The 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild awards have just concluded, with Birdman winning the top honor of Best Cast in a Motion Picture as expected. With the film having taken tonight’s biggest honor, coupled with its huge win at the PGA awards last night, there seems little doubt that we now have our next winner of the Best Picture Oscar.
Most of the film awards went exactly as expected, but we did get a rather big surprise in the Best Actor category, where Eddie Redmayne was victorious for his outstanding performance in The Theory of Everything over frontrunner Michael Keaton for Birdman. This now tosses the corresponding Oscar category into doubt.
Keaton has been so heavily lauded for his brilliant performance that it seems nearly impossible that anyone else could win, but the Academy has always been a sucker for biopics, and given that many members of SAG are Academy members as well, Redmayne’s win could easily slide right over to the Oscars. One thing’s for sure, it will certainly be an interesting showdown that will have everyone holding their breath.
Coming up on February 7th, we have the Directors Guild of America awards, which will be a great showdown as well. Richard Linklater has been nearly unbeatable throughout the critics awards, but given the guilds’ massive love for Birdman, could we see Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu pull an upset, and thus complete the “Triple Crown” (PGA, DGA, and SAG)? We’ll just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, please see below for a complete list of the SAG winners:
Best Cast: Birdman
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best Ensemble, Drama: Downton Abbey
Best Ensemble, Comedy: Orange is the New Black
Best Actor, Drama: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Best Actress, Drama: Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder
Best Actor, Comedy: William H. Macy, Shameless
Best Actress, Comedy: Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Best Actor, Television Movie or Miniseries: Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart
Best Actress, Television Movie or Miniseries: Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
Best Stunt Ensemble, Motion Picture: Unbroken
Best Stunt Ensemble, TV Series: Game of Thrones
