WILL SMITH BOOSTS OSCAR HOPES WITH SCREEN ACTORS GUILD NOMINATION

JOSHUA JEREJANUARY 13, 202208000

(BBC)Will Smith has boosted his hopes of winning his first Oscar after being nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award, one of Hollywood’s top prizes.

His nomination for playing Venus and Serena Williams’ father in King Richard comes days after he won the best drama actor prize at the Golden Globes.

But there was less good news for Kristen Stewart, who was surprisingly snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild.

She has been widely tipped for an Oscar for playing Princess Diana in Spencer.

Scroll down for the full list of SAG nominations.

But in a crowded best actress field, the US star’s performance as the Princess of Wales was overlooked by SAG in Hollywood’s dedicated acting awards.Rachel Zegler’s leading role in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story remake was also omitted from the SAG nominations, despite critical acclaim and a Golden Globe victory at the weekend.

The SAG Awards, which are voted for by other actors, are seen as one of the key Oscars precursors.

They aren’t as high-profile as the Oscars, Baftas or Golden Globe Awards, but their winners often match up with those chosen by the Academy.

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Since the guild’s annual ceremony began in 1994, 105 out of 108 Oscar winners for acting have also scored a SAG nomination – meaning Stewart and Zegler’s exclusions from Wednesday’s shortlists will be seen as a blow to their chances of getting their hands on an Oscar statuette in March.

Several other awards season contenders have also missed out on an SAG nomination, including Peter Dinklage for Cyrano, Alana Haim for Licorice Pizza, Frances McDormand for The Tragedy of Macbeth and Ciarán Hinds for Belfast.

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Western drama The Power of the Dog and Lady Gaga’s House of Gucci lead the film nominations overall, with three each.

Two different actresses are nominated for playing Aretha Franklin in separate projects – Jennifer Hudson for the film Respect and Cynthia Erivo for TV mini-series Genius: Aretha.

Bradley Cooper is nominated in the best supporting actor category for Licorice Pizza, despite playing a relatively small role in the film.

The film to have received perhaps the most significant boost from SAG is Apple TV’s Coda, about the hearing daughter of deaf parents who wants to become a singer.

Considered an outsider early in awards season, its two nominations from SAG will significantly increase its chances of showing up in the Oscar nominations next month.

British SAG nominees include Cumberbatch for The Power of the Dog, Andrew Garfield for Tick Tick… Boom! and Olivia Colman for The Lost Daughter.

Brits in the TV categories include Erivo, Kate Winslet (Mare of Easttown), Brian Cox (Succession) and Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple and Brett Goldstein (all for Ted Lasso).

The Bafta Awards longlists were also published on Wednesday. Don’t Look Up and West Side Story each earned 15 mentions, while Belfast and The Power of the Dog each scored 14.

Those longlists will now be whittled down to the Bafta nominations, which will be announced on 3 February.

The SAG Award Nominations In Full

Best ensemble

• Belfast
• Coda
• Don’t Look Up
• House of Gucci
• King Richard

Best actor

• Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos
• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
• Andrew Garfield – Tick, tick…BOOM!
• Will Smith – King Richard
• Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best actress

• Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye
• Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter
• Lady Gaga – House of Gucci
• Jennifer Hudson – Respect
• Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos

Best supporting actor

• Ben Affleck – The Tender Bar
• Bradley Cooper – Licorice Pizza
• Troy Kotsur – Coda
• Jared Leto – House of Gucci
• Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog

Best supporting actress

• Caitriona Balfe – Belfast
• Cate Blanchett – Nightmare Alley
• Ariana DeBose – Westside Story
• Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog
• Ruth Negga – Passing

Best stunt ensemble

• Black Widow
• Dune
• The Matrix Resurrections
• No Time to Die
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Best drama series ensemble

• The Handmaid’s Tale
• The Morning Show
• Squid Game
• Succession
• Yellowstone

Best drama series actor

• Brian Cox – Succession
• Billy Crudup – The Morning Show
• Kieran Culkin – Succession
• Lee Jung-jae – Squid Game
• Jeremy Strong – Succession

Best drama series actress

• Jennifer Aniston – The Morning Show
• Jung Ho-yeon – Squid Game
• Elisabeth Moss – The Handmaid’s Tale
• Sarah Snook – Succession
• Reese Witherspoon – The Morning Show

Best comedy series ensemble

• The Great
• Hacks
• The Kominsky Method
• Only Murders in the Building
• Ted Lasso

Best comedy series actor

• Michael Douglas – The Kominsky Method
• Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso
• Steve Martin – Only Murders in the Building
• Martin Short – Only Murders in the Building
• Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso

Best comedy series actress

• Elle Fanning – The Great
• Sandra Oh – The Chair
• Jean Smart – Hacks
• Juno Temple – Ted Lasso
• Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso

Best TV movie or mini-series actor

• Murray Bartlett – The White Lotus
• Oscar Isaac – Scenes from a Marriage
• Michael Keaton – Dopesick
• Ewan McGregor – Halston
• Evan Peters – Mare of Easttown

Best TV movie or mini-series actress

• Jennifer Coolidge – The White Lotus
• Cynthia Erivo – Genius: Aretha
• Margaret Qualley – Maid
• Jean Smart – Mare of Easttown
• Kate Winslet – Mare of Easttown