Holly Hunter was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award on Wednesday morning for her supportingrole in “The Big Sick,” an honor she calls “humbling” — shortly after the warmly-reviewed indie movie was snubbed by Golden Globes voters.
“I guess I’m old enough now to fully have lived the reality of not expecting things,” Hunter told TheWrap about the film’s Globes snub. “To hope is cool but to expect — deadly.”
The SAG nod is especially sweet, she said, because: “Recognition from your peers is a particular kind of humbling thing. Actors know in a way that no one else knows. They are on the inside track so when I have in my career gotten honors from people who do what I do, it resonates a different way for me.”
Not only was “The Big Sick,” starring Kumail Nanjiani and Zoe Kazan, left out of nominations by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, but no female director was nominated in the Best Director category either — a snub that riled up fans on Twitter given that this year saw great female filmmakers behind the camera. Patty Jenkins brought “Wonder Woman” to the big screen, while Greta Gerwig directed the best reviewed film in Rotten Tomatoes history, “Lady Bird.” And Dee Rees’ film “Mudbound” is getting awards buzz as well.
“I think that’s unfortunate and puzzling but I gotta say, it is in some way the year of the woman,” Hunter said of the female director snubs. “There are so many outrageously great female performances this year and Patty Jenkins and Greta Gerwig and Dee Rees showing up and crafting these beautiful movies with fabulous women roles, it’s been a wonderful shift and they are part of the zeitgeist, whether the Golden Globes recognizes them or not. We recognize them as a public because these movies are getting a lot of love and people are wanting to go see them. ‘Wonder Woman’ was a huge box office extravaganza, and who doesn’t love and adore Gal Gadot?”
Hunter was nominated for a SAG Award in the category, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role alongside “Downsizing’s” Hong Chau, “Mudbound” star Mary J. Blige, Allison Janney for “I, Tonya” and Laurie Metcalf for her role in “Lady Bird.”
“I will say this — once again, Laurie Metcalf and I have been following each other since the ’80s in New York and I have watched her for decades,” Hunter said of her fellow nominee. “Allison Janney is also just an extraordinary shimmering actress who has been putting out superlative work for decades. These are careers that I admire, and that I look up to. They can inspire me. I have to say, I love Julianne Moore in ‘Wonderstruck’ — the movie is magical and I know for some reason it has not been part of that zeitgeist. I fell in love with that movie.”
“The Big Sick” was also nominated in the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture category.
Hunter said she was asleep when she found out about her nomination and was awoken by her family with “affectionate little pokes” before they headed out for school. And when asked how she will spend the day celebrating, Hunter said she’ll do so laughing.