Star is Born tops Screen Actors Guild nominations
NEW YORK — A Star Is Born led nominations for the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards with four nods including best ensemble on Wednesday, firmly establishing Bradley Cooper’s romantic revival as this year’s Academy Awards frontrunner.
In nominations announced in West Hollywood, California, the actors guild — one of the most predictive bellwethers of the Oscars — threw cold water on the awards campaigns of numerous contenders while elevating others. But A Star Is Born fared best, landing nominations for Cooper (best male actor), Lady Gaga (best female actor) and Sam Elliott (best supporting male actor).
The other nominees for the group’s top award, best ensemble, were: Black Panther, Bohemian Rhapsody, BlacKkKlansman and Crazy Rich Asians.
That category is the most closely watched because only once in the last two decades has the eventual Oscars best picture winner not been nominated for best ensemble at the SAG Awards. The one aberration was last year, when Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water overcame the SAG omission on its way to winning best picture.
Unless a new trend is forming, that’s worrisome news for Oscar hopefuls such as Vice, Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney biopic (which led last week’s Golden Globe nominations); Alfonso Cuaron’s Netflix drama Roma (the overwhelming choice of critics groups); and the 1962 road trip Green Book.
Vice still scored SAG nods for Christian Bale and Amy Adams, just as Green Book won nominations for Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali.
But Roma was shut out, as was Damien Chazelle’s Neil Armstrong drama First Man and Barry Jenkins’ Harlem love story If Beale Street Could Talk. Most expected Regina King of Beale Street to be among the supporting female actor nominees.
Instead, Wednesday’s nominations gave an unlikely boost to Bohemian Rhapsody, the Freddie Mercury biopic that has been a hit with audiences but was slammed by critics. Despite being widely viewed as a riveting one-man show by Rami Malek, the film ended up nominated for its ensemble cast. Malek was also nominated for best actor.
The screen actors appeared to favour big ticket sellers over smaller independent ensembles.
Ryan Coogler’s comic-book sensation Black Panther also landed a nomination for its stunt ensemble team. Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman scored nods for both John David Washington and Adam Driver. Crazy Rich Asians co-star Awkwafina, a presenter Wednesday morning, had the unusual pleasure of announcing the hit romantic comedy’s ensemble nomination. “It was all me,” she joked.
Yorgos Lanthimos’ period romp The Favourite failed to crack best ensemble, but its three leads — Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone — were all nominated, as expected. Stone added a second nod for her performance in the Netflix miniseries Maniac.
Emily Blunt also scored two nominations: one for her lead performance in Mary Poppins Returns and one for her supporting role in A Quiet Place. The SAG Awards will be held Jan. 27 and broadcast live by TNT and TBS.