A Star Is Born tops Screen Actors Guild Awards 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 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