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 front runner.
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 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 last two decades has the eventual Oscars best picture winner not been nominated for best ensemble at the SAG Awards. The one aberration, though, 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 bad news for Oscar hopefuls like 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 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 one-man show by Rami Malek as Mercury, 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 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?)
Blunt's nomination for A Quiet Place was among the nominations' many surprises, as was Margot Robbie's supporting turn as Queen Elizabeth in Mary Queen of Scots.
Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) scored his second straight SAG nomination for his supporting performance in the addiction drama Beautiful Boy. Rounding out the category alongside Ali, Driver and Elliott was Richard E. Grant for 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.
The SAG Awards will be held 27 January and broadcast live by TNT and TBS.
This year's show will honour Alan Alda with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
See the full list of nominees here:
FILM
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
A Star is Born
Black Panther
BlacKkKlansman
Bohemian Rhapsody
Crazy Rich Asians
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Emily Blunt – Mary Poppins Returns
Glenn Close – The Wife
Olivia Colman – The Favourite
Lady Gaga – A Star is Born
Melisssa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale – Vice
Bradley Cooper – A Star is Born
Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody
Viggo Mortensen – Green Book
John David Washington – BlacKkKlansman
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams – Vice
Emily Blunt – A Quiet Place
Margot Robbie – Mary Queen of Scots
Emma Stone – The Favourite
Rachel Weisz –The Favourite
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Mahershala Ali – Green Book
Timothée Chalamet – Beautiful Boy
Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman
Sam Elliott – A Star is Born
Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Avengers: Infinity War
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Black Panther
Mission: Impossible — Fallout
TV
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Julia Garner – Ozark
Laura Linney – Ozark
Elizabeth Moss – The Handmaid’s Tale
Sandra Oh – Killing Eve
Robin Wright – House of Cards
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Jason Bateman – Ozark
Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us
Joseph Fiennes – The Handmaid’s Tale
John Krasinski – Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan
Bob Odenkirk – Better Call Saul
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Allison Brie – Glow
Rachel Brosnahan – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Jane Fonda – Grace and Frankie
Lily Tomlin – Grace and Frankie
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Alan Arkin – The Kominsky Method
Michael Douglas –The Kominsky Method
Bill Hader – Barry
Tony Shalhoub –The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Henry Winkler –Barry
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Amy Adams – Sharp Objects
Patricia Arquette – Escape at Dannemora
Patricia Clarkson –Sharp Objects
Penélope Cruz – The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Emma Stone – Maniac
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
Antonio Banderas – Genius: Picasso
Darren Criss – The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story
Hugh Grant – A Very English Scandal
Anthony Hopkins – King Lear
Bill Pullman – The Sinner
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Americans
Better Call Saul
The Handmaid’s Tale
Ozark
This Is Us
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Atlanta
Barry
Glow
The Kominsky Method
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
Glow
Marvel’s Daredevil
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan
The Walking Dead
Westworld