The Screen Actors Guild differentiates itself from other award shows by shining a spotlight directly on those who are already, well, in the spotlight. Meaning we’re watching an award show full of performers who know how to keep us entertained from start to finish.
The 31st installment of the SAG Awards was streamed live on Netflix on Sunday evening. Kristen Bell once again served as host, though she also did double duty as a nominee for Female Actor in a Comedy Series for her work in rom-com series Nobody Wants This (losing to Hacks’ Jean Smart). Also up for nominations were the casts of movies including Anora, Conclave, A Real Pain, and Wicked, and series like Shōgun, Abbott Elementary, The Bear, and Hacks. The awards are voted on by SAG-AFTRA’s members and are meant to be a celebration of the work of actors by their peers. As previously announced, Jane Fonda received the 60th SAG Life Achievement Award.
Here are some of the highlights of the show:
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Saddest Switcheroo
The show opened with Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) from Hacks prepping to host the Screen Actors Guild Awards. She and her crack team had a line-up of killer jokes about “the movie with the gay wizards” (that would be Conclave) and how to “recreate the kissing scene from Challengers with Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Kathy Bates.” However, the jokes weren’t meant to be heard, because it turns out she’s been fired from the hosting gig because she hasn’t paid her SAG dues in years. No offense to Kristen Bell, but Deborah Vance was born for this role.
Greatest Hero’s Journey
Shrinking star Jessica Williams helped introduce the SAG Awards’ raison d’être of highlighting actors on their individual journeys to mastering their chosen art form. As she sat next to her co-star Harrison Ford, she recounted, “Living my dream of getting dressed in a Starbucks’ bathroom and my dream of crying in a Del Taco bathroom after.” Never forget, the stars are just like us!
Best Musical Number
In her opening monologue, Bell sang a parody of the Frozen hit “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” asking instead, “Do you want to be an actor?” while showcasing some of the very early roles of the stars in attendance. That included Kieran Culkin in Home Alone, Jodie Foster in a Coppertone ad, Timothée Chalamet as a patient in an ICU, Jason Segel eating watermelon, and more.
Best First Responders Shout-Out
According to Bell, the most attractive table at the star-spangled affair was the one filled with members of the Los Angeles Fire Department who helped battle the wildfires that recently ravaged large swaths of the city.
Best Non-Speech
When Kieran Culkin took the stage to accept the award for Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his work in A Real Pain, it was clear he hadn’t prepared a speech. “Thank you SAG-AFTRA for this very heavy award,” he said, putting it down quickly because “no one can hold it for 45 seconds.” “That’s the allotted time, Adrien Brody,” he said, nodding at the nominated star of The Brutalist. As he counted down the clock, Culkin remarked: “Believe it or not this actually means a lot to me.” With five seconds on the clock, he finally mentioned his co-star and the film’s writer-director, Jesse Eisenberg, but only because he wanted to thank Eisenberg’s sister who told him to cast Culkin in the film. When time was up, Culkin spit-fired the rest of his thank yous before leaving the stage.
Most Honest Tears
In a room full of actors acting, Shogun star Anna Sawai appeared to genuinely cry on stage as she accepted her award for Female Actor in a Drama Series. Because while she was really happy, she was also really sad, as it was probably the last time she would be celebrating with her cast following their wins at the Emmys and Golden Globes, among other ceremonies.
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Best Crossover
Kristen Bell reunited with her The Good Place co-stars Ted Danson and William Jackson Harper, but as their fake argument about who was her favorite co-star heated up, they ended up trying to recreate the kissing scene from Challengers. Sadly, the camera cut away too soon.
Biggest Laughs
“We believe that men can be good actors, too,” said Quinta Brunson, before she and Ripley’s Andrew Scott presented the award for Male Actor in a Drama Series to Hiroyuki Sanada from Shogun.
Tightest Competition
The race for female actor in a comedy series pitted host Kristen Bell vs. presenter Quinta Brunson vs. almost-host Jean Smart vs. two co-workers (Liza Colón-Zayas and Ayo Edebiri) from The Bear. The category was anyone’s for the taking, but Smart ultimately took the prize for Hacks.
Best Timesaver
Neither Hacks star Jean Smart nor Only Murders in the Building actor Martin Short were on hand to collect their respective awards, which kept the show moving along at a quick clip. It’s unfortunate, though, as it was Short’s first SAG Award and both of these comedy icons would undoubtedly have delivered memorable speeches.
Biggest Upset by a Newcomer
The Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series category was packed with Oscar winners, including Kathy Bates, Cate Blanchett, Jodie Foster, and Lily Gladstone. However, it was Jessica Gunning in her first major role in Baby Reindeer who took the prize.
Best Reason to Scream
The ceremony took a moment to pay homage to Hollywood’s Scream Queens. In addition to a scream-filled montage, there were brief interviews with Scream stars Neve Campbell and Jenna Ortega, and Halloween’s Jamie Lee Curtis, who announced, “I’ve been screaming myself hoarse since the Carter administration.”
Greatest Introduction
While introducing the nominees for Male Actor in a Limited Series, Jamie Lee Curtis opened the card and quickly announced the winner as “the man who gave me COVID at the Golden Globes.” That would be Colin Farrell, who took the mic and immediately blamed actor Brendan Gleeson for giving him COVID in the first place.
Just the Greatest, Period
Jane Fonda has spent six decades acting in Hollywood and protesting in the streets and is a very deserving recipient of SAG’s Life Achievement Award. Fonda was introduced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus who had one question: “Who else could start a beauty revolution with her mug shot?” While Fonda has won many, many awards for her acting, including two Oscars, an Emmy, and seven Golden Globes, it was winding up on Richard Nixon’s enemies list that Louis-Dreyfus considers the real prize. At 87, Fonda dubbed herself a late bloomer, cracking, “I retired for 15 years and came back at 65, which is not usual. I made one of my most successful movies in my 80s and probably in my 90s, I’ll be doing my own stunts in an action movie.”
She explained that she grew up in the ’40s and ’50s when “women weren’t supposed to have opinions and get angry.” She loved the screen because “acting gave me a chance to play angry women with opinions, which, you know, is a bit of a stretch for me.” The longtime activist urged her fellow actors to fight back during these times with empathy. “What we, actors, create is empathy. Our job is to understand another human being so profoundly that we can touch their souls,” she said.
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Best Flashback, Take One
Longtime Law & Order star Mariska Hargitay swung by the award show to help highlight the series, which has become a seemingly mandatory stepping stone for young stars. That includes The Bear’s Liza Colón-Zayas, who played five different roles on the show (now that is acting) and Arrested Development star Tony Hale who didn’t even remember doing two separate turns on the set. Other actors who passed some time on Law & Order include Mahershala Ali, Pedro Pascal, Timothée Chalamet, Allison Janney, Adam Driver, Leighton Meester, and many more.
Best French
The X-Files co-stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny teamed up to present the award for Outstanding Performance in an Ensemble. “‘Ensemble’, I believe that’s a French word for thank god, I only have to work three days a week,” explained Duchovny, before announcing that the award went to Only Murders in the Building.
Most Honest Reaction
“Wait we never win!” exclaimed Selena Gomez, the only star from the series who made it on stage to accept that award, explaining: “Marty and Steve aren’t here because they don’t really care.”
Greatest Gossipers
In case you forgot, Kristen Bell voiced the titular Gossip Girl, but when it came to dishing out gossip about the folks at the SAG Awards, all she got was food talk. She complained to her source, Gossip Girl co-star Leighton Meester, that “The popes in Conclave were better at gossip than us”—Meester blamed it on just being really hungry—before introducing the cast of Conclave a.k.a. The next Gossip Girls.
Greatest Verisimilitude
The cast of Conclave, a film about Cardinals