Everything Everywhere All At Once is an unstoppable juggernaut.

Already the winner of the industry’s two biggest guild awards — Producers (a Best Picture equivalent) and Directors (for The Daniels filmmaking duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) — the indie multiverse hit dominated the Screen Actors Guild awards, setting an all-time record for SAG wins by a single movie.

With only 5 feature film acting trophies available, Everything Everywhere won 4: Michelle Yeoh (Female Actor in a Leading Role), Jamie Lee Curtis (Female Actor in a Supporting Role), Ke Huy Quan (Male Actor in a Supporting Role), and the guild’s top prize (i.e. its Best Picture) Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Quan was a lock for Male Supporting and EEAAO was the favorite for Cast, but Yeoh had to overcome Cate Blanchett who has won the bulk of Best Actress honors this awards season. More surprisingly, Jamie Lee Curtis (who has received nominations but no wins) upset the heretofore Supporting Actress frontrunner Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever).

The industry clearly loves Everything Everywhere All At Once, and no other film is even close. Expect it to live up to its name come Oscar night mid-March.

The lone acting award to go to a non-EEAAO performance (note: in the one category the film wasn’t nominated) was Male Actor in a Leading Role. That went to the feel-good comeback story of the season: Brendan Fraser, for The Whale. As with previous wins, Fraser gave another emotional, heartfelt acceptance speech defined by both gratitude for and encouragement to his peers.

That win also meant that A24, the distributor for both EEAAO and The Whale, swept the night, another Screen Actors Guild first.

For the sixth and final feature film prize, Top Gun: Maverick won the award for Stunt Ensemble.

The 29th Annual Awards marked the first time that the SAG ceremony didn’t air on a broadcast or cable network. Instead, this was the first live stream in a multiyear deal with Netflix. Since the streaming giant is still developing its live capabilities, the ceremony was shown on YouTube through Netflix’s channel. Starting next year, it’ll stream directly on Netflix. It’s the first awards show to make an exclusive streaming deal.

So the big question, then, was this: was there any substantial difference between streaming and broadcast? Surprisingly, yes.

While the format of the ceremony was very familiar, the benefits of streaming were all positive. Netflix opted against selling ad time so there were no commercials. Also, they opted against bleeping profanity (of which speeches covered the gamut).

Without commercials or broadcast censoring (or music playing off long speeches!), the streaming version of the SAG Awards actually felt like having a direct feed into a private industry ceremony rather than a production that’s overly conscious of ratings or TV constraints. Allowing profanity makes the show less family-friendly, but awards shows aren’t necessarily family viewing either.

The 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards were awarded live on Netflix’s YouTube channel, Sunday February 26, 2023 at 8pm EST / 7pm CST / 5pm PST.

29th Annual
SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD WINNERS
Honoring Screen Performances of 2022

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

WINNER: Everything Everywhere All At Once
NOMINEES:
– Babylon
– The Banshees of Inisherin
– The Fabelmans
– Women Talking

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

WINNER: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once
NOMINEES:
– Cate Blanchett, TÁR
– Viola Davis, The Woman King
– Ana de Armas, Blonde
– Danielle Deadwyler, Till

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

WINNER: Brendan Fraser, The Whale
NOMINEES:
– Austin Butler, Elvis
– Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
– Bill Nighy, Living
– Adam Sandler, Hustle

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

WINNER: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All At Once
NOMINEES:
– Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
– Hong Chau, The Whale
– Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
– Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

WINNER: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
NOMINEES:
– Paul Dano, The Fabelmans
– Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
– Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
– Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

WINNER: Top Gun: Maverick
NOMINEES:
– Avatar: The Way of Water
– The Batman
– Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
– The Woman King

56th Life Achievement Recipient
Sally Field

(To see the Televsion winners and nominees, click here.)

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Click on links below for other major Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far for the 2022 / 23 season:

The 95th Academy Award Nominations
Producers Guild of America Winners
Directors Guild of America Winners
Writers Guild of America Nominees
Golden Globe Winners
Chicago Film Critics Association
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
American Film Institute Top 10 Films of 2022
National Board of Review
New York Film Critics Circle