‘Oppenheimer’ leads SAG nominations as gala moves to Netflix

FRESH from its wins at the Golden Globes, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer on Wednesday (Jan 10) topped the nominations for the influential Screen Actors Guild Awards, which are key to Oscars success.

The SAG Awards, voted on by Hollywood actors, are likely to enjoy a profile boost of their own this year as they are broadcast globally on Netflix – an awards show first for the world’s biggest streamer.

Oppenheimer, which tells the story of the inventor of the atomic bomb, earned nods for Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt, as well as “outstanding performance by a cast” – the SAG Awards’ top prize.

Nolan’s three-hour epic, which earned nearly US$1 billion and received rave reviews from critics, is rapidly becoming the clear favourite for the Academy Awards in March.

Barbie, the other half of last summer’s Barbenheimer box office phenomenon, and the year’s highest grossing film, picked up nominations for Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and overall cast.

The surreal comedy based on the wildly popular doll also picked up an additional nomination for its stunt performers.

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The other films with three acting nominations were Martin Scorsese’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon – despite Leonardo DiCaprio missing out – and scathing satire American Fiction, starring Jeffrey Wright.

Both movies are nominated for best cast, with musical remake The Color Purple closing out that category.

Elsewhere, Globes winners Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph picked up nods for The Holdovers, as did Emma Stone and her co-star Willem Dafoe for Poor Things.

Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan were nominated for Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro.

But all three films missed out on nominations for outstanding cast.

The winner of that prize has gone on to win best picture at the Oscars in three of the past four years (Parasite, CODA and Everything Everywhere All at Once).

The SAG Awards also honour television, with Succession on top with five nods, followed by The Bear, The Last of Us and Ted Lasso, all on four.

The 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will take place in Los Angeles on Feb 24. AFP