LOS ANGELES (CNS) – “Conclave” and “Shogun” are the big winners at the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards taking home top honors at the prestigious Hollywood event.
The papal thriller “Conclave” captured the glamour award for Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at Sunday’s SAG Awards — while “Shogun,” the FX drama set in 17th century Japan, won four trophies out of its leading five nominations, including Ensemble in a Drama Series, to dominate the television categories.
The SAG Awards — the final undercard event of the Hollywood awards season before next week’s Academy Awards, and a historically strong predictor of success on Oscar night — also delivered “Actor” trophies to Timothée Chalamet for Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture for his role in the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” and to Demi Moore for Female Actor in a Leading Role in a Motion Picture for her star turn in the often startling horror-drama “The Substance.”
The award for cast performance is the SAG Awards’ equivalent of the Oscars’ Best Picture.
Supporting actor awards in the movie categories Sunday went to Kieran Culkin for “A Real Pain” and Zoe Saldaña for “Emilia Pérez.”
Meanwhile, “Wicked,” an adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz,” brought a leading five movie nominations into the evening — but was shut out.
“Conclave,” which details the intrigue of papal succession amid the secretive machinations of the Vatican, was a surprise winner in the best cast category — besting “Wicked”; “A Complete Unknown”; “Anora,” a comedy- drama about a sex worker who marries a Russian oligarch; and “Emila Pérez,” a gender-bending crime musical about a drug cartel leader who hires a lawyer to help fake her death so she can transition to a woman.
“Conclave” was coming off a Best Picture win at last week’s BAFTA Awards, and could have momentum going into next Sunday’s Academy Awards, to which it brings eight nominations, including Best Picture.
Moore, 62, was again an awards-show storyline on Sunday, continuing her comeback with her best actress win following her victory in that category at the Golden Globes. She’s also nominated for an Oscar next week for her role as a fading actress who discovers a black-market drug that restores youth — with all manner of unexpected side-effects both physical and emotional.
“This is extraordinary and so deeply meaningful,” Moore said during an emotional acceptance speech in which she recalled her career start in 1978 as “a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life.”
Then, addressing her fellow actors in the audience, she added, “I knew nothing about acting, but I watched and I listened and I learned from all of you. You have all been my greatest teachers. I am so grateful that I have continued over these so many years to be able to try and sometimes succeed and sometimes fail and to be able to keep going.”
Moore’s competition Sunday was Pamela Anderson in “The Last Showgirl,” Cynthia Erivo in “Wicked,” Mikey Madison in “Anora” and Karla Sofía Gascón in “Emilia Pérez.” All but Anderson are also nominated for Best Actress Oscars.
Gascón’s loss Sunday was not unexpected, as it came in the wake of a scandal in which old social-media posts surfaced in which she denigrated Islam and George Floyd, among other objectionable comments.
Gascón has since apologized for the now-deleted posts, but the scandal is widely believed to have torpedoed her chances for award-season recognition. Her Best Actress nomination is one of a record 13 that “Emila Pérez” will bring to the Oscars.
Chalamet, playing the young Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” became, at age 29, the youngest actor to capture a SAG best actor award — beating Nicholas Cage, who was 32 when he won for “Leaving Las Vegas” in 1996.
Chalamet is also up for an Oscar next week and could also become the youngest Academy Award-winning best actor — a title now held by Adrien Brody, who will compete with Chalamet next week as a nominee for “The Brutalist.”
“I was not expecting this at all,” Chalamet said during his Sunday acceptance. “I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist, Mr. Bob Dylan, a true American hero, and it was the honor of a lifetime playing him.”
On the TV side Sunday, “Shogun,” besides winning for TV drama ensemble, brought wins to Hiroyuki Sanada for Male Actor in a Drama Series; Anna Sawai for Female Actor in a Drama Series; and Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series.
“Only Murders in the Building,” long a bridesmaid during awards shows, took the award for Ensemble in a Comedy Series, while one of its co- stars, Martin Short, won for Male Actor in a Comedy Series — making “Only Murders …” the only other multiple winner of the night.
Jane Fonda, 87, received the SAG Life Achievement Award on Sunday and drew a lengthy standing ovation. She noted that “I’m not done,” and quipped “probably in my 90s I’ll be doing my own stunts in an action movie.”
But then she turned serious in commenting on the current U.S. political situation, urging activism and saying, “A whole lot of people are going to be really hurt by what is happening, what is coming our way.”
“Even if they’re of a different political persuasion, we need to call upon our empathy and not judge, but listen from our hearts and welcome them into our tent, because we are going to need a big tent to resist, successfully, what’s coming at us,” said the longtime activist.
Kristen Bell, herself a nominee Sunday (she lost out to Jean Smart of “Hacks” for Female Actor in a Comedy Series) hosted the ceremonies, which were at the Shrine Auditorium and were streamed live on Netflix.
During her opening monologue, Bell noted a group of Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters sitting at a front table in the Shrine ballroom and said, “The most attractive table, I need to point out, is right over there” — gesturing toward the uniformed firefighters who battled the recent Los Angeles wildfires.
The SAGs are considered the most cherished Hollywood honors among performers because they are voted upon exclusively by other actors. Actors also make up the majority of Oscar voters.
In all, 15 regular awards were given out Sunday night — six in movie categories and nine in television — along with Fonda’s Life Achievement Award.
Here is the complete list of winners:
MOTION PICTURES
Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
— “Conclave”
Male Actor in a Leading Role
— Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”
Female Actor in a Leading Role
— Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Male Actor in a Supporting Role
— Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Female Actor in a Supporting Role
— Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”
Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
— “The Fall Guy”
TELEVISION
Ensemble in a Drama Series
— “Shogun”
Ensemble in a Comedy Series
— “Only Murders in the Building”
Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
— Colin Farrell, “The Penguin”
Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
— Jessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer”
Male Actor in a Drama Series
— Hiroyuki Sanada, “Shogun”
Female Actor in a Drama Series
— Anna Sawai, “Shogun”
Male Actor in a Comedy Series
— Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”
Female Actor in a Comedy Series
— Jean Smart, “Hacks”
Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
— “Shogun”
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