Will Smith, Lady Gaga, Ben Affleck win SAG nominations
The Screen Actors Guild Awards, voted on by members of the SAG-AFTRA acting union, are closely watched as indicators of which movies will fare well at the Oscars ceremony in March.
Netflix Inc scored the most SAG movie nominations of any film studio, with seven in total, while HBO and HBO Max topped the television field with 14 nods.
Will Smith, Lady Gaga and Ben Affleck have secured individual nominations for the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards, while the casts of “Belfast” and “CODA” were among those nominated for the guild's top award, best ensemble.
The nominees were announced on Wednesday by actors Vanessa Hudgens and Rosario Dawson on Instagram Live.
While the nominations were conducted virtually due to the surge in Covid-19 cases, the streamed announcement still represented one of the most meaningful mornings in an awards season largely snuffed out by the pandemic.
Joining Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical “Belfast” and the coming-of-age drama “CODA” for best ensemble were the casts for Ridley Scott's true-tale, high-camp “House of Gucci,” Adam McKay's apocalypse comedy “Don't Look Up" and the family tennis drama “King Richard.”
Adam McKay's apocalypse comedy “Don't Look Up" is among those nominated for the guild's top award, best ensemble.
Notably left out were the casts of Steven Spielberg's lavish “West Side Story” revival (which landed a supporting nod for Ariana DeBose) and Jane Campion's “The Power of the Dog.”
Campion's gothic drama, though, landed individual SAG noms for Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
But the SAG nominations suggest that plenty of famous faces are in the hunt this year. Along with Will Smith ("King Richard") and Cumberbatch, the nominees for best male lead actor are: Denzel Washington ("The Tragedy of Macbeth"), Andrew Garfield ("Tick, Tick ... Boom!") and Javier Bardem ("Being the Ricardos").
Lady Gaga ("House of Gucci") is one of the nominee for the best female lead.
Best actor nominations
Up for best female lead are: Lady Gaga ("House of Gucci"), Jessica Chastain ("The Eyes of Tammy Faye"), Olivia Colman ("The Lost Daughter"), Nicole Kidman ("Being the Ricardos") and Jennifer Hudson ("Respect").
Joining Dunst and DeBose in the best female supporting category are Caitriona Balfe ("Belfast"), Cate Blanchett ("Nightmare Alley”) and Ruth Negga ("Passing").
The best male supporting nominees are: Affleck ("The Tender Bar"), Bradley Cooper ("Licorice Pizza”), Troy Kotsur ("CODA"), Jared Leto (“House of Gucci”) and Smit-McPhee.
Kotsur is the first deaf actor to land an individual SAG nomination.
The SAG Awards, presented by the actors guild SAG-AFTRA, are among the most reliable Oscar bellwethers.
Seldom does a movie or performance not nominated by the screen actors end up winning at the Academy Awards.
While some have rooted for some of the year's most popular blockbusters to give the flagging Oscars a populist jolt, “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Dune” and “No Time To Die” received no major nominations from the actors guild.
“Dune” and “No Time to Die” did, though, join “Black Widow,” “The Matrix Resurrections” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” in the stunt ensemble category.
READ MORE: No live-stream, no red carpet for Golden Globes this year
Netflix's much-watched “Squid Game” was nominated for four SAG awards including best drama series.
“Squid Game” gets four nominations
Yet possibly the most popular TV series of 2021 did haul in plenty of recognition.
Netflix's much-watched “Squid Game” was nominated for four SAG awards including best drama series.
The television nominations were also led by HBO's “Succession” (four nods including best drama series and best actor for Jeremy Strong and Brian Cox); “Ted Lasso” (five nods including best comedy series); and “The Morning Show” (four nods including best drama series).
Hollywood boycott
The SAG Awards have more of the awards season spotlight this year since the Golden Globes - usually the kickoff party to final Oscar stretch - made barely a peep.
The Globes were unceremoniously announced on Sunday on Twitter in a private ceremony due to Hollywood's boycott of the beleaguered Hollywood Foreign Press Association over diversity and ethical issues.
The omicron surge also prompted the Critics Choice Awards to postpone its January 9 in-person gala. For the second straight year, Oscar season has gone virtual - and struggled to make much noise.
The 28th annual SAG Awards are to be held Feb. 27 and will be broadcast on TNT and TBS. The Oscars are scheduled for March 27.
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