Chadwick Boseman received two posthumous nominations from the Screen Actros Guild Awards on Thursday. Boseman, who died last August at age 43, was nominated for his lead performance in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and also his supporting role in “Da 5 Bloods.”
The nominees, announced on Instagram Live, differed notably from the Golden Globe nominations announced the day before. While the Hollywood Foreign Press Association spurned films with largely non-white casts in its top awards, the Screen Actors Guild nominated a strikingly more diverse slate of nominees for its top award, best ensemble.
Up for best ensemble are Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” about a 1964 meeting of four Black icons; the August Wilson adaptation “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Lee Isaac Chung’s “Minari”; Spkie Lee’s Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods”; and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”
All of those films, except Sorkin’s, were overlooked Wednesday by the Globes. “Minari,” set in Arkansas but with largely Korean dialogue, was even ruled ineligible for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s top award, best dramatic film.
But the SAG Awards are considered a far better barometer for the Academy Awards. Actors account for the largest percentage of the film academy. Usually, the eventual Oscar best picture winner was previously nominated for best ensemble by the SAG Awards, though “Green Book” and “The Shape of Water” were two recent exceptions. Last year, Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” won the SAG’s top honor (and became the first non-English film to do so) before triumphing at the Oscars.
