Related Posts
Of the many organizations that hand out awards for the best of the previous year’s cinema, the Oscars and the Golden Globes tend to get the most attention, as the awards they give tend to cover a wide array of categories. Many organizations, however, usually narrow their focus down to one specific aspect of filmmaking, such as writing or directing, and will often hand out awards only to that particular field. This is especially common among Hollywood guilds and labor unions, which are already devoted to one component of the film industry and only give awards to those who are part of that specific profession. Some of these include the Writers Guild of America and the Directors Guild of America, but few stand out as much as the Screen Actors Guild of America, which held their most recent awards ceremony on April 4th and gave some insight into who and what could be going home with the Oscars later this month.
Unlike most guild awards in Hollywood, the Screen Actors Guild of America has the distinct privilege of airing their ceremonies on live television, doing so in the recent past on such cable networks as TNT and TBS. This is likely due to there being a greater focus on Hollywood actors, who tend to be the biggest names in the industry and can be very effective in drawing in audiences to watch, more so than some of the other professions in Hollywood that don’t often get as much recognition. Because of this, the Screen Actors Guild Awards are often looked at as being major indicators of what will win at the Academy Awards, with the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture being seen as a possible precursor to the Oscars’ Best Picture category. The same can be said for all four individual acting categories, many of which have a tendency to correlate strongly with the eventual Oscar winners in these same categories.
How do this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards factor into the proceedings? For the most part, very few of the recipients of this year’s acting awards have come across as that much of a shock. Even still, some of the winners have managed to shake up the odds a bit, as those who were not as heavily thought of as major threats could have greater chances of winning the Oscar than one might have previously assumed. Nonetheless, many of the Screen Actors Guild Award winners are likely to repeat their success later this month, and barring any major upsets, the upcoming ceremony shouldn’t be too unpredictable.
In the category of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, the late Chadwick Boseman was named the winner for his performance in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, beating out fellow nominees Riz Ahmed for “Sound of Metal”, Anthony Hopkins for “The Father”, Gary Oldman for “Mank”, and Steven Yeun for “Minari”. This award comes on the heels of Boseman’s previous wins, including a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor – Drama, and if this pattern continues as expected, he shall do the same with the Oscar.
In the category of Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, the winner was Viola Davis for her performance in the same film for which Boseman one his award, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”. In winning this award, Davis had come out on top over the other nominees: Amy Adams for “Hillbilly Elegy”, Vanessa Kirby for “Pieces of a Woman”, Frances McDormand for “Nomadland”, and Carey Mulligan for “Promising Young Woman”. Unlike the previous category, Davis’ win contrasts many of the year’s other Best Actress wins (the Golden Globe, for example, was given to Andra Day for her role in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”, for which she was nominated for an Oscar but not a Screen Actors Guild Award). While Davis’ win certainly boosts her chances, the outcome for the Academy Award is not so easy to predict, so nothing is set in stone until later this month.
In the category of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role, Daniel Kaluuya was awarded for his performance in “Judas and the Black Messiah”. Competing for the same award were Sacha Baron Cohen for “The Trial of the Chicago 7”, Chadwick Boseman for “Da 5 Bloods”, Jared Leto for “The Little Things”, and Leslie Odom, Jr. for “One Night in Miami”. Like Boseman, Kaluuya had won the same award at the Golden Globes, so there’s a very strong chance that his winning streak will continue on the night of the Oscars.
In the category of Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, Yuh-Jung Youn won the award for her performance in “Minari”. The other nominees consisted of Maria Bakalova for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”, Glenn Close for “Hillbilly Elegy”, Olivia Colman for “The Father”, and Helena Zengel for “News of the World”. Similar to Davis, Youn has not had this many wins at previous awards ceremonies (the Golden Globe, for example, was given to Jodie Foster for “The Mauritanian”; neither the Oscars nor the Screen Actors Guild Awards even nominated her), so while she could still go on to win the Oscar, it’s far from a guarantee.
Perhaps most noteworthy though is Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, which was given to “The Trial of the Chicago 7”. With the exception of “Minari”, none of the other films nominated in this category – “Da 5 Bloods”, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, and “One Night in Miami” – are nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, so it’s hard to fully assess whether or not “The Trial of the Chicago 7” had strong chances of winning this Oscar.
In any case though, there’s much to appreciate about this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. This year’s ceremony serves as one of the most diverse in the history of the guild. Whether or not the Oscars will repeat this feat is still unclear, but one can only hope the results satisfy nonetheless.
