“Everything, everywhere, all at once” domina en los SAG

The rare awards season favorite “Everything Everywhere All at Once” rose strongly at the SAG Awards on Sunday, not only taking home the Best Cast trophy and acting awards for Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, but also earning Jamie Lee Curtis a statuette.

The Screen Actors Guild of America’s SAG Awards are generally a good predictor of the Oscars, and Sunday’s ceremony took some unexpected turns in the race for the Oscars. Jamie Lee Curtis surprised by winning the Best Supporting Actress category for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” beating favorite Angela Bassett. Brendan Fraser won Best Actor for ‘The Whale’

Bassett, star of the Marvel movie “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” had been the top contender in the category for weeks, if not months. But Curtis, nominated for her first SAG Award, was the surprise winner of the gala, which was streamed live on Netflix’s YouTube page. Visibly emotional, Curtis said she wore the wedding ring that her father Tony Curtis gave to her mother Janet Leigh.

“Look at me, I’m a ‘nepo baby,'” she said, referring to the term used to refer to celebrity children who profit from nepotism. “But the reality is I’m 64 and it’s unbelievable.”

In the week leading up to the SAGs, “Everything” also emerged as the winner of the Directors and Producers Guild awards, two of the accolades that tend to most accurately predict Oscar winners. At SAGs, Yeoh took the lead.

“It’s not just for me,” Yeoh said. “This is for all the little girls who look like me.”

Quan, who was an actor as a child and had walked away from the profession for years due to lack of auditions, noted that he was the first Asian to win in the supporting actor category at SAGs.

“When I quit acting, it was because there were so few opportunities,” Quan said. “Now tonight we celebrate James Hong, Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Hong Chau, Harry Shum Jr. The landscape is very different now.”

The SAGs clarified the main categories of actors. The award for best actor was one of the most difficult to define. Austin Butler from “Elvis”, Fraser from “The Whale” and Colin Farrell from “The Banshees of Inisherin” were all considered potential winners at different times, but it was Fraser who took home the SAG for the role with which he returns to the spotlight.

“Believe me, if you stay there and put one foot in front of the other, you’ll get where you need to go,” Fraser said.

Qinta Brunson and Janelle James of ‘Abbott Elementary’ kicked off the 29th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Although they weren’t hosting, Brunson and James officially kicked off the awards show and broke the ice with a few jokes, including one that implied that Viola Davis was beyond her EGOT status, or an entertainer. which won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Toni.

Brunson returned to the stage moments later with the cast of “Abbott Elementary” to receive the SAG Award for Outstanding Cast in a Comedy Series. Brunson, the sitcom’s creator and one of its producers, told her peers, “These people keep me grounded.”

“The White Lotus” also came out on top, taking home the award for Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series and giving another award to Jennifer Coolidge, who also won for the series at the Emmys and Golden Globes. With tears in her eyes, Coolidge recalled how her love for acting began when she was in the first year of primary school when her father took her to see Charlie Chaplin films. He also thanked his ceremony companion, his actor friend Tim Bagley.

“You were a great chaperone tonight,” Coolidge said. “I can’t wait for us to get home.”

The first prize at the ceremony went to a winner from last year: Jessica Chastain. A year after coming out on top for her starring role in ‘The Eyes of Tammy Faye,’ Chastain has once again come out on top at the SAG Awards, this time in the category for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Directed Motion Picture. for television, for the Showtime series about country music power couple “George & Tammy”. Chastain flew to the awards at previews for the upcoming Broadway revival of “A Doll’s House.”

Sunday’s streaming gala had a slightly less elaborate feel. Because they had no time limit imposed by a broadcaster, the winners were not driven offstage with music. Very formal and slow, Sam Elliott, winner of Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie for “1883,” read his acknowledgments in far longer than the allotted time. But the ceremony quickly moved on to the first winners, including awards from Jean Smart (“Hacks”), Jeremy Allen White (“Bear”) and Jason Bateman (“Ozark”).

Another effect of streaming is that there was no censorship. Yeoh swore as she thanked her Best Actress award.

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “The Banshees of Inisherin” started the night as the most nominated, with five mentions each. The two films were in competition for the prize for best casting with “Babylon”, “Les Fabelmans” (“Los Fabelmans”) and “Women Talking” (“Ellas hablan”).

An award was announced ahead of the gala from the red carpet: “Top Gun: Maverick” won Best Stunt Cast in the film categories.

The SAG Awards are considered one of the most trusted benchmarks for the Oscars. Actors make up the largest percentage of the film academy, so their choices have the most influence. Last year, “CODA” (“CODA: Signs of the Heart”) triumphed at the SAG before winning the Oscar for best picture, while Puerto Rican-born actress Ariana DeBose, Will Smith, Jessica Chastain and Troy Kotsur were winning a SAG Award before winning an Oscar.