The Denver Post

movies: “Manchester by the Sea” dominates SAG nomination­s.

- By Lindsey Bahr

“La La Land” may have hit all the right notes for the Golden Globes, but the Screen Actors Guild sang a different tune Wednesday, when Kenneth Lonergan’s New England-set family drama “Manchester by the Sea” picked up the most nomination­s. Its leading four nods included best ensemble cast, best actor for Casey Affleck and best supporting performanc­es for Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges.

Barry Jenkins’ comingof-age tale “Moonlight” and Denzel Washington’s August Wilson adaptation “Fences” followed with three each, including ensemble. They’ll be competing with the fact-based NASA crowd-pleaser “Hidden Figures” and the family drama “Captain Fantastic.” Shut out of the coveted ensemble award was Damien Chazelle’s candy-colored musical “La La Land,” which scored nomination­s only for its leads, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.

Sophia Bush and Common announced the nominees early Wednesday morning in West Hollywood, California.

In the past, SAG nominees have served as helpful predictors of who will land nomination­s in the four Oscar acting categories.

While some categories looked generally as expected, like the supporting actress nods for Williams, “Fences'” Viola Davis, “Moonlight’s” Naomie Harris, “Lion’s” Nicole Kidman and “Hidden Figures'” Octavia Spencer, others were quite surprising.

In the lead actress category, Annette Bening failed to pick up a nomination for “20th Century Women.” Bening had been an assumed lock for an Oscar nomination and had been considered a top contender against front-runners Natalie Portman (“Jackie”) and Stone (“La La Land”), both of whom were recognized. Instead, SAG nominated Emily Blunt for the adapted thriller “The Girl on the Train,” which scored tepid reviews from critics and had not been seen as a major awards contender. Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”) and Amy Adams (“Arrival”) were also nominated.

“I loved making ‘Jackie’ so much, in large part due to the incredible actors our great director Pablo Larrain assembled,” Portman said in a statement. “Pablo gave us so much freedom and inspiratio­n to play.”

Lead actors nominated were Affleck, Gosling, Andrew Garfield (“Hacksaw Ridge”), Denzel Washington (“Fences”) and Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”).

“Have never been happier in my career about any nomination,” Mortensen said in a statement. “That fellow actors in our Screen Actors Guild have just acknowledg­ed that (director) Matt Ross has constructe­d a truly memorable family story for our times.”

On the supporting side for actors, “Moonlight’s” Marershala Ali continues to dominate the category with another nomination. He’ll be competing against “Manchester’s” Hedges, Jeff Bridges for “Hell or High Water,” Dev Patel for “Lion” and Hugh Grant for “Florence Foster Jenkins.”

Also missing were nomination­s for Jeff Nichols’ fact-based civil rights film “Loving” and its leads Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton, as well as for French actress Isabelle Huppert, who has won many of the critics’ awards for her performanc­e in the edgy “Elle.” And it looks like Tom Hanks might not be a player this season for “Sully,” now that he’s been passed over by the Globes and SAG.

The 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be broadcast live on TNT and TBS on Jan. 29 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

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