In nominations for its 29th annual awards, the Screen Actors Guild heaped honours on the casts of the anarchic indie hit Everything Everywhere All at Once and the Irish tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin, while throwing some curve balls into the Oscar race.
The awards contenders, voted on by the Hollywood actors’ guild SAG-AFTRA, were announced Wednesday on Instagram Live by Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus) and Ashley Park (Emily in Paris). The nominees for the guild’s top award, best ensemble, are: Babylon, The Banshees of Inisherin, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans and Women Talking.
The SAG Awards are considered one of the most reliable Oscar bellwethers. Seldom does a movie or performance not nominated by the screen actors end up winning at the Academy Awards. Actors make up the biggest percentage of the film academy, so their choices have the largest sway.
Usually, missing out on a SAG ensemble nomination means a film’s best picture hopes are over. Last year, all the top SAG winners — the cast of CODA, Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, Troy Kotsur and Ariana DeBose — all repeated their wins at the Oscars.
That means the road ahead for either of the year’s top box office hits — Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water — just got a lot harder. Neither would be likely to strike out with the actors guild and go on to win best picture. Each film picked a nod from SAG for its stunt ensemble.
Fabelmans, Banshees likely frontrunners
Coming off their wins at the Golden Globes on Tuesday night, Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans and The Banshees of Inisherin (a co-leading five SAG nods) increasingly look like this year’s frontrunners, along with Everything Everywhere All at Once (also five SAG nominations).
Gaining the most, perhaps, was Damien Chazelle’s extravagant silent film era ode Babylon and Sarah Polley’s feminist allegory Women Talking. Before landing best ensemble nominations (albeit no individual nods), both films had struggled to find traction this awards season.
Writer/director Martin McDonagh has reunited with Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson — whom he first worked with on the jet black comedy In Bruges — for the story of a friendship coming apart on a small Irish island in 1923.
Up for best performance by an female actor in a leading role are: Cate Blanchett (Tár), Viola Davis (The Woman King), Ana de Armas (Blonde), Danielle Deadwyler (Till) and Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once).
In a crowded field, notably overlooked was Michelle Williams, who’s been lauded for performance in The Fabelmans. Williams, a four-time nominee, has never won an Oscar. Instead, the fifth spot may have gone to de Armas, who had fallen off most lists after the Marilyn Monroe drama was poorly received.
Nominated for best performance by a male actor in leading role are: Austin Butler (Elvis), Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin), Brendan Fraser (The Whale), Bill Nighy (Living) and Adam Sandler (Hustle).
Sandler’s nomination for the Netflix basketball drama Hustle was less expected — though he gave one of the season’s best speeches as a tribute honouree at the Gotham Awards in November. Tom Cruise was shut out.
Nominated for male actor in a supporting role are: Paul Dano (The Fabelmans), Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin), Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin), Eddie Redmayne (The Good Nurse) and the category’s likely favorite, Ke Huy Quan for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
“I’ve loved performing ever since I was a child and that hasn’t changed,” Quan, the former Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom child star, said in a statement Wednesday, the morning after he won best supporting actor at the Globes. “I feel lucky just to still be here doing this.”
Up for female actor in a supporting role are: Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Hong Chau (The Whale), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once) and Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once).
On the TV side, nominated for best ensemble in a drama series are: Better Call Saul, The Crown, Ozark, Severance and The White Lotus. Up for best comedy series ensemble are the casts of Abbott Elementary, Barry, The Bear, Hacks and Only Murders in the Building. Julia Garner came away a double nominee, for Ozark and Inventing Anna. Zendaya scored her first SAG nomination for her leading performance in Euphoria.
After losing their longtime broadcast home on TNT and TBS, the SAG Awards on Wednesday announced a new multiyear partnership with Netflix to stream the ceremony. This year’s show, to take place Feb. 26, will livestream on Netflix’s YouTube page. Next year’s SAG Awards will be streamed directly on Netflix.
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