31st Screen Actors Guild Awards: Timothée Chalamet triumphs with best actor award
The papal thriller ‘Conclave’ won ‘Best Ensemble’ and Timothée Chalamet took ‘Best Actor’ at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards, a pair of twists that added a few final wrinkles to an unusually unpredictable awards season.
In winning the guild’s top award, Edward Berger’s Vatican-set drama triumphed just as the Catholic Church was praying for the health of Pope Francis, who remained in critical condition after an asthmatic respiratory crisis. ‘Conclave’ dramatises the fictional election of a new pope.
All the momentum going into the SAG Awards was with Sean Baker’s ‘Anora’, which had won with the producers, directors and writers' guilds. Now, with ‘Conclave’ winning with the actors and at the BAFTAs, what will nab ‘Best Picture’ in a week at the Academy Awards is, again, anyone’s guess.
“Wow. I’ve not been elected to speak. I’ve been designated to speak on behalf of our conclave, our ensemble,” said ‘Conclave’ star Ralph Fiennes taking the stage.
That wasn’t the only surprise in the ceremony held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and streamed live by ‘Netflix’. Chalamet’s ‘Best Actor’ win upset ‘The Brutalist’ star Adrien Brody and put the 29-year-old on course to possibly win his first Academy Award. Chalamet looked visibly surprised when his name was announced at the ceremony. But once he reached the stage, the ‘A Complete Unknown’ star spoke with composure and confidence.
“The truth is, this was 5 ½ years of my life. I poured everything into playing this incomparable artist Bob Dylan, a true American hero. It was the honour of a lifetime playing him,” said Chalamet.
He then added, “The truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats.”
The other Oscar favourites - Demi Moore, Zoe Saldaña and Kieran Culkin - all won. The SAG Awards are closely watched as an Oscar preview. Their picks don’t always align exactly with those of the film academy, but they often nearly do.
The last three ‘Best Ensemble’ winners - ‘Oppenheimer’, ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ and ‘CODA’ - all went on to win best picture at the Oscars. All but one of the SAG acting winners of the last three years has also won the Oscar. (The sole exception was Lily Gladstone, who won SAG’s award for female actor last year for ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’, but the Oscar trophy went to Emma Stone for ‘Poor Things’.)
Moore seemingly solidified her Oscar chances by following up her Golden Globe win for her performance in ‘The Substance’. Moore, whose campaign was boosted by her speech about being pigeonholed as a ‘popcorn actress’, has traded awards with ‘Anora’ breakthrough Mikey Madison.
“What we believe is so much more powerful than what we think. The saying, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it’ - the reality is when I believe it, I will see it,” said Moore.
The SAG Awards unfolded against the backdrop of the aftermath of the devastating wildfires that began in early January. Those fires forced the guild to cancel its announcement of in-person nominations and launch a disaster relief fund for SAG-AFTRA members affected. Host Kristen Bell introduced attending firefighters as ‘the most attractive tables’ among a sea of stars.
Jane Fonda, 87, given the guild’s Life Achievement Award, provided the evening with its most passionate political moment. Fonda, a famed activist, spoke indirectly about President Donald Trump’s administration.
“We are in our documentary moment. This is it. And it’s not a rehearsal,” said Fonda.
Fonda added that ‘woke just means you give a damn about other people’.
Jean Smart, who had advocated for canceling award shows because of the wildfires, won ‘Best Female Actor’ in a comedy series for ‘Hacks’. Smart didn’t attend but participated in a pre-taped introduction like her character, Deborah Vance.
Martin Short, though he upset Jeremy Allen White to win ‘Best Male Actor’ in a comedy series for ‘Only Murders in the Building’. The ‘Hulu’ series also won the ‘Best Comedy' ensemble.
“Wait, we never win. This is so weird. Marty and Steve Martin aren’t here because, you know, they don’t really care,” said Selena Gomez.
Colin Farrell won his first SAG award, for his performance in ‘The Penguin’ and also became the first winner ever introduced, by Jamie Lee Curtis, as ‘the man who gave me COVID at the Golden Globes’. Farrell bounded to the stage and promptly responded, “Guilty as charged,” before blaming Brendan Gleeson for giving it to him.
The night’s first televised award went to Culkin, who has won just about every award in the category for ‘A Real Pain’. Gripping the SAG trophy, he could quickly tell the difference.
“It’s funny that the heaviest of all awards is given by actors,” said Culkin, who characteristically riffed his way through a rambling acceptance speech before swearing sincerity: “Believe it or not, this actually means a lot to me.”
Netflix’s ‘Emilia Pérez’, which has seen its awards hopes largely dashed by controversy over old tweets by lead actor Karla Sofia Gascón, took home the award for ‘Best Female Supporting Actor’, for Oscar favourite Saldaña.
For Netflix’s second time around streaming the awards, it inserted ads sporadically, like a traditional broadcast. Last year, downtimes were occupied by backstage interviews. Audio issues occasionally marred the broadcast, including brief interruptions of Fonda’s speech.
After romps at the Emmys and Golden Globes, ‘Shogun’ kept up its dominance. The FX series won the ‘Best Drama Series’ ensemble, along with acting awards for Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai for the ‘Best Stunt’ ensemble. The corresponding award for the film went to the stunt performer ode ‘The Fall Guy’.
