Quick Notes on the SAG Awards
Sunday, January 21, 2018 at 11:57PM by Nathaniel R
The Screen Actors Guild Awards are so frontloaded, you know. Their famous tradition of beginning the awards show with mini monologues from thespians that always end with "I am _____ and I am an actor" is bliss. But after this hokey and delicious ritual, the awards often feel like something of a chore unless one of the winners gets kooky (remember when Meryl ran through the crowd with her arms up like she was a game show contestant?) because they so often merely rubber-stamp all the other awards shows or themselves. Note Allison Janney's 8 wins here over the years.
Kristen Bell served as the first ever host and was funny and sparsely deployed (since the show doesn't really need a host since it's all just awards-awards-awards. But bless her for spiking the punch right at the start.
I am Kristen Bell and I am a narcissist. Sorry... I am an actor. And tonight also your host"
After the jump a few notes from the show and the list of winners.
Allison Janney got to do one of the intros (though Tracee Ellis Ross's was the funniest) and she was wonderful. But shouldn't they have gone with people who weren't going to win for some variety of camera time? And isn't it strange that no matter how open any Oscar race is the televised winners are so often set in stone from the first ceremony (SAG basically xeroxed the Globes but for their inability to let go of Veep)
Geena and Susan will be seated together til the end of time and we're okay with this because Thelma & Louise forever.
Connie Britton and Mandy Moore got all excited about opening the envelope and did little gleeful suspense gestures but come on ladies. Julia Louis-Dreyfus wins every year at SAG and at the Emmys. There's no suspense whatsoever! (Thank god for the Globes who are willing to vary up the winners frequently).
This reaction shot of Willem Dafoe losing to Sam Rockwell made us so sad here at TFE HQ. It was supposed to be his year and now he's not going to win anything. He can't even win the Spirit Award because he was weirdly snubbed there so Rockwell will even take that prize. It's not that Rockwell isn't a fine actor but we object on principle to anyone winning every prize unless they are so stupendous that it feels like an all-timer performance ... and guess what? Those don't happen very often.
Alexander Skarsgård wins again. He makes a funny about his fate saying that the thespians have spoken and determined the tall guy from True Blood is a better actor than Robert De Niro.
Personal Favorite Moment of the Night: Marisa Tomei thanking Rosanna Arquette for being a silence breaker and Arquette listing some of the other women who got the ball rolling on calling out sexual harassment in Hollywood (Asia Argento, Ashley Judd, Anthony Rapp, Mira Sorvino, Anabella Sciorra, Daryl Hannah, Olivia Munn, "so many" ). The only thing that would have made the moment better was Laura Dern hopping on stage and repeating her "restorative justice" demand. It's crazy to have everyone looking at the history of 90s actressing again in such a sad light.
Nicole Kidman had the flu but gave a smashing speech about actresses still being viable in Hollywood after 40 years old and what a new and beautiful development that is. She also listed some of her elders as acting heroes (Sarandon, Lange, Streep, Dench, Huppert). Wonderful wonderful wonderful.
Legendary Rita Moreno came out to present the Lifetime Achievement to Morgan Freeman. She reminds the audience that she wanted reciprocate because he introduced her when she won that same prize. They've known each other for 50 years and she even did a little imitation of one of his skits on Electric Company in the 1970s.
I'll take a Lady Bird reaction shot anywhere I can get it since it seems their winning streak came to an end with the Globes (*sniffle*)
And the Actor goes to... Gary Oldman.
Frances McDormand takes Best Actress again -- the other actresses seem genuinely happy for her (though Allison Janney gives Margot Robbie a hug) -- and does a funny walk up to the stage recalling her Oscar win so many years ago. At the close of the speech she surprises by suggesting that some younger actors 'coming up' should be winning "they need doorstops, too".
For some reason she's also the spokesperson for the Ensemble Win, too. She keeps it brief. Good night.
Complete Winners List
Film
Ensemble Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
Stunt Ensemble Wonder Woman
Actress Frances McDormand
Actor Gary Oldman
Supporting Actress Allison Janney
Supporting Actor Sam Rockwell
TV
Ensemble Comedy Veep
Ensemble Drama This is Us
Stunt Ensemble Game of Thrones
Actress Drama Claire Foy, The Crown
Actor Drama Sterling K Brown, This is Us
Actress Comedy Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep
Actor Comedy William H Macy, Shameless
Actress Limited Series Nicole Kidman, Big Little Lies
Actor Limited Series Alexander Skarsgard, Big Little Lies
Lifetime Achievement Morgan Freeman
Reader Comments (90)
Can we skip to the 2019 Oscars now
Im ready to defend If Beale Street Could Talk against the backlash to its award sweeps
Lando , more voters have Netflix than Hulu is my guess :) (re Foy / Moss)
@Nathaniel
Don"t you think a second oscar for Kidman is pretty much an inevitability now?
I don't think she"s ever been more respected in the industry than she is currently. It"s gone above what we once considered her 2001-2004 peak era. I like her chances next season for either lead in Destroyer (extreme deglam) or supporting in Boy Erased.
As a fan, I've been happy to see Kidman sweep, especially given the amount of negative press she's gotten over the years. It feels like her resilience has paid off. She was great in BLL and she's been consistently giving strong speeches and fashion moments during awards season--I thought she looked gorgeous last night. That said, it would have been nice to see Witherspoon win the Golden Globe or something. I preferred Kidman on the show, but all of the actresses were great and it feels a little strange that only Dern and Kidman have been singled out when Witherspoon was so instrumental in the show even happening and gave such a strong performance. Season 2 seems dicey given that it's a new director and they won't be working off a novel this time--there's no guarantee that the show will be up for awards next time around if it's a let-down.
Aaron--Co-signed. I thought Robbie was absolute dynamite in I, Tonya. I had never seen her in a film before, and I was beyond impressed. I really like Janney as an actress, but I was surprised that so many people left I, Tonya thinking that Janney was the best thing about it. I certainly did not. I'd prefer a Metcalf victory, but it's clear that that is not happening. She swept the critics awards, but Janney has won both major televised awards and has killed it--great speeches, she knows how to charm a room, and she's probably worked with every film actor out there. Oh, and bringing the bird to the Golden Globes? She's been working it this awards season. She's got it in the bag. She's awesome, so it's hard to begrudge her, but I wish it would be Metcalf.
Re: Predicting a second Oscar for Kidman ... current success is no real predictor of future success in Hollywood. I'm just enjoying this moment while it is here. After winning at Cannes and the Academy Awards a few years back, Julianne Moore seemed poised for another round of triumphs, and nothing she has done in the last few years has clicked in a major way (even though there have been some nice moments). Winslet was on fire until Mildred Pierce and then struggled to connect again until Steve Jobs, and her Blue Jasmine moment has totally blown up in her face. So you never really know.
Most of the veteran actresses fans celebrate on here are super resilient, so there's always the possibility of a resurgence after a career dip
Superlatives like "the best performance of the year in any medium" are a bit ridiculous. No one consumes all the culture there is to consume. She gave your favorite performance of the year. Great. The fact that you agree with SAG isn't anything to brag about.
Suzanne, I watch a lot of tv / film but you are right, and to be clear that was stated as my opinion and not a fact. (also it was sort of said in a lighthearted way, not everyone has to agree with my opinion how boring would that be).
Also, I wasn't bragging :)
Nicole Kidman's clean sweep gives me life. For one thing, she earned it. For another, it ended last night so everyone can calm down.
There has never, once, been industry consensus that she was the best of the year in anything—until now. That's big, overdue and richly deserved.
Gotcha Rami (I'm sorry sounded a bit bitchy there, probably because I am still annoyed about 3 Billboards sweeping).
Well not only Elizabeth Moss lost best actress, but Handmaid's Tale also lost ensemble to This is Us.
Maybe there's fatigue or it didnt resonate that much with actors as it did with critics/general audience.
I am over the cranky Frances McDormand act.
We can't have a female president but Kidman is finally able to move an eyebrow and she gets all the awards. I just don't get the world anymore.
This all feels too easy. All four acting categories have a clear frontrunner (McDormand, Oldman, Janney, Rockwell) and clear alternatives (Ronan, Chalamet, Metcalf, Dafoe).
It's never this simple. Something weird is bound to happen.
If I could say one nice thing about Janney, I think she's easily my favorite among the SAG film winners. Character, film, narrative, and performance I'd immensely enjoy having an Oscar if not for the fact that Metcalf is so very much my favorite of the nominees in any category. I hope hope hope hope hope Laurie sneaks away with it, she's the only reason I'd be upset a consummate vet like Janney would become an Oscar winner.
I also swept.
Well, at least Best Picture is still interesting.
@Nick T.
My thoughts exactly.
and you did everything wrong!
I mean, I get WHY Rockwell is happening, but I don't love it. He has a much bigger part than Dafoe, and he has his film's major character arc - even McDormand doesn't have an arc and she's the actual lead (her character is the same at the end vs. the beginning - major screenplay oversight). Dafoe is great but less screen time and no arc make his performance SEEM slighter, whereas you see all the work Rockwell is doing to play down to his character.
Temple -- Are you on Twitter?
Wow, all I can add is that I ALSO underwhelmed by the film winners. It DOES remind me of when the Oscar winners were Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne, Patricia Arquette and JK Simmons. What a giant bore. Does anyone still watch those films? Doubtful.
My theory about Billboards is that 1) it is a bad movie, 2) it "speaks to" people's intense anger about Trump winning, even though the movie ends up with no conclusion and the crime is unsolved. What a racist piece of crap.
@Jeremy, I don't think it will sweep even if it is good. Especially in this current climate.
"Better to go with a film where the whole tapestry is working together and it's not so focused on the leads..."
Nat, I would argue that most films are focused on their leads, unless they're ensemble pieces (like Mudbound). I adore Lady Bird and that cast is exquisite, but at the end of the day, the film is mostly focused on Saoirse Ronan's Lady Bird. Except for a detour or two, everything in the film revolves around her, even when other stories threaten to overwhelm that, she's at the center of everything (it would've been my choice too, but let's be fair here). Same with Get Out, which does more with its ensemble because they're together in one location for most of the film, but except for the opening scene and Rod telling the story to Detective LaToya, it's mostly told through Chris and the way he perceives what's going on around him.
As for the cast of Three Billboards, yes, it's mostly focused on McDormand, Harrelson and Rockwell (they all dominate their portions of the film), but I would argue the ensemble really shines and does a lot to elevate some patchy sections. I particularly like John Hawkes, who bursts into the film at a key moment to contextualize so much of Mildred, and I think Samara Weaving is hilarious. And, even though his character gets some of the more awkward moments in the film, Peter Dinklage sells the hell out of them (because he's Peter Dinklage and he's awesome). I also thought Abbie Cornish was quite good for what she had to work with (her one scene with McDormand is particularly moving), Lucas Hedges is also quite impressive (of course, it helps that I saw this right after Lady Bird and got a sense of his range as a young actor, especially when you add his Manchester by the Sea work) and Caleb Landry Jones had quite a body of work this year, so I don't mind him getting a trophy.
So, yeah, I get why everyone's upset here (though I must say, the negativity on the Internet during awards seasons is more predictable than any single awards season ever has been) and I'm rooting for The Shape of Water to win Best Picture (if it can't be Lady Bird or Call Me By Your Name), but I actually like Three Billboards and I really like this cast. It's the same reason why I'm cool with This Is Us winning Best Cast even if I wouldn't give the show a Best Drama Series award. This Is Us is a show where the cast does so much of the heavy lifting to make it better than it probably would have been otherwise (though the second season is pretty impressive so far, at least the latest episode was).
I kind of doubt the SAG voters watched the movies. They probably thought they were voting for TV winners, since Three Billboards and I, Tonya are like bad TV movies. Janney in particular is an awards hog, and this is her 5th(?) SAG award. Sad face.
Ugh, I am not a fan of 3 Billboards. I'd prefer any other movie in the race over it.
And I hate to think that the "women are angry" movement makes people think that they should vote for the angriest, most profane female performances? I just don't get it.
For being star driven, this was the most amateurish show ever.
Why can't stars memorize acceptance speeches and learn to walk on and off a stage???
That male and female categories are ridiculous. Main actors mingled with h supporting actors
No wonder Alexander was baffled.
Reading all of the Three Billboards rants, it feels like I saw a different movie. Is depicting a vile, bigoted character onscreen verboten? Is it his "redemption arc" that so many find too pat? Three Billboards is by no means a perfect film -- it has problematic elements, to be sure -- but it's a much better, well-executed film than, say, Crash. Lady Bird (or, really, Battle of the Sexes) is my pick for Best Ensemble, but it's not like SAG awarded it to drivel like I, Tonya.
I think the "political backlash" against Three Billboards is imaginary.
There's a perfectly awardable Willem Dafoe right there and everyone's making a point to honor Rockwell. If his character arc was prohibitively divisive or unacceptable to critics, actors, or the industry at large, he wouldn't be getting singled out.
Awards groups reset the entire course of the Best Supporting Actor category to give Rockwell the momentum. And people are trying to argue that his character will be the downfall of the entire film's campaign? Wishful thinking, in my opinion.
