THE PAST week brought new shifts and perhaps more clarity in the Oscar race with announcement of the 84th Academy Awards nominations and award ceremonies presented by the Directors Guild and the Screen Actors Guild.

The Oscar nominations had a few surprises and snubs. Most of the actors who have been on the radar for a nomination received calls from their publicists or texts from their friends Early dark horse Demian Birchir (A Better Life) snagged a Lead Actor nod while Leonardo Di Caprio (J. Edgar) who had been riding the award season wave lost his presumed slot to Gary Oldman for Tinker Tailor Solider Spy. Also turned away was Michael Fassbender who revealed more than his soul in Shame; a very deserving performance but perhaps too raw for the Academy’s acting branch voters - actors nominate actors. Golden Globe co-lead actor winners George Clooney (The Descendants) and Jean Dujardin (The Artist) will also compete. In the Lead Actress category, the big surprise was Rooney Mara from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo now joining Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Viola Davis (The Help), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) and Michele Williams (My Week with Marilyn). No big shocker in the supporting actress category, but Albert Brooks (Drive) and his fans took to the Internet and Twitter to voice dismay at a Brooks’ overlook as a supporting actor nominee, including a youtube spoof featuring Hitler’s emotional reaction to the snub.

On Saturday evening, The Directors Guild honored Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist helmer, topping Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Terrence Malick and Alexander Payne, and marking the first time a silent film has won the DGA trophy since the guild has handed out awards in 1948. As a measure for a potential Oscar win too, the DGA Award winner for feature film has gone on to win the Academy Award for Best Director every year save for six exceptions, most recently when Rob Marshall took home the DGA Award for Chicago in 2002, while Roman Polanski won the Oscar for The Pianist. It is also notable that 12 of the last 16 DGA winners took home the Best Picture Oscar with the exception of 2005 when Brokeback Mountain won the DGA and Crash the Oscar.

The following night, the 18th Screen Actors Guild Awards conferred honors on Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Octavia Spencer (The Help), continuing their winning streak in the supporting categories. However, in the ceremony’s biggest surprise, The Artist’s Dujardin bested lead actor frontrunner Clooney. Perhaps the SAG voters saw the French actor’s work as original and fresh, especially since he plays a silent screen star in a black & white film. While Streep seemed to be an early favorite, Davis took home the “Actor” for her performance. She’s now the presumed frontrunner, but since the entire Academy votes in the acting categories too, voting producers, writers, editors and cinematographers could very well award Streep for her uncanny resemblance to and seamless performance as Margaret Thatcher. This is Streep’s 17th nomination – the most for an actor in history.

The Actor for Best Ensemble went to the cast of The Help, boosting its chances as a Best Picture contender at the Oscars. However, unlike the DGA (and the Producers Guild), the SAG cast winner is less of a measure at the Oscars. In the last 16 years, the SAG cast winner has only matched the Oscars 8 times (including last year’s The Kings Speech). And while The Help is the only film of the 9 Oscar nominees for Best Picture that has grossed more than $100 million at the box office, The Artist continues to be the perceived frontrunner despite SAG’s love for