Oppenheimer continued to make his way through Hollywood’s awards season on Saturday, winning the top prize for best ensemble and garnering statuettes for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards. Screen (SAG).
As the Academy Awards approach, Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic, which has already won at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, has increasingly been seen as a favorite. The SAG Awards, one of the most accurate predictors for the Oscars, added to the momentum of Oppenheimer, the leading nominee for the Academy Awards, with 13 mentions.
The SAGs were broadcast live for the first time on Netflix, marking the first major Hollywood awards show broadcast exclusively on a streaming service. That did lead to some significant adjustments to the ancient traditions of such ceremonies. There were no advertisements. They could be said rude. (Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of Oprah, said Idris Elba.) And the winners were interviewed backstage.
Although the SAGs do not always mean the success of the Oscars. Two of the last five guild winners The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Black Panther lost at the Academy Awards. But in the past two years, the five major SAG awards – best ensemble and the four film acting winners – have corresponded with eventual Oscar winners, including the casts of Everything Everywhere All at Once. same time) and CODA. Voting for the Oscars ends on Tuesday.
That could mean that the SAGs offered a preview of the Oscars in two of the most contested contests: best actor and best actress.
The most exciting win of the night went to Lily Gladstone as lead actress in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. No category has been more hotly contested, with analysts split evenly between Gladstone and Emma Stone for Poor Things.
But Gladstone won on Saturday and the crowd erupted in applause. Stone also stood up and clapped vigorously. Gladstone’s case is perhaps the most at stake compared to any other Oscar contender this year. His victory would be the first for an American Indian.
We bring empathy to a world that needs it so much, Gladstone said. It is very easy to distance yourself. It is very easy to close down, to stop feeling. And all of us continue to feel brave. And that humanizes people. That brings people out of the shadows. Provides visibility.
Murphy and Paul Giamatti of The Holdovers had considered themselves in neck and neck competition. But Murphy has won at the SAGs, the BAFTAs and the Globes, suggesting he has a clear advantage heading into the Academy Awards.
Robert Downey Jr. and DaVine Joy Randolph won for their supporting performances, also cementing their status as Oscar favorites.
Downey Jr., who received his first SAG for a film role for his performance in Oppenheimer, smiled as he accepted the trophy.
Why love? Why now? Why do things seem to go my way? said Downey Jr. Unlike my fellow nominees, I will never tire of the sound of my own voice.
Randolph’s performance in Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers has been a breakthrough role for the 37-year-old actor. Now, he appears to be on the verge of winning the Academy Award.
To all the actors still waiting for their chance, let me tell you: your life can change in a day, Randolph said. “It’s not a question of if, but when. Keep going.
After more than two decades airing on TNT and TBS with a shrinking audience, Netflix acquired the broadcast rights to the SAGs in early 2023. Netflix, which has been a major force in awards season for years, turned out to be also host.
“I can’t wait to get home and have Netflix recommend this show to me based on all the other things I see myself in,” joked Elba, who served as the de facto emcee.
The TV awards largely went to the same shows that have swept the Emmys and Golden Globes: The Bear (best comedy series ensemble, Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri); Beef (Ali Wong, Steven Yeun); and the cast of Succession.
An exception was Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal, who won the award for best actor in a drama series for The Last of Us about a trio of Succession stars, thus becoming the first actor born in Latin America to be awarded in the category. .
This is wrong for several reasons, said Pascal, visibly surprised. I’m a little drunk. I thought I might get drunk.
This year’s SAG Awards follow a grueling, months-long strike in which the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) fought a bitter battle to improve conditions for its workers. Much of the work stoppage was caused by changes in the film and television industry caused by streaming, a radical change led by Netflix.
Their solidarity energized workers around the world, triggering what will always be remembered as the hot summer of work, said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA. This was a momentous moment in the history of our union.
Barbra Streisand held the audience in rapt attention as she accepted the lifetime achievement award, presented by Jennifer Aniston and Bradley Cooper.
“I remember dreaming of being an actress as a teenager sitting on my bed in Brooklyn with a jar of iced coffee and a movie magazine,” said Streisand, who recalled being transfixed by her first love, Marlon Brando.
Streisand also took a moment to celebrate Jewish Hollywood pioneers.
Now I dream of a world in which such prejudices are a thing of the past, he said.
Saturday’s ceremony is one of Netflix’s most significant forays into live streaming events. The streaming service has previously featured a Chris Rock live comedy special, a celebrity golf tournament and a live reunion episode of Love Is Blind, the latter of which was marred by technical difficulties. But the service is preparing for more, on March 3, it will broadcast a live tennis event.
