31st Screen Actors Guild Nominations

There was no live announcement this year because of the California wildfires but the nominations have been announced and are below. The five Best Cast nominees have likely secured Best Picture berths as all five have been in the conversation for nominations. The admiration of Wicked, with nominations in all but one category (but including the bubble Jonathan Bailey), show that the film has strong support in the acting community, so it’s not bound to be one of those big ensemble films that gets ignored.

The Brutalist took a big hit with only Adrien Brody nominated. No Guy Pearce. No Felicity Jones. No Cast nomination. That has to dampen its Oscar chances, though it doesn’t prevent it. Clarence Maclin didn’t make it into the supporting slate, which endangers but doesn’t end his campaign for a nomination while Pamela Anderson, Karla Sofía Gascón, Jeremy Strong, Monica Barbaro, and Jamie Lee Curtis all got major boosts with these citations. September 5 has been underperforming all season and this is the kind of place that would have resuscitated its flagging campaign but it’s probably out. Nickel Boys never expected to play here, so its absence isn’t a bad thing but The Piano Lesson also could have made it in with the right support.

Other actors whose campaigns were seriously injured by misses here: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Angelina Jolie, and Nicole Kidman have been showing up lots of places and with Jolie and Kidman being so popular, their absence is probably a death knell to their Oscar chances. Jean-Baptiste was already missing key nominations, so this slight is expected. She’s likely to be the most honored actor of the year without an Oscar nomination. The Best Actor slate is almost identical to the one we’ve all been expecting for most of the season, so it’s probably set. Jesse Eisenberg, Hugh Grant, and Sebastian Stan aren’t likely to improve on this. This is especially true of Grant who has the kind of film and performance that MUST get a high profile nomination like this to keep the campaign going. In Best Supporting Actor, aside from the aforementioned Maclin and Pearce, Denzel Washington is the major exclusion here. As popular as he is, it’s shocking for him to miss out entirely. Norton and Strong both get boosts to their Oscar chances while Bailey is probably lucky to have made the list and I suspect he’ll get dropped for one of the other two. Strong as well but he at least has more precursor nominations on his side. Finally, the most volatile Best Supporting Actress slate. Jones certainly hit a speed bump but so too did Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. Joan Chen, Selena Gomez, Natasha Lyonne, Carol Kane, Margaret Qualley, and Isabella Rossellini were hurt by these selections. Rossellini and Qualley are the two who must needed this citation to carry on. Qualley because The Substance can’t have a big day without her being in tow and Rossellini because of her status as an elder statesman. Barbaro and Curtis clearly had a good day but Curtis, like Pamela Anderson in Best Actress, seem to be the kinds of nominations that SAG goes for but Oscar doesn’t. Barbaro is another but is in a strange situation being part of a well-liked film that got the second-most nominations.

Nominations Tallies

(5) Wicked
(4) A Complete Unknown
(3) Anora, Emilia Pérez
(2) Conclave, The Last Showgirl
(1) The Apprentice, The Brutalist, Deadpool & Wolverine, Dune: Part Two, The Fall Guy, Gladiator II, The Piano Lesson, Queer, A Real Pain, Sing Sing, The Substance

The Nominations

Best Cast

Anora
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Pérez
Wicked

Best Actor

Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Daniel Craig – Queer
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave

Best Actress

Pamela Anderson – The Last Showgirl
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance

Best Supporting Actor

Jonathan Bailey – Wicked
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice

Best Supporting Actress

Monica Barbaro – A Complete Unknown
Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl
Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson
Ariana Grande-Butera – Wicked
Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez