Sinners wins top prize at Screen Actors Guild awards
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(From left) Actors Li Jun Li, Omar Benson Miller, Wunmi Mosaku, Delroy Lindo, Michael B Jordan, Jack O'Connell and Jayme Lawson with the Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A Motion Picture award for Sinners during the Actor Awards on March 1.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LOS ANGELES – Sinners scooped the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) gala in Los Angeles on March 1, tightening the race to the Oscars with two weeks to go before Hollywood’s awards season finale.
The honour at the newly rebranded Actor Awards recognises the ensemble cast of a film – a decision that sometimes, but not always, presages Academy Award Best Picture glory.
American film-maker Ryan Coogler’s vampire fable about the United States’ difficult racial history has stormed through awards season, garnering a record 16 Oscar nominations.
“We brought our hearts, we brought our souls, we brought our spirits to this endeavour,” said British-American actor Delroy Lindo, who plays blues musician player Delta Slim, as he accepted the award on behalf of the cast.
“This project is anointed. And from that standpoint, we are all anointed to be a part of this incredible journey created by the genius Ryan Coogler.”
It was the first time Sinners seized a top prize at a pre-Oscars gala, which have so far been largely swept by One Battle After Another, including at the Producers Guild Awards on Feb 28.
One Battle After Another, directed by American film-maker Paul Thomas Anderson, is a political thriller starring American actor Leonardo DiCaprio as a pot-addled former revolutionary forced back into the game when his teenage daughter goes missing.
Sinners may have had the upper hand with SAG-AFTRA, which represents more than 160,000 members – but that may not hold true in two weeks’ time for the Academy Awards.
“I’m not as confident that it’s going to win the Best Picture Oscar,” Mr Scott Feinberg, awards columnist for American magazine The Hollywood Reporter, told AFP ahead of the gala, after predicting the SAG award win.
“Those two awards have gone to different films just about as often as they have gone to the same film.”
Jordan bests Chalamet
Voting for the Academy Awards does not close until March 5, meaning the results on March 1 could be influential.
For Best Leading Actor, Michael B. Jordan pulled off a surprise win in a category that Timothee Chalamet (Marty Supreme) has dominated all season.
“I’m so honoured and privileged to be nominated in categories with people and actors and humans that I love,” Jordan said. “This ride has been unbelievable.”
For Best Leading Female Actor, there were no surprises when Jessie Buckley’s name was announced.
The Irish actress, who plays the grief-stricken wife of English playwright William Shakespeare mourning their son in Hamnet, has so far won nearly every prize on offer.
“I have been categorically changed by so many people in this room and beyond,” an emotional Buckley said. “To get to work with my heart in my hand and stand beside my brilliant, daring friends who show me their heart – I mean, what a way to spend a life.”
Jessie Buckley with the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for Hamnet.
PHOTO: AFP
Unpredictable
The race for the Oscar for best supporting performers became even cloudier after the gala on March 1.
Amy Madigan took home the statuette for Best Supporting Actress for her role as the sinister aunt in horror flick Weapons, following her success at the Critics Choice Awards.
“I wasn’t expecting this, but it does really mean a lot to me from my peers,” she said.
The major awards in this category this season have gone to different actresses – the Golden Globe to Teyana Taylor in One Battle After Another, and the BAFTA to Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners.
For the men, Sean Penn – who was not at the ceremony – won for his wild turn as Colonel Lockjaw in One Battle After Another, following on from his BAFTA win.
The Critics Choice Awards recognised Jacob Elordi for Frankenstein, and the Golden Globe went to Stellan Skarsgard in Sentimental Value, who did not even get an SAG nod.
The television side of the awards was dominated by Apple TV’s Hollywood satire The Studio, which won three statuettes, including a posthumous award for Catherine O’Hara, who died on Jan 30.
Series co-creator Seth Rogen, who accepted the award on her behalf, said he felt fortunate to have spent time with the actress. The Hollywood stalwart is known for her work in the Home Alone films (1990 and 1992) and TV sitcom Schitt’s Creek (2015 to 2020).
“Something that I’ve just been marvelling at over the last few weeks was really her ability to be generous and kind and gracious, while never ever minimising her own talents,” Rogen said.
The evening also honoured veteran Harrison Ford with a Life Achievement Award for memorable roles that have included Han Solo in the Star Wars franchise (1977 to present) and the titular character in the Indiana Jones franchise (1981 to 2023).
“I feel incredibly grateful for this kind attention. But to be clear, I also am quite humbled,” said Ford, whose big break came in American film-maker George Lucas’ American Graffiti (1973).
“I’m in a room of actors, many of whom are here because they’ve been nominated to receive a prize for their amazing work, while I’m here to receive a prize for being alive,” the 83-year-old said to laughs. AFP
