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So the Screen Actors Guild gave its best film ensemble prize to a movie that was sent out on DVD to all its members... for the second year in a row. Did that influence the win for "Little Miss Sunshine"? Hard to say. Guess you'd have to poll a significant sampling of the 110,000 SAG members, including those who may be unusually grateful for a free copy of a movie.
The announcer backstage introduced Helen Mirren's second appearance. Instead of the grand dame of the evening, in walks milquetoast publicist Stan Rosenfield, carrying her two Actor statuettes and setting them down on the podium. Later, Steve Carell, the dual winner for "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Office," swabbed his brow as he toted two beefy bronze figures.
"Little Miss Sunshine" beat the casts of "Bobby," "Dreamgirls" "The Departed" and "Babel" to win the evening's top prize. Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Alan Arkin and Abigail Breslin were on hand to accept and Kinnear lifted Breslin up to the microphone to say a few words. Very cute.
Kinnear thanked the movie's co-directors who were shut out of the Oscar race. But "Sunshine" should be considered the Oscar favorite since it won the Producers Guild of America prize a few weeks ago. Last year, "Brokeback Mountain" was the front-runner until "Crash" ensemble upset it to win top ensemble.
So, "Sunshine" could win best picture and Martin Scorsese can finally get his Oscar for "The Departed." I think that's how it might go.
In another category identical to the Oscar race, Forest Whitaker takes home leading actor prize for his performance as Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland." He gave a nearly incoherent speech at the Golden Globes but was far better this time around after a shaky start.
"I want to thank you for allowinjg me to have a moment like this...to help me be able to continue to express myself as an artist. Thank yoiu from the bottom of my heart."
Mirren won for "The Queen" and said it was "an increible night for me personally."
The actress said that when she first walked into waredrobe and saw "all those sensible shoes and tweed skirts, I cried. I can't playt anyone who chooses to wear those clothes. I just can't do it."
The audience laughs then Mirren adds that she "learned to love that person" and paid tribute to the Queen of England for her discipline and dedication to duty.
Somebody from the cast of "The Office" mentioned backstage that they spend 60 hours a wek together in an office. That brought on the first "Duh" question of the night: "What do you do in those 60 hours on the clock?" Rainn Wilson calmly explained the process of making a TV series. Whoever asked that question must have been completely lost in the Mirren/Irons discussions about acting.
In a category identical to the Oscar field, "Dreamgirls" star Jennifer Hudson took home the best supporting actress award and said: "What a welcome! (It is her FIRST movie!) I'd like to thank God for this moment." She thanked her castmates and said "I was able to work with and learn from the best." She thanked director Bill Condon: "Thank you for believing in me when I did not believe in myself."
And to her fellow SAG members she said: "Thank you for noticing little ol' me and accepting me."
Next stop: Oscar night!
The Isaiah Washington mess did not hurt 'em. But Ellen Pompeo is a pretty sucky award accepter. Next time, let Dempsey speak!
"We love this category more than you know," she began.
OK, so far, so good.
But instead of mentioning the 10 cast members present and behind her on stage, Pompeo chooses to focus on those who are not.
" I think because this category is ensemble, it is worth mentioning the members of our cast who arent here. Kate Burton. Um, um, um help me! Isaiah Washington...Um..."
Good job Ellen...NOT!!!
He beat Sutherland and Michael C. Hall among others. Tough category!
Laurie, the star of Fox's "House" was a popular winner and said that being a successful actor and winning awards "It's not so much about whether you do good work, it's about whether you get a chance to do good work."
"It's a phenomenal honor...I know it will pass quickly, it might have already passed while I'm standing here."
Everyone looks shocked!
"It's about those 10 actors sitting over there (points to Grey's Anatomy cast) and the other one in rehab!" (Isaiah Washington, in gayhab)
She is all over the place. Thanks family. Agent. Friends.
"Look with this skin and this nose and these arms and this height! I'm here! Thank you Screen actors Guild for taking me as I am!"
