Lady Gaga, Ben Affleck score SAG nominations

NEW YORK

The Oscar race may be missing in-person glitz this year, but it doesn’t lack for star power. Lady Gaga, Ben Affleck and Will Smith landed individual nominations for the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 12, while the casts of “Belfast” and “CODA” were among those nominated for the guild’s top award, best ensemble.

The nominees were announced by actors Vanessa Hudgens and Rosario Dawson on Instagram Live. While the nominations were conducted virtually due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the streamed announcement still represented one of the most meaningful mornings in an awards season largely snuffed out by the pandemic.

Joining Kenneth Branagh’s semi-autobiographical “Belfast” and the coming-of-age drama “CODA” for best ensemble were the casts for Ridley Scott’s true-tale, high-camp “House of Gucci,” Adam McKay’s apocalypse comedy “Don’t Look Up” and the family tennis drama “King Richard.”

Notably left out were the casts of Steven Spielberg’s lavish “West Side Story” revival (which landed a supporting nod for Ariana DeBose) and Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.” Campion’s gothic drama, though, landed individual SAG nominations for Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

The SAG Awards have more of the awards season spotlight this year since the Golden Globes made barely a peep. The Globes were unceremoniously announced on Jan. 9 on Twitter in a private ceremony due to Hollywood’s boycott of the beleaguered Hollywood Foreign Press Association over diversity and ethical issues. The omicron surge also prompted the Critics Choice Awards to postpone its Jan. 9 in-person gala.

But the SAG nominations suggest that plenty of famous faces are in the hunt this year. Along with Will Smith (“King Richard”) and Cumberbatch, the nominees for best male lead actor are: Denzel Washington (“The Tragedy of Macbeth”), Andrew Garfield (“Tick, Tick … Boom!”) and Javier Bardem (“Being the Ricardos”).

Up for best female lead are: Lady Gaga (“House of Gucci”), Jessica Chastain (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”), Olivia Colman (“The Lost Daughter”), Nicole Kidman (“Being the Ricardos”) and Jennifer Hudson (“Respect”).

Joining Dunst and DeBose in the best female supporting category are Caitriona Balfe (“Belfast”), Cate Blanchett (“Nightmare Alley”) and Ruth Negga (“Passing”). The best male supporting nominees are: Affleck (“The Tender Bar”), Bradley Cooper (“Licorice Pizza”), Troy Kotsur (“CODA”), Jared Leto (“House of Gucci”) and Smit-McPhee.

Kotsur is the first deaf actor to land an individual SAG nomination.

The 28th annual SAG Awards are to be held Feb. 27 and will be broadcast on TNT and TBS. The Oscars are scheduled for March 27.