Viola Davis, Angela Bassett among SAG nominees

NEW YORK (AP) — In nominations to its 29th annual awards, the Screen Actors Guild heaped honors on the casts of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” while throwing some curve balls into the Oscar race.

The awards, voted on by the Hollywood actors’ guild SAG-AFTRA, were announced Wednesday on Instagram Live by Haley Lu Richardson (“The White Lotus”) and Ashley Park (“Emily in Paris”). The nominees for the guild’s top award, best ensemble, are: “Babylon,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “The Fabelmans” and “Women Talking.”

Up for best performance by an female actor in a leading role are: Cate Blanchett (“Tár”), Viola Davis (“The Woman King”), Ana de Armas (“Blonde”), Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”) and Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”).

Nominated for best performance by a male actor in leading role are: Austin Butler (“Elvis”), Colin Farrell (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Brendan Fraser (“The Whale”), Bill Nighy (“Living”) and Adam Sandler (“Hustle”).

The SAG Awards are considered one of the most reliable Oscar bellwethers. Seldom does a movie or performance not nominated by the screen actors end up winning at the Academy Awards. Actors make up the biggest percentage of the film academy, so their choices have the largest sway.

Usually, missing out on a SAG ensemble nomination means a film isn’t going to win best picture at the Academy Awards. Last year, all the top winners — the cast of “CODA,” Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, Troy Kotsur and Ariana DeBose — repeated their wins at the Oscars.

That means the road ahead for either of the year’s top box-office hits — “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” — just got a lot harder. Neither would be likely to strike out with the actors guild and go on to win best picture. Each film came away with a nod from SAG for its stunt ensemble.

Coming off their wins at the Golden Globes on Tuesday night, “The Fabelmans” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” increasingly look like this year’s frontrunners, while “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (a co-leading five SAG nods) is also very much in the mix.

Gaining the most, perhaps, was Damien Chazelle’s extravagant silent film era ode “Babylon” and Sarah Polley’s feminist allegory “Women Talking.” Before landing best ensembled nominations (albeit no individual nods), both films had struggled to find traction this awards season.

In the crowded best actress field, notably overlooked by the actors guild was Michelle Williams, who has been lauded for performance in “The Fabelmans.” Williams, a four-time nominee, has never won an Oscar. Sandler’s nomination for the Netflix basketball drama “Hustle,” too, was less expected — though he gave one of the season’s best speeches as a tribute honoree at the Gotham Awards in November. That spot could have gone to Tom Cruise.

Nominated for male actor in a supporting role are: Paul Dano (“The Fabelmans”), Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Eddie Redmayne (“The Good Nurse”) and the category’s likely favorite, Ke Huy Quan for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Up for female actor in a supporting role are: Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), Hong Chau (“The Whale”), Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”), Jamie Lee Curtis (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) and Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”).

After losing their longtime broadcast home on TNT and TBS, the SAG Awards on Wednesday announced a new multiyear partnership with Netflix to stream the ceremony. This year’s show, to take place Feb. 26, will livestream on Netflix’s YouTube page. Next year’s SAG Awards will be streamed directly on Netflix.

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