Benjamin R. Freed, a columnist who has frequently criticized the arguments made in “Waiting for ‘Superman’,” writes that he, too, “was quite pleased to find… that it did not make the final cut for the Academy Awards.” For his post, he contacted me asking my opinion, and I told him, “It was as well-run an Oscar campaign as you can have for a documentary,” and noted that the film’s prospects were probably hurt by having to compete with “The Lottery,” a similarly-themed film that was also on the short-list of 15 from which the 5 nominees were eventually selected. I added that the snub of the popular film will undoubtedly come to be regarded as one of the branch’s most inexplicable omissions, alongside the likes of “Shoah” (1985), “The Thin Blue Line” (1988), “Roger and Me” (1989), “Hoop Dreams” (1994), and “Grizzly Man” (2005).

• Hollywood, Esq.: Eriq Gardner, meanwhile, describes the legal problems currently facing the subject of the documentaries that was nominated yesterday, Banksy’s “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” Thierry Guetta, also known as “Mr. Brainwash,” has been embroiled for months now in a lawsuit in which Glen E. Friedman, another artist, alleges that Guetta “took his copyrighted photo without consent and made derivatives” for his “Life Is Beautiful” exhibition (which is prominently featured in the documentary). Gardner reports that as part of his defense, Guetta gave a sworn deposition, under the penalty of perjury, stating “that the artwork was his own and not, as some have speculated, a fabrication by Banksy.”

• The Envelope: Kenneth Turan calls this “the year that Sundance ruled” based on the fact that the tiny film festival produced more Oscar nominees (14) than even “The King’s Speech,” including two of the 10 best picture nominees and four of the five best documentary (feature) nominees. The full list of films that played during last January’s installment and learned that they were headed to the Oscars during this year’s: “Animal Kingdom” (1 nod), “Blue Valentine” (1 nod), “Exit Through the Gift Shop” (1 nod), “GasLand” (1 nod), “The Kids Are All Right” (4 nods), “Restrepo” (1 nod), “Waste Land” (1 nod), and “Winter’s Bone” (4 nods).

• New York Times: Michael Cieply reports that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association claimed “in a little-noticed court filing [last] Tuesday]” that its ongoing legal battle with Dick Clark Productions, the longtime producer of its annual Golden Globe Awards telecast, might prevent next year’s show from happening at all because “there might not be time to find a new producer, a network and advertisers for next January’s show.” The HFPA is accusing the production company of “absconding with rights to the show by unilaterally reaching a new eight-year broadcast agreement with NBC, the network that now broadcasts the ceremony.” Dick Clark Productions, meanwhile, has asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed.

Photo: Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech.” Credit: The Weinstein Company.

• The Odds: Steve Pond suggests that “the 2011 Screen Actors Guild Awards could end up looking a lot like Florida in 2000,” in the sense that older voters might not “get” how to fill out their ballots. That’s because the 90,000-member guild, as part of its green initiative, “SAG decided in the summer to send ballots only to those members who specifically requested them, and is asking everyone else to hit their computers” and vote online. Pond notes that members have been reminded on numerous occasions and in numerous ways to request a paper ballot if they would like one, but adds, “The big question now is how many guild members paid attention to the postcards — and how many are Internet-savvy enough to be able to follow the instructions.” He closes by proposing that “the movie that stands to be hurt the most by any confusion is probably ‘The King’s Speech,’ whose voters may on average be older than the typical fans for the other four best ensemble nominees: ‘The Social Network,’ ‘Black Swan,’ ‘The Fighter,’ and ‘The Kids Are All Right.’” (In The Race, Tim Appelo presents the counter-argument — namely, that SAG members are “online-savvy, not befuddled fuddy-duddy technophobes.”)

• Hollywood, Esq.: Eriq Gardner explains the controversy surrounding “How You Like Me Now?,” the “super-catchy, definitely-funky guitar-and-horns riff” that is played throughout “The Fighter.” The song, which was put out by the UK indie rock band The Heavy and used as the soundtrack for a Super Bowl commercial last year, sounded a lot like Dyke & The Blazers’s 1969 hit song “Let a Woman Be a Woman and a Man Be a Man,” at least to the folks at Drive-in Music Company. That small music publisher has held the copyright to the latter song for the last 40 years, and sued Kia, CBS, the NFL, and others for copyright theft. A settlement was eventually reached, and “The Fighter” credits note that the version used in its film was performed by The Heavy, but co-written by the frontman for Dyke & The Blazers.

• Deadline Hollywood: An unattributed report shares the news that the Motion Picture Sound Editors have announced their nominees for the 58th annual Golden Reel Awards, which will be presented on February 20. “Black Swan” and “Inception” led the field with nominations in all three categories in which a non-musical feature film can be recognized: best sound editing (film music in a feature film), best sound editing (dialogue & ADR in a feature film), and best sound editing (sound effects & foley in a feature film).

• The Hollywood Reporter: Rebecca Leffler passes along the nominations for the 36th annual Cesar Awards, which honor the finest work in French films, are determined by France’s Academy of Technical Arts and Sciences, and will be presented on February 25. “Of Gods and Men,” France’s submission for the best foreign language film Oscar which was recently snubbed from the Academy’s short-list of nine films from which the five nominees will ultimately be chosen, led the field with 11 nominations, including mentions for best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actor (two), and best screenplay.

• Boston Phoenix: Peter Keough, the paper’s film critic, offers his annual predictions for Tuesday morning’s Oscar nominations. Keough, who thinks with his head instead of his heart (that’s a compliment) and has therefore been among the more accurate awards prognosticators in recent years, forecasts “Winter’s Bone” over “The Town” for the 10th best picture slot; a best director snub for Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”); a best actress nod for SAG nominee Hilary Swank (“Conviction”) over Julianne Moore (“The Kids Are All Right”) or Michelle Williams (“Blue Valentine”); and best supporting actor nods for SAG nominees John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone”) and Jeremy Renner (“The Town”) over Matt Damon (“True Grit”) and Andrew Garfield (“The Social Network”).

• Thompson on Hollywood: Sophia Savage shares a funny clip from Thursday night’s edition of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in which the host, Jimmy Kimmel, coaxes his guest, Ryan Gosling, to re-enact his ukelele/voice rendition of the classic song “You Always Hurt the One You Love” that Gosling first performed (in a “goofy” voice) opposite Michelle Williams’s tap-dancing in the film “Blue Valentine,” for which he is a best actor hopeful.

Photo: Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech.” Credit: The Weinstein Company.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity so speak for about 30 minutes over the phone with the legendary British stage and screen actress Claire Bloom, one of the great talents and beauties of the past century. Bloom, who made her film debut 63 years ago and has co-starred with countless greats — among them Charlie Chaplin, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, John Gielgud, Rod Steiger, and Paul Newman — is still going strong at the age of 79. Most recently, she gave a brief but memorable performance as Queen Mary, the mother of King Edward XIII (Guy Pearce) and King George VI (Colin Firth), in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company, 11/24, R, trailer), which the Screen Actors Guild rewarded with a best ensemble nomination.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO AUDIO OF OUR CONVERSATION!

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“Deep Vote,” an Oscar winning screenwriter and a member of the Academy, will write this column — exclusively for ScottFeinberg.com — every week until the Academy Awards in order to help to peel back the curtain on the Oscar voting process. (His identity must be protected in order to spare him from repercussions for disclosing the aforementioned information.)

Thus far, he has shared his thoughts in column one about his general preferences; column two about “Winter’s Bone” (Roadside Attractions, 6/11, R, trailer) and “Solitary Man” (Anchor Bay Films, 5/21, R, trailer); column three about “Alice in Wonderland” (Disney, 3/5, PG, trailer), “Toy Story 3” (Disney, 6/18, G, trailer), and “Mother and Child” (Sony Pictures Classics, 5/7, R, trailer); column four about “Get Low” (Sony Pictures Classics, 7/30, PG-13, trailer), “The Kids Are All Right” (Focus Features, 7/9, R, trailer), and “The Social Network” (Columbia, 10/1, PG-13, trailer); column five about “127 Hours” (Fox Searchlight, 11/5, R, trailer), “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions, 12/17, R, trailer), and “Shutter Island” (Paramount, 2/19, R, trailer); column six about “Inception” (Warner Brothers, 7/16, PG-13, trailer), “Made in Dagenham” (Sony Pictures Classics, 11/19, R, trailer), and “Somewhere” (Focus Features, 12/22, R, trailer); column seven about “Another Year” (Sony Pictures Classics, 12/29, PG-13, trailer), “Fair Game” (Summit, 11/5, PG-13, trailer), and “Rabbit Hole” (Lionsgate, 12/17, PG-13, trailer); column eight about “Blue Valentine” (The Weinstein Company, 12/29, R, trailer), “The Fighter” (Paramount, 12/10, R, trailer), and “True Grit” (Paramount, 12/22, PG-13, trailer); column nine about “The Ghost Writer” (Summit, 2/19, PG-13, trailer), “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company, 11/26, R, trailer), and “The Town” (Warner Brothers, 9/17, R, trailer); column ten about “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight, 12/3, R, trailer), “Conviction” (Fox Searchlight, 10/15, R, trailer), and “I Am Love” (Magnolia, 6/18, R, trailer); and column eleven about his nomination ballots.

This week, he assesses three more awards hopefuls: “All Good Things” (Magnolia, 12/3, R, trailer), “Animal Kingdom” (Sony Pictures Classics, 8/13, R, trailer), and “The Way Back” (Newmarket, 12/29, PG-13, trailer).

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