NEW YORK â âBlack Pantherâ took the top award at Sundayâs 25th Screen Actors Guild Awards, giving Ryan Cooglerâs superhero sensation its most significant awards-season honor yet and potentially setting up Wakanda for a major role at next monthâs Academy Awards.
The two leading Oscar nominees â âRomaâ and âThe Favouriteâ â were bypassed by the actors guild for a best ensemble field that also included âBlacKkKlansman,â âCrazy Rich Asians,â âBohemian Rhapsodyâ and âA Star Is Born.â Although âBlack Pantherâ wasnât nominated for any individual SAG Awards, it took home the final award at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
Before a stage full of actors, Chadwick Boseman tried to put into context the moment for the trailblazing âBlack Panther,â which also won for its stunt performer ensemble. âTo be young, gifted and black,â he said, quoting the Nina Simone song.
âWe know what itâs like to be told there isnât a screen for you to be featured on, a stage for you to be featured on. ⌠We know whatâs like to be beneath and not above. And that is what we went to work with every day,â said Boseman. âWe knew that we could create a world that exemplified a world we wanted to see. We knew that we had something to give.â
The win puts âBlack Pantherâ squarely in contention for best picture at the Academy Awards where itâs nominated for seven honors including best picture. Actors make up the largest percentage of the academy, so their preferences can have an especially large impact on the Oscar race. In the last decade the SAG ensemble winner has gone on to win best picture at the Academy Awards half of the time.
In the lead acting categories, Glenn Close and Rami Malek solidified themselves as front-runners with wins that followed their triumphs at the Golden Globes. The 71-year-old Close, a seven-time nominee but never an Oscar winner, won best actress for her performance in âThe Wife.â In her speech, she spoke about the power of film in a multiscreen world.
âOne of the most powerful things we have as human beings are two eyes looking into two eyes,â said Close. âFilm is the only art form that allows us the close-up.â
Malek, wining best actor over Christian Bale (âViceâ) and Bradley Cooper (âA Star Is Bornâ) for his performance in âBohemian Rhapsody,â seemingly sealed the Oscar many are predicting for him. Malekâs awards are mounting even as the director of âBohemian Rhapsody,â Bryan Singer, is facing multiple accusations of sexual assault with minors . Singer has denied the claims.
As he did at the Globes, Malek dedicated his award to Mercury.
âI get some power from him thatâs about stepping up and living your best life, being exactly who you want to be and accomplishing everything you so desire,â said Malek.
More surprising was Emily Bluntâs best supporting actress win for her performance in the horror thriller âA Quiet Place.â Blunt, also nominated by the guild for her lead performance in âMary Poppins Returns,â was visibly shocked. She wasnât among Tuesdayâs Oscar nominees for either film.
âGuys. That truly has blown my slicked hair back,â said Blunt, who praised her husband and âA Quiet Placeâ director John Krasinski as a âstunning filmmaker.â âThank you for giving me the part. You would have been in major trouble if you hadnât.â
Best supporting actor in a film went more as expected. Mahershala Ali, who won two years ago for âMoonlight,â won for his performance in Peter Farrellyâs interracial road trip âGreen Book.â
The Amazon series âThe Marvelous Mrs. Maiselâ won the first three awards handed out Sunday, sweeping the comedy series awards. It won best ensemble in a comedy series, as well as individual honors for Rachel Brosnahan and Tony Shalhoub, whose win was a surprise in a category that included Bill Hader (âBarryâ) and Michael Douglas (âThe Kominsky Methodâ).
âWe cannot thank you enough,â said Shalhoub, speaking for the cast. âStay with us.â
Tom Hanks presented the lifetime achievement award to Alan Alda , who in July revealed that he had been living with Parkinsonâs disease for more than three years. The 83-year-old actor took the stage to a standing ovation while the theme to âM.A.S.Hâ played. He said the award came at a reflective moment for him.
âI see more than ever now how proud I am to be a part of our brotherhood and sisterhood of actors,â said Alda. âIt may never have been more urgent to see the world through another personâs eyes. When a culture is divided so sharply, actors can help â a least a little â just by doing what we do. And the nice part is itâs fun to do it. So my wish for all of us is: Letâs stay playful.â
For the second time, the cast of âThis Is Usâ won best ensemble in a drama series. Other TV winners included Sandra Oh (âKilling Eveâ), Darren Criss for âAssassination of Gianni Versaceâ, Jason Bateman (âOzarkâ) and Patricia Arquette (âEscape at Dannemoraâ). Arquette thanked Special Counsel investigator Robert Mueller âand everyone working to make sure we have sovereignty for the United States of America.â
The SAG Awards had one thing the Oscars donât: a host. Emcee Megan Mullally kicked off the awards by tweaking their role among the many honors leading up to next monthâs Oscars. She called the SAGs âthe greatest honor an actor can receive this weekend.â
The show did not boost the chances of other Oscar hopefuls, âA Star Is Born,â âThe Favouriteâ and âBlacKkKlansman,â which were all shut out Sunday night.
Among the attendees Sunday was Geoffrey Owens, the âCosby Showâ actor who caused a stir when he was photographed working at a New Jersey Trader Joeâs. He was among the performers who began the show with the SAG Awardsâ typical âI am an actorâ testimony. The SAGs also made time for one reunion: âFatal Attractionâ stars Michael Douglas and Glenn Close joined each other on stage as presenters.
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