Actors be bingin’ on The Crown, yo.
But that’s television. We’re just a movie blog around here.
As far as Oscar pre-cursors go for the 2016 Awards Season, the Screen Actors Guild spent the first half of the night following the script, the second half finishing the script, and then capping things off with a surprise twist.
The biggest question mark after nearly two months was the Best Actress race, but a win for Emma Stone in La La Land essentially forecast to Oscar statue engravers that they can start working on her name now. The Best Actor race was less clouded, a two-man heat between Casey Affleck (who’d been taking everything in sight for his role in Manchester by the Sea) and Denzel Washington, one of the most beloved and respected actors in the business. This year it looks like Hollywood’s going with beloved and respected, but no one would argue that Washington’s powerhouse turn in Fences isn’t worthy either.
The front-runners in the other two individual acting categories won, and since Best Picture shoe-in La La Land wasn’t nominated by SAG for Best Cast, it opened the door for the night’s biggest surprise at its final moment.
Instead of going to one of the other two leading award winners of the season – Manchester and Moonlight – the acting guild honored the very surprised but worthy ensemble of Hidden Figures, a film that can be recommended to everyone without qualification, hesitation, or reservation. Go see it.
Suffice it to say, #SAGsSoBlack
Also, if being lectured on politics by liberals is your jam, this year’s ceremony was quite the ideological dance party.
WINNERS for the 23rd SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS
Films of 2016
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Winner: Hidden Figures
– Captain Fantastic
– Fences
– Manchester by the Sea
– Moonlight
Outstanding Performance by a Leading Male Actor
Winner: Denzel Washington – Fences
– Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
– Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
– Ryan Gosling – La La Land
– Viggo Mortenson – Captain Fantastic
Outstanding Performance by a Leading Female Actor
Winner: Emma Stone – La La Land
– Amy Adams – Arrival
– Emily Blunt – The Girl on the Train
– Natalie Portman – Jackie
– Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins
Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Male Actor
Winner: Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
– Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
– Hugh Grant – Florence Foster Jenkins
– Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea
– Dev Patel – Lion
Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Female Actor
Winner: Viola Davis – Fences
– Naomie Harris – Moonlight
– Nicole Kidman – Lion
– Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
– Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea
53rd Life Achievement Recipient
Lily Tomlin
Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far this season:
Academy Award Nominees
Golden Globe Winners
Directors Guild of America Nominees
Producers Guild of America Winners
Writers Guild of America Nominees
National Society of Film Critics
New York Film Critics Circle
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Boston Society of Film Critics
Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association
The National Board of Review
Critics’ Choice Awards Winners