Screen Actors Guild Awards: Cillian Murphy nominated as best male lead actor

The nominations for the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards have delivered mixed news for Irish talent. As expected, Cillian Murphy, recent winner at the Golden Globes and favourite for the Oscar, has been nominated as best male lead actor for Oppenheimer. Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, stars of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, were nominated for, respectively, outstanding female actor and outstanding supporting male actor, but the lavish period fantasy, produced by Dublin’s Element Pictures, was not mentioned in outstanding cast. Neither Andrew Scott nor Barry Keoghan, seen as decent outside bets for, respectively, All of Us Strangers and Saltburn made the male actor list. Those performers are, however, still in with a shout at the Oscars. Though actors make up, by some margin, the largest branch voting for the Academy Awards, representatives of smaller film can beat the odds. Last year, Paul Mescal (Scott’s costar in All of Us Strangers) failed to score with SAG, but still managed an Oscar nomination for best actor. Scott is best placed to repeat that comeback.

Poor Things, which took best film or comedy at the Globes, still seems certain of a best picture nomination. Though Lanthimos’s film has a large cast, it is very much focused on Emma Stone’s reanimated protagonist. You could say something similar about Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a cast nominee, but the momentum behind that biopic seems unstoppable. The (mild) surprise entry in that ensemble section looks to be The Color Purple. The musical version of Alice Walker’s novel has somewhat underperformed at awards season so far.

Away from the domestic, the big losers were Leonardo DiCaprio and the team from Todd Haynes’s May December. DiCaprio seemed likely to score in best actor for Killers of the Flower Moon, but it looks as if Colman Domingo, star of the Netflix biopic Rustin, took that treasured spot. May December, a cunning black comedy, had a total whiff. Julianne Moore and Charles Melton, who play a couple with a controversial age difference, were tipped for supporting female actor and supporting male actor. Neither were mentioned.

Barbenheimer, last summer’s big film story, continues to resonate with both Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie securing chart-topping four nominations. The two titles land in outstanding cast. The Nolan film secured three individual acting nominations: Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr, both in supporting categories, join Murphy. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, Barbie and Ken, are up in best female actor and supporting male actor. Barbie also got a nod for best stunt ensemble. Da’Vine Joy Randolph, nominated in supporting female actor, remains favourite at SAG and Oscar for The Holdovers.

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Though launched as recently as 1995, the Screen Actors Guild Awards have fast become one of the more significant pointers to Oscar success. With a membership of more than 119,000 in the combined The Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the electorate dwarfs the 300 or so who voted for last weekend’s Golden Globes. SAG-Aftra was recently in the news as one contender in the Hollywood actors’ strike that brought the industry to a halt through the autumn. Fran Drescher, charismatic president of the body, was on Instagram before Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani read the nominations. The SAG Awards ceremony will be streamed live via Netflix in the small hours of February 24th. The Academy Award nominations land on January 23rd. Here are the full list of the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations:

SAG FILM NOMINEES

Motion Picture cast

• American Fiction
• Barbie
• The Color Purple
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Oppenheimer

Male Actor in a Leading Role – Motion Picture

• Bradley Cooper, Maestro
• Colman Domingo, Rustin
• Paul Giamatti, The Holdovers
• Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer
• Jeffrey Wright, American Fiction

Female Actor in a Leading Role – Motion Picture

• Annette Bening, Nyad
• Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Carey Mulligan, Maestro
• Margot Robbie, Barbie
• Emma Stone, Poor Things

Male Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture

• Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction
• Willem Dafoe, Poor Things
• Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon
• Robert Downey, junior, Oppenheimer
• Ryan Gosling, Barbie

Female Actor in a Supporting Role – Motion Picture

• Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer
• Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
• Penélope Cruz, Ferrari
• Jodie Foster, Nyad
• Da’Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

• Barbie
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
• John Wick: Chapter 4
• Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One

SAG TELEVISION NOMINEES

Drama Series Ensemble

• The Crown
• The Gilded Age
• The Last of Us
• The Morning Show
• Succession

Comedy Series Ensemble

• Abbott Elementary
• Barry
• The Bear
• Only Murders in the Building
• Ted Lasso

Male Actor in a TV movie or Miniseries

• Matt Bomer, Fellow Travelers
• Jon Hamm, Fargo
• David Oyelowo, Lawmen: Bass Reeves
• Tony Shalhoub, Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie
• Steven Yeun, Beef

Female Actor in a TV movie or Miniseries

• Uzo Aduba, Painkiller
• Kathryn Hahn, Tiny Beautiful Things
• Brie Larson, Lessons in Chemistry
• Bel Powley, A Small Light
• Ali Wong, Beef

Male Actor in a Drama Series

• Brian Cox, Succession
• Billy Crudup, The Morning Show
• Kieran Culkin, Succession
• Matthew Macfadyen, Succession
• Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us

Female Actor in a Drama Series

• Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
• Elizabeth Debicki, The Crown
• Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us
• Keri Russell, The Diplomat
• Sarah Snook, Succession

Male Actor in a Comedy Series

• Brett Goldstein, Ted Lasso
• Bill Hader, Barry
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach, The Bear
• Jason Sudeikis, Ted Lasso
• Jeremy Allen White, The Bear

Female Actor in a Comedy Series

• Alex Borstein, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Rachel Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
• Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary
• Ayo Edebiri, The Bear
• Hannah Waddingham, Ted Lasso
• Stunt Ensemble in a TV Series
• Ahsoka
• Barry
• Beef
• The Last of Us
• The Mandalorian