“A STAR IS B ORN” TOPS SAG AWARDS NOMINATIONS

YORK» “A Star Is Born” led NEW nominations Wednesday for the 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards with four nods including best ensemble, firmly establishing Bradley Cooper’s romantic revival as this year’s Academy Awards front-runner.

“A Star Is Born” fared the best of all, 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 past two decades has the eventual Oscars best picture winner not been nominated for best ensemble at the SAG Awards (“The Shape of Water,” last year).

Unless a new trend is forming, that’s worrisome news for Oscar hopefuls such as “Vice,” Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney biopic; 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 entirely, 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 oneman show by Rami Malek, the film ended up nominated for its ensemble cast. Malek was also nominated for best actor.

Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” scored nods for John David Washington and Adam Driver. “Crazy Rich Asians” co-star Awkwafina, a presenter Wednesday morning, has the unusual pleasure of announcing the hit romantic comedy’s ensemble nomination. “It was all me,” she joked.

Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone were all nominated for “The Favourite,” as expected. Stone added a second nod for the Netflix miniseries “Maniac.”

Emily Blunt also scored two nominations herself: one for her lead performance in “Mary Poppins Returns” and one for her supporting role in “A Quiet Place.” The other best female performance nominees alongside Blunt, Lady Gaga and Colman were Glenn Close (“The Wife”) and Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”)

In television categories, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Ozark” led with four nominations each. “Barry,” “GLOW,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Kominsky Method” trailed close behind with three nominations each.