’12 Years a Slave’ tops SAG Awards with 4 nominations

LOS ANGELES — Steve McQueen’s historic saga “12 Years a Slave” topped the nominations list for the 20th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Wednesday, cementing it as a solid Academy Awards prospect with four nominations.

John Wells’ dysfunctional family adaptation “August: Osage County,” which hits theaters Dec. 25 and features an all-star cast including Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, also picked up awards-season momentum with three nominations, including outstanding performance for the cast.

The SAG nominations are one of Hollywood’s first major announcements on the long road to the March 2 Oscars. Also key are the Golden Globe nominations, which will be revealed Thursday morning.

Noticeably absent from Wednesday’s SAG lineup were Spike Jonze’s futuristic computer love story “Her,” starring Joaquin Phoenix; Ethan and Joel Coen’s folk scene-focused dark comedy “Inside Llewyn Davis”; Richard Linklater’s raw and romantic “Before Midnight”; and Martin Scorsese’s stockbroker story “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which features performances by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill.

Robert Redford, as a resourceful sailor in “All is Lost,” was also snubbed, as was Ryan Coogler’s numbing injustice tale “Fruitvale Station” and the film’s lead actor, Michael B. Jordan.

Joining the SAG list for outstanding cast performance were Jean-Marc Vallee’s AIDS drama “Dallas Buyers Club” and the sweeping White House servant tale “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” Both films topped the list with three nominations each.

Also nominated for cast performance was David O. Russell’s 1970s con-artist romp “American Hustle.” And the film scored an individual supporting nomination for Jennifer Lawrence.

In addition to its cast honors, “12 Years a Slave” attained individual acting nominations, including male lead for Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free African-American man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery, Michael Fassbender for supporting actor as a ruthless slave owner and Lupita Nyong’o for female support as a favored fieldworker.

“Osage County” had individual nominations for Streep for female lead as the conflicted matriarch in the adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play, and Roberts for supporting female actor as the domineering daughter.

Additional best-actress nominees included Cate Blanchett as a fallen socialite in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine,” Sandra Bullock as a brave astronaut in Alfonso Curaon’s lost-in-space odyssey “Gravity,” Judi Dench as a woman in search of her son in “Philomena” and Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers in the Disney comedy “Saving Mr. Banks.”

June Squibb, as a spitfire in Alexander Payne’s small-town comedy “Nebraska,” and Oprah Winfrey, as the bold Gloria Gaines in “The Butler,” also received supporting role nominations.

“Dallas Buyers Club” scored nominations for best actor for Matthew McConaughey as a HIV-positive rodeo-lover and Jared Leto for supporting actor as a transgender. Forest Whitaker received the lead actor nomination for his portrayal of a long-time White House butler in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.”

Others bringing in lead-actor nominations included Bruce Dern for his portrayal of an aging dreamer in “Nebraska” and Tom Hanks, who plays the title role in Paul Greengrass’ Somali pirate story.

Ron Howard’s Formula One tale “Rush” earned two nominations, including stunt ensemble and a supporting actor bid for Daniel Bruhl.

Among TV ensemble contenders were HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” and “Game of Thrones,” AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” PBS’s “Downton Abbey” and Showtime’s “Homeland” for drama, and NBC’s “30 Rock,” Netflix’s “Arrested Development,” CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory,” ABC’s “Modern Family” and HBO’s “Veep” in the comedy category.

“New Girl” star Zooey Deschanel, Mindy Kaling of “The Mindy Project” and “Louie” creator and star Louis C.K. were all snubbed on nominations in the comedy field.

The SAG Awards will be presented Jan. 18 in Los Angeles.