Wicked Leads Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations – A Key Indicator for the Oscars | Entertainment & Arts News
Wicked tops the nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, securing five nominations, including nods for pop star Ariana Grande as well as British talents Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey.
Other UK actors in contention for awards include Ralph Fiennes, recognized for his role as a conflicted priest managing a papal election in Conclave, and Daniel Craig, who features in the romantic film Queer—where he plays an American in 1950s Mexico who falls for a young student.
The nominees were originally set to be unveiled during a live ceremony in Los Angeles on Wednesday, but the event was canceled. Instead, the nominees were announced online due to “wildfires and adverse wind conditions in Los Angeles.” a spokesperson stated.
The acclaimed musical Wicked, which narrates the origin story of the witches from The Wizard of Oz, received a Golden Globe for cinematic and box office success on Sunday evening.
Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Pic: Searchlight Pictures 2024
At the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG), it is nominated for best ensemble performance, competing with titles like A Complete Unknown, Anora, Emilia Perez, and Conclave.
Erivo is up for best actress, alongside Demi Moore, who won her first Golden Globe on Sunday for her role in The Substance, a body horror film that tackles the harsh realities of aging in Hollywood. Golden Globe nominees Karla Sofia Gascon (Emilia Perez), The Last Showgirl’s Pamela Anderson, and newcomer Mikey Madison from Anora are also nominated.
Trailing Wicked in the SAG nominations is the Bob Dylan-inspired film A Complete Unknown, which is nominated for four awards— including best male actor for star Timothee Chalamet and supporting nominations for Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro.
In addition to Fiennes and Craig, Chalamet faces competition from Colman Domingo for Sing Sing, a film about an innocent man who discovers purpose in prison through a theater group, and Adrien Brody from The Brutalist, who has already won a Golden Globe for his role as a Hungarian architect rebuilding his life in the US post-World War II.
Colman Domingo (left) and Clarence Maclin in Sing Sing. Pic: Pat Scola
Could the Oscars mirror this trend?
The SAG Awards often serve as a precursor to the Oscars, with nominations for the latter set to be announced next week.
The last three winners of the SAG’s best ensemble award—Oppenheimer, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and CODA—went on to win best picture at the Academy Awards.
Moreover, except for one SAG acting winner in the past three years, all SAG winners have also clinched the Oscar; the outlier was Lily Gladstone, crowned best actress at the SAG Awards for her role in Killers Of The Flower Moon, while Emma Stone took the Oscar for Poor Things.
Read more:
Demi Moore’s popcorn speech and other Golden Globe highlights
Zendaya engagement rumors ignited by red carpet ring
In this year’s television categories, Bridgerton, The Day Of The Jackal, The Diplomat, Shogun, and Slow Horses are competing for the best ensemble award in a drama series.
Aside from these competitive awards, Jane Fonda—who boasts two Oscars, two BAFTAs, an Emmy, and seven Golden Globes—will receive the guild’s life achievement award.
The winners of the 13 film and television awards will be announced during a ceremony streamed on Netflix, hosted by Kristen Bell of Nobody Wants This, on February 23, after votes from the 130,000 members of the SAG-Aftra actors’ union have been counted.