Just kidding! Julie is dressed like a big star and at 71, looks like time started standing still right around "Victor/Victoria" about 25 years ago. Her "Mary Poppins" co-star Dick Van Dyke is here to take part in the presentation of a lifetime achievement award for Julie as is Anne Hathaway, with whom she appeared in the two "Princess Diairies" flicks.
Says Hathaway: "She's not only a dear friend and colleague...she was also a patient, generous and wise mentor, and I might add, a helluva lot of fun." Julie blows her a kiss from her seat and the audience stands up and goes into a standing ovation that threatens to go on a long time.
Hathaway, showing all the pluck of her character in "The Devil Wears Prada" says: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for honoring Julie Andrews, but there IS more."
Now they are showing all the clips of Julie singing in "Camelot" and "My Fair Lady." She got robbed of those movie roles after nailing them on Broadway.
Now "Poppins" clips are on. Think about it. Was Mary Poppins really such a good nanny? She had those kids do some dodgy things. But whatever. Now "The Sound of Music" clips are on and "The Hiiilllls are aliiiive" and I feel sad that she can't sing like that anymore after that botched throat operation.
I didn't know she was an advocate for the UN. She really is a saint! And she is a Dame! Queen Elizabeth II gave her that honor. I think it's kind of like being a Knight?
Now out comes the ageless Dick Van Dyke. Cool!
"I never got over being toingue tied...thaqt beauty and elegange was always a little daunting to me." "They didn't break any mold with Julie, there was no mold. She is the one and only."
Now Julie is taking the stage to the "Hills Are Alive" music and everyone is standing again. I have a lump in my throat. Gulp.
Julie says: "I am so grateful to be part of a guld that reaches out and goes one step beyond its tremendous responsiblities." my career has just been filled with good fortune. amazing mentors...and what about those delicious leading men? (Paul Newman, Omar Sharif, Rock Hudson etc). Pays tribute to hubby Blake Edwards.
"I have so much joy in my work...and you, ladies and gentlemen have just given me an evening that I will cherish all my life."
What a lady!
Eddie is REALLY the Oscar front-runner now.
He took the stage and said: "What a tremendous honors to be regonzied for ones peers. I've been acting for 25 years now," he said in a faux British accent. Then he started laughing. Eddie said when the Brits (like Mirren and Jeremy Irons) accept their trophies, "they are so smooth. I feel goofy up here. Thank you Bill Condon for directing and putting me in your wonderful movie."
Jeremy Irons and Helen Mirren held forth backstage on the differences between British actors and Americans, that being the Brits' solid background in stage work and American actors' gifts for playing to the camera, and the often confusing distinctions between lead and supporting roles. Can I get college credit for this?
Mirren does sound more than a tad bitter, though, about the fact that all the awards recognition for "The Queen" has come from this side of the pond, not her home turf. Is the wrath of the real Elizabeth that frightening that BAFTA fears retribution for supporting a film that does not entirely flatter the queen?
Seems she would prefer to win "the mother of all film awards," the Oscar, than accept an invitation to tea at Buckingham Palace anyway.
Who cares about the winner? The presenters are MTM, Valerie Harper, Cloris Leachman, Ed Asner, Gavin Mcleod, Betty White and Gorgia Engel. Wow! Mary said, "The gang's all here!" They got a prolonged and heartfelt standing ovation. I love Mary. I could cry.
Steve Carell said as he got the trophy from Mary:"This is quite an honor having these people present this to us. I was craining my neck,'Oh my God! Oh there she is!'"
"It's truly a great honor and we will treasure this."
Alec Baldwin won for "30 Rock" as he did a few weeks ago at the Globe. He said: "This is a real honor. I'm really proud to be a member of this union."
America Ferrera, who won for "Ugly Betty," was far more composed than at the Globes when she cried a lot. This time she said to the star-studded audience: "I look out and see faces that have moved me and inspired me my entire life."
"Ugly Betty" star America Ferrara is getting the statues to go with all the critical kudos and ratings. She was every bit as classy in her acceptance speech as Betty is unpolished. "We share a common knowledge of struggle and rejection and success," she said of her fellow SAG members. Sweet and on point.
Can't believe Jeremy Irons claims he feels like "a plumber" whenever he arrives on a set. Even though he blew his opening joke (and will never be cast as a New Yorker because of his accent skills), he can show the room a thing or two about genuine race in an acceptance speech.
If you're keeping score, that's Brits 2, USA 0.
Mirren has just scored her first award of the night for HBO's "Elizabeth I." And she's the odds-on favorite for her performance as Elizabeth II in the feature "The Queen." If (or when) she wins her second award of the night, it'll be the first dual win for playing British monarchs named Elizabeth. It's the kind of record baseball statisticians just love.
The show has started and the audio is not working. We're left to read lips. Aaaaggghhhh...
She's gonna need a new room in her house just for her trophies won this year alone. She has won for "Elizabeth I." Said tis means more to her than any other coming from actors (pul-eeze, the Oscar won't b e chopped liver!). She looks stunning tonight, totaql babe, especially for a 61 year old woman. Poor Annette Benning, so good in "Mrs. Harris," loses to Mirren. First category also featured nominee Shirley Jones who was among those who opened the telling early actor stories. She has had her SAG card for 53 years! Cloris Leachman, 80, was also nominated in a stellar category. Both Jones and Leachman may have lost, but they have Oscars on their shelves at home to make cheer them up!
Oh, what I've been through. Total techical nightmare that required me to dictate my red carpet ramblings to a very patient Armando Hernandez who I work with. He was great! Now I'm in a dimly lit deadline room (cannot see a bloody thing!) getting ready for this thing to get going!
Before leaving the red carpet, in one eyeful, I saw Mary Tyler Moore getting ohotgraphed by te throngs of photogs, Megan Mullally standing nearby beaming. Maybe she didn't want to do that damned talk show anymore anyway! And Julie Andrews is a few feet away from Mary. It's a a "Thoroughly Modern Millie" reunion! All they need is Carol Channing!
Some Grey's Anatomy stars like Sara Ramirez and Katherine Heigl did interviews but Ellen Pompeo just posed for pics as far as I could see and Sandra Oh and Patrick Depmsey sailed by fan and press. T.R. Knight is here tho! Good for him. No sign of Isaiah Washington, he's still in "gayhab."
OK, show is starting!!!
... or to pick up the awards-season hardware that leads to more $. We're told that some studios were inspired by the success of "Crash" last year to follow its lead and send out DVD screeners of "Little Miss Sunshine," "The Departed" and "Venus" to all 110,000 members of the Screen Actors Guild to encourage their support on the ballot. If one of these three wins the ensemble or lead prizes tonight, it might just be worth the $500,000 investment for DVDs and shipping. We'll leave it to the accountants and lawyers to decide whether such a move is worth the high risk of piracy.
Oooh, a goodie bag! For us? How exciting!
I opened this little zippered purse (with a silver lining, the better to keep your Lean Cuisine cold at your desk until lunchtime), and found two candy bars and a rather hefty bottle of Listerine rinse. Next to the coffee urns, more Listerine pocket packs than anybody could ever need. Are they a major sponsor? Or is this just because it's flu season?
Greg Hernandez on the Red Carpet: "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera - who's is looking more like "Gorgeous Betty" in an Emerald-green gown...fans in the bleachers go nuts
I've just decided I would never want the job of the guy who announces the celebrities as they (clear security and) step out on the red carpet. The poor schnook must have fumbled his cheat sheet because he called "Numb3rs" star David Krumholtz "Josh Krumholtz." Anybody's capable of screwing up a name, but this guy just did it in a very loud, drawn-out, "tah dah!' voice. If he made a correction, it was very quiet.
T.R. Knight of "Grey's Anatomy" just arrived outside, and he was greeted by a roar that one hopes did not include any slurs about his sexual orientation. Still waiting to hear whether co-star Isaiah Washington was allowed one night's liberty from his in-patient treatment for -- what? -- a mouth that works much faster than his brain?
... because you need to be damn near starving to really enjoy the food they serve backstage at most awards shows. Yeah, I know we shouldn't complain too much because it is free. On the other hand, we're pretty much captive inside the Shrine Auditorium for hours on end, so feeding us keeps us civilized. Can anyone explain,though, why a catering company that heaps so many sandwiches in a basket that they end up about a quarter inch thick bothers to place business cards on the buffet? Oh yeah, that's just what I want to treat my guests to at my next catered affair.
Women of a certain age (whatever that is) say there's a shortage of good roles for their age group, but check out the vintage of many of the ladies up for Screen Actors Guild Awards: Shirley Jones, Cloris Leachman, Helen Mirren (of course) and Meryl Streep all are on the downhill side of 50 and still making fine contributions to their craft.
And Meryl is in such demand that she's a no show, even though her Oscar nomination last week for "The Devil Wears Prada" increases her odds of winning here. But she has a good excuse. Seems she accepted an invitation about a year ago to cohost tonight's 10th annual benefit for Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment. She's sharing the stage with former Vice President Al Gore, with whom she'll hand the Global Citizen Award to Prince Charles. Said she would have enjoyed celebrating with her fellow SAG members but she felt she should not renege on the other commitment. Let's see... British royalty or Hollywood royalty?
Another shocker (imagine the word "shocker" in a really sarcastic typeface): Philip Seymour Hoffman is named Best Actor for "Capote." Oscar nominations won't even be announced until Tuesday, and already they're old news.
"The only way to act well, is to know that other actors have your back," says Hoffman, as good a way of acknowledging one's (presumably trophy-less) co-stars with disingenuous humility as I've heard in a while.
The evening's final presenter, Morgan Freeman, is kind of over-selling the importance of all this, but that's just the kind of voice he has.
"Crash's" cast wins the Ensemble "Actor," SAG's equivalent of the Best Film Oscar. Well, the film certainly had the most cast members of the nominees. Terrence Howard turns the thank-you over to Don Cheedle leaning on a cane, who, referring to his limp, warns America, "Pay your gambling debts. You don't want this happening here."
Holy cow! An awards show without a trophy for "Brokeback Mountain?" I demand a recount!
Here's guessing "Crash" beat "Brokeback" mainly because the former has a much bigger cast than the latter, and SAG is trying, as I earlier recommended, to give everyone in SAG a SAG Award, so this was just more efficient. But "Crash" emerges as the only remotely significant competition to "Brokeback" once the Oscars are announced. Nonetheless, still no reason to watch the Oscars at this point.
Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were laughing as they came onstage to introduce their film "Brokeback Mountain" and laughed all they way through as they read the description. I'm not going to theorize what happened backstage that gave them their cases of the giggles.
Yet again: Reese Witherspoon is named Best Actress for "Walk the Line." Honestly, is there any point in watching the Oscars at this point? "I can't shake the feeling that I'm just a little girl from Tennessee," she says, less convincingly than she was in "Walk the Line." Not a bad tribute to June Carter Cash, though, talking about how she labored, undeservingly, in Johnny's shadow. But then, thanking her co-star Joaquin Phoenix, she said, "Without your John, there's no June." Wait -- but you just said ...
Not much drama in these categories, since the winners have been honored for these roles since last September.
S. Epatha Merkerson won her third Best Actress in a TV Movie/Miniseries trophy (following the Emmy and the Golden Globe) for “Lackawanna Blues.� “I have to say a public thank-you to my divorce lawyer,� she declared, laughing so maniacally that, without knowing anything about him, you kind of felt sorry for her ex.
Paul Newman – another trophy, another no-show. He won Best Actor in a TV Movie/Miniseries for “Empire Falls� (following, like Merkerson, Emmy/Globe wins, though his Emmy triumph was in the Supporting Actor category). He clearly knew what he was doing when he bought the rights to Richard Russo’s book.
How come they give Supporting Actor “Actors� for films but not for TV? How come they give out “Actors� for comedy and drama for TV but not for movies? Why ape, sort of, the formats of other trophy shows? Why not strike out boldly on their own? Don’t they want to hand out as many of these things as possible, like at the Emmys, where there’s about a couple dozen acting categories? These people shouldn’t rest until everyone in SAG has a SAG award.
Paul Giamatti was named Best Supporting Actor for “Cinderella Man,� which seems a makegood for snubbing him last year for “Sideways.� Giamatti insightfully reflects, “Being an actor is a hell of a thing. A hell of a thing. It’s up and down; it’s great.� He then thanks everyone with whom he ever ate a donut. Honest. People are running out of people to thank, it seems.
And now, the requisite montage of dead people. Do they do that at the Pulitzers? The Nobel Peace Prizes? Just wondering.
SAG President Alan Rosenberg is giving the usual blah-blah-blah about the significance of all this folderol, concluding with a nod to the “men and women in uniform who are enjoying this broadcast in bases throughout the world.� If “enjoying� is the right word.
Now, Dakota Fanning is presenting the Lifetime Achievement award to Shirley Temple Black. Fanning, of course, is the new Temple, but she’s so eerily poised – she’s reading the teleprompter far better than anyone else has to this point – that she absolutely must be a robot.
News flash: Jamie Lee Curtis tripped on her way down the stairs to continue the Temple Black tribute. Dakota Fanning would never stumble like that.
Temple Black takes the stage to the most lugubrious rendition of "Good Ship Lollypop" you'd ever want to hear. That explains the standing-O: The actors want to drown that buzzkill out.
"Desperate Housewives"' Felicity Huffman won the SAG for Best Actress/Comedy; she also won the Emmy for same last September. (Mary Louise-Parker won the Globe in the same category, competing against four "Housewives" nominees; Huffman was the only housewife nominated here, thereby not dividing voters.) She said she's happy she's an actor because "I was never very good at math." Last I checked, there are a lot of jobs out there that don't require math skills, but maybe they've all been outsourced overseas.
Huh? Sean Hayes won his third Best Actor/Comedy for "Will & Grace," which is quite reasonably calling it quits after this season. (Jason Lee, who probably should've won, was a no-show because he has chickenpox.) "I would like to thank Ang Lee for taking a chance on me," Hayes says of "Brokeback Mountain's" director. "Everyone in Hollywood knows it's such a risk to play a gay character."
Ensemble/Comedy Series goes, for the second time, to "Desperate Housewives." The ensemble trophy is kind of like SAG's Best Series award. You know, these acceptance speeches are kind of no more than mutual admiration societies -- The award is saying, "Thank you for such sterling acting," and the acceptance speech is, "No, thank YOU for honoring such sterling acting," ad nauseum.
This is a kind of tasteful ceremony, which makes it kind of a drag to watch. The opening was a smidgen self-serving, but hardly over the top in the aggrandizement area.
For that, we need to go to the commercials: There's one for a pay-per-view wrassling show, "The Royal Rumble." Apparently, connoisseurs of the Thespian arts are big wrestling fans or the spot was egregiously placed.
Uh-oh, spoke to soon: William Shatner introduced a kind of half-hearted tribute to actors in TV commercials. The commercial performers are actually discussing their acting "choices." "I feel lucky," the actress concluding the bit says. And so do we, for experiencing that stirring time waster.
Pulse-pounding update: Presenters Peter Graves and Barbara Bains can’t read the teleprompter. But they rallied and presented the cast of “Lost� with “The Actor� for Best Ensemble/Drama. Terry O’Quinn called his co-stars “paranoid . . . grasping . . . losers and shmoozers.� But apparently they will have to divvy up a single trophy amongst themselves. Anyone got a buzzsaw to help them?
Rachel Weisz of “The Constant Gardener� becomes the Oscar front-runner with her second big Best Supporting Actress win – she also won the Golden Globe. Someone must’ve pointed her to my blog entry complaining about how she appeared that night because she looks exponentially better tonight. Thanks for caring, Rachel.
The Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony opened with a group of random actors – whose names must’ve on balls pulled out of a Lotto machine (Randy Quaid, Anne Hathaway, James Denton) – telling their little stories of aspiration, followed by success, making it all seem so easy. They each end their spiel with “My name is . . . and I’m an actor.� Which’d be more impressive if they had really interesting tales and be saying “I’m a fireman� or “I’m a teacher.�
Winner are announced with the declaration, ‘‘The Actor goes to …’’ Which sounds like something a sleazy producer with a casting couch and equally seedy friends would say.
Sandra Oh won Best Actress/Drama, after winning a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. She’s still overly excited, thanking, among others, her stand-in; you’d think she’d get used to this sort of thing.
Kiefer Sutherland won his second SAG Award for Best Actor/Drama for “24.� He showed much restraint, refraining from shooting anyone in the thigh or stabbing anyone in the eye with some scissors.
The celeb goody bag at this weekend's Screen Actors Guild Awards includes, of all overblown items, a Swarovski-crystal embellished electronic Sudoku game from Techno Source. Make your own bargain version: Get a bag of paste jewels from a craft store, paste them around the frame of your monitor, and play the Daily News Sudoku game for free online.
Gwyneth Paltrow still misses her father, who died three years ago. LA.COMfidential reports that last night, the pregnant actress mentioned him numerous times during a Q&A following a SAG screening of Proof in Beverly Hills' Fine Arts Theatre. The film is about a young woman dealing with the death of her father, with whom she had a particular bond. Paltrow said that she herself was in grief over her own dad, Bruce Paltrow, during the making of the film, and she described her portrayal of Catherine, "I was very grave, dark, and utterly heartbreaking." She adds, "I think I lost my sense of humor." But then she told a funny story: When she was getting into the biz, around age 19, she considered a role in a Vanilla Ice film. She asked her father for advice on whether or not she should do the film, and he asked to see the screenplay. "There's this part in the script where [Vanilla Ice] asks for my phone number," she explained. "And I say, '555-6969'"—with emphasis on the 6-9—"and my father says, 'Over my dead body.'"
How Gwyneth has matured: now she does nude scenes.
That last week's Screen Actors Guild's best female movie lead nominations overlooked:
. . . about the Writers Guild screenplay nominations yesterday. At least they seem so in light of today'd Screen Actors Guild noms, which prove once again what we already know: actors are the densest group of people in the whole film industry.
Continue reading "Screen Actors: Maybe my comments were too harsh" »
While the SAG Awards finds "Boston Legal" a comedy, the Producers Guild deems it a drama. More PGA head-scratchers: two cycles of CBS's "Amazing Race" both got nominated in the Non-Fiction Television category, which seems a gyp -- what's to prevent any other series from getting similarly greedy and arbitrarily divvying up a season of programming into two mini-seasons with separate story arcs? (More curiously, it -- or they -- are competing against newsmagazine "60 Minutes;" how does one compare actual news with manufactured reality?) And how did the endlessly inventive "Howl's Moving Castle" get snubbed in the animated film category while glossy but decidedly minor fare like "Chicken Little," "Madagascar" and "Robots" get nominated? Other PGA TV nominees pretty much toe the lines other award-spreading organizations have already drawn, so there's not much point in re-praising or kvetching anew over the aesthetic acuity or lack of same the nominees list demonstrates here.
Nominees for SAG awards in the TV categories are pretty much a distillation of the laundry lists we’ve seen from the Emmys/Globes, which is to say, a pretty safe, unremarkable bunch of names from hit series and media darlings. Funny how these sundry nominee lists betray so little imagination and invenention from an industry allegedly defined by same. SAG does, however, seem to have more regard for “Boston Legal� than the general viewing public does. Entered in the comedy categories (if you say so – how are “Boston Legal� and “Desperate Housewives� comedies and “Grey’s Anatomy� a drama?), it received four nominations, more than any other series (HBO’s miniseries “Empire Falls� also received four, including two for the husband-wife team of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward). Again, nominees are from the usual suspects – the networks and HBO, with a bone thrown here and there to TNT or Showtime – and again, deserving shows from, for one example, FX were ignored. Drama Series Ensemble nominees seem particularly uninspired. Peculiar how all these different trophy-distributing bodies fall into robotic lockstep with one another. Which makes you wonder -- what makes all these different groups necessary if they're all giving awards to the same basic people?