While the SAG Awards did not choose the performances I would have, I'm going to revel in the fact that Nicole FINALLY got herself a SAG! And for such a beautiful, strong, nuanced, layered performance.
I agree that her second Oscar is a question of when, not if anymore. Maybe it will be much sooner since she has some pretty exciting performances ahead of her.
YAY FOR NICOLE
This happens every year. The critics award the best (often the most subtle), and then the awards shows veer off to the most popular, or the perceived most deserved from years of service, etc. It's why we have Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, instead of Emanuelle Riva.
Janney and Rockwell are like the class clowns that people like and want to give awards too. They have heavily campaigned for their awards. I do think their performances are corny.
For Frances, I am okay with this because she will be a double-winner like a Jessica Lange, even if her film will be regarded as trash in the future.
For Gary Oldman, whatever. I think people are whitewashing or forgetting all the horrible things he has said or done in the past.
A few takeaways
(1) Boy, did I misread Supporting Actress in the early going - I really felt that Laurie would run away with it.. Nathaniel was right, I was wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
(2) Speaking of which, are critics awards officially meaningless? On the one hand, it's encouraging to know that industry Awards-giving bodies aren't completely suggestible...but have they become too contrarian? Willem Dafoe thinks so.
(3) Speaking of which, the Dafoe reaction shot when Rockwell won was a bit cruel.
(4) I know I'm taking my life in my hands here. Nicole Kidman was very good in Big Little Lies, and I have no issue with her winning. But...my God...that is still one of the worst American accents I have ever heard. She slips in and out of it so much it's a wonder she doesn't get
whiplash. And my main quibble about it is that THIS IS NOT A NEW THING. It's been going on, literally for decades (I still cringe flashing back to the way she'd Aussie up the word "documinnery" over and over and over again in To Die For), so couldn't some brave person who loves her take her aside at some point and suggest she work with a dialect coach? Am I asking for the moon???
First time I've ever heard anybody complain about Kidman's American accent in To Die For. I thought it was flawless there, but then I didn't focus on that one word you were talking about, so bygones. If you go in looking for something, you are very likely to find it.
The woman has played about 40 American characters in her it career, to world class acclaim. Most of the time, I think she pretty much always nails it. She slipped into some Aussie vowels in BLL, but not enough to affect her performance whatsoever.
Generally, I think Kidman's accents are fantastic. Killing Of A Sacred Deer and The Beguiled showed how good she is at tackling completely different American dialects.
@Josh - Not to quibble too hard, but how do you know where Celeste (Kidman's character in BLL) is even from? She may live in Monterrey but could be from anywhere as, unless I missed something, her origins are never made clear. (For all we know Celeste could be, like Kidman herself, American-born, Aussie-raised—or vice versa.) An American accent can't be assumed or expected from Kidman in BLL.
Three bilboards is what you get if you take a bunch of issues that the academy loves throw them in a blender and handle them badly. No surprise why it's a frontrunner. As for the other acting categories, business as usual. I would say 4 for 4 on all shows, but I'm picking Hawkins at the Baftas. Still won't affect the Oscar race much.
FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLL: Judi Dench
Somebody's ass is getting fired today lolllll.
Yawn to this damn Oscar season.
I don't get it why many here seem to hate Kidman this much, same with Streep and a few other actresses. She gave a wonderful performance in BLL. Moreover, she bounced back with grace and tenacity after a series of critically-panned and uncommercial projects. I believe she's already inching towards those trailblazers she mentioned in her speech.
Doesn't SAG have 160,000 members? Funny that no one here is defending their choices. I do think they just mark a ballot whether they have seen the movie or not. For something like Billboards, it may have played well on TV from a screener. Same with I, Tonya. None of those movies have cracked $40 million, so once again, Hollywood is out of touch? Just wondering.
One never knows for sure, but I will say that 5 years ago the prospect of Nicole Kidman winning a second Oscar didn't seem very bright. But this past year has honestly changed that for me. Started the year with an Oscar nomination, went on to dominate Cannes, got some of the best reviews of her career for Big Little Lies, and had a clean sweep of the televised awards for it. As I said, who knows, but in terms of industry respect and public favor/visibility, you can definitely feel a shift, at least.. Big Little Lies was honestly such a brilliant career move. A perfect blend of great role and populism. Reminds me of when Julianne Moore did Game Change except this feels even louder.
She also needs to get back on stage in the US so she can get that Triple Crown status. ;)
I tuned out after the first 30 min, somewhere in the middle of SAG’s Pres. speech. I never thought I’d be over awards season, but here we are.