‘Manchester by the Sea’ dominates Screen Actors Guild noms

(AP) — “La La Land” may have hit all the right notes for the Golden Globes, but the Screen Actors Guild sung a different tune Wednesday, when Kenneth Lonergan’s New England-set family drama “Manchester by the Sea” picked up the most nominations. It’s leading four nods included best ensemble cast, best actor for Casey Affleck and best supporting performances for Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges.

Barry Jenkins’ coming-of-age tale “Moonlight” and Denzel Washington’s August Wilson adaptation “Fences” followed with three each, including ensemble. They’ll be competing with the fact-based NASA crowd-pleaser “Hidden Figures” and the family drama “Captain Fantastic.” Shut out of the coveted ensemble award was the musical “La La Land,” which scored nominations only for its leads, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling.

Sophia Bush and Common announced the nominees on Wednesday morning in West Hollywood, California.

In the past, SAG nominees have served as helpful predictors of who will land nominations in the four Oscar acting categories.

While some categories looked generally as expected, like the supporting actress nods for Williams, “Moonlight’s” Naomie Harris, “Lion’s” Nicole Kidman and “Hidden Figures'” Octavia Spencer, others were quite surprising.

In the lead actress category, Annette Bening failed to pick up a nomination for “20th Century Women.” Bening had been an assumed lock for an Oscar nomination and had been considered a top contender against front-runners Natalie Portman (“Jackie”) and Stone (“La La Land”), both of whom were recognized. Instead, SAG nominated Emily Blunt for the adapted thriller “The Girl on the Train,” which scored tepid reviews from critics and had not been seen as a major awards contender. Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”) and Amy Adams (“Arrival”) were also nominated.

Lead actors nominated are Affleck, Gosling, Andrew Garfield (“Hacksaw Ridge”), Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”) and Denzel Washington.

Also missing were Jeff Nichols’ fact-based civil rights film “Loving” and its leads Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton.

On the television side, newcomers “The Crown,” ”Westworld” and “Stranger Things” picked up three nominations each, alongside “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” and “Game of Thrones.”

The 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be broadcast live on TNT and TBS on Jan. 29 from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.