Tonight was for the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, and it streamed live on Netflix. Winners were voted on by the over 130,000 SAG-AFTRA members. This is a major precursor to determine the frontrunners for the Oscar acting races.
“Oppenheimer” continued its awards season dominance by taking Ensemble for a Motion Picture, Lead Actor in a Motion Picture (Cillian Murphy), and Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Robert Downey, Jr.). It will look to further cement its frontrunner status tomorrow night as it’s also the favorite to win the Producers Guild of America.
Murphy’s win gives him the edge over Paul Giamatti (“The Holdovers”) for the Best Actor Oscar. That category was said to be one of the tightest races this year, and Giamatti prevailing is still a possibility, but seems a little less likely now that Murphy has won SAG.
However, the surprise of the night was when Lily Gladstone won Lead Actress in a Motion Picture for “Killers of the Flower Moon.” This sets up a Best Actress Oscar showdown between herself and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”).
Can Gladstone win the Oscar despite not being nominated by BAFTA and her role being a supporting turn? She appears in less than 1/3 of ‘Killers’ runtime, whereas Stone is practically in every scene in “Poor Things.” What might be detrimental to Stone’s chances is that she’s already won an Oscar, and Gladstone has the fresh-faced rookie narrative. Regardless, this one is going down to the wire.
Meanwhile, Da’Vine Joy Randolph continued her awards season dominance by adding a SAG Award for Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for “The Holdovers.” She’s winning the Oscar. There’s no question about it.
As mentioned, the Producers Guild of America will be announcing its winners tomorrow evening at The Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood.