Manchester by the Sea sails ahead with Screen Actors Guild noms

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.

Its 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 Damien Chazelle's candy-coloured musical La La Land, which scored nominations only for its leads, Emma Stone and London, Ont.-native Ryan Gosling.

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

Helpful predictor for acting Oscars

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, Fences' Viola Davis, 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 were Affleck, Gosling, Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge), Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) and Denzel Washington (Fences).

On the supporting side for actors, Moonlight's Marershala Ali continues to dominate the category with another nomination. He'll be competing against Manchester's Hedges, Jeff Bridges for Hell or High Water, Dev Patel for Lion and Hugh Grant for Florence Foster Jenkins.

Also missing were nominations for Jeff Nichols' fact-based civil rights film Loving and its leads Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton, as well as for French actress Isabelle Huppert, who has won many of the critics' awards for her performance in the edgy Elle.

TV newcomers make a splash

On the television side, series newcomers The Crown, Westworld and Stranger Things all picked up three nominations each, alongside Emmys favourite The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story and Game of Thrones. Both Winona Ryder and Millie Bobby Brown will be up against one another in the same acting category for Netflix's Stranger Things.

The streaming service utterly dominated television nominations with 17 total, followed by HBO's 13 and, finally, a broadcast network — ABC with a distant five.

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. 

A list of the nominees for the 23rd annual Screen Actors Guild Awards:

Life achievement award: Lily Tomlin.

MOVIES

Actor: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea; Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge; Ryan Gosling, La La Land; Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic; Denzel Washington, Fences.

Actress: Amy Adams, Arrival; Emily Blunt, The Girl on the Train; Natalie Portman, Jackie; Emma Stone, La La Land; Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins.

Supporting actor: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight; Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water; Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins; Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea; Dev Patel, Lion.

Supporting actress: Viola Davis, Fences; Naomie Harris, Moonlight; Nicole Kidman, Lion; Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures; Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea.

Cast: Captain Fantastic, Fences, Hidden Figures, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight.

TELEVISION

Actor in a TV movie or miniseries: Riz Ahmed, The Night Of; Sterling K. Brown, The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story; Bryan Cranston, All the Way; John Turturro, The Night Of; Courtney B. Vance, The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

Actress in a TV movie or miniseries: Bryce Dallas Howard, Black Mirror; Felicity Huffman, American Crime; Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill; Sarah Paulson, The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story; Kerry Washington, Confirmation.

Actor in a drama series: Sterling K. Brown, This is Us; Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones; John Lithgow, The Crown; Rami Malek, Mr. Robot; Kevin Spacey, House of Cards.

Actress in a drama series: Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things; Claire Foy, The Crown; Thandie Newton, Westworld; Winona Ryder, Stranger Things; Robin Wright, House of Cards.

Actor in a comedy series: Anthony Anderson, Black-ish; Tituss Burgess, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Ty Burrell, Modern Family; William H. Macy, Shameless; Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent.

Actress in a comedy series: Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black; Jane Fonda, Grace and Frankie; Ellie Kemper, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep; Lily Tomlin, Grace and Frankie.

Ensemble in a drama series: The Crown, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, Westworld.

Ensemble in a comedy series: The Big Bang Theory, Black-ish, Modern Family, Orange is the New Black, Veep.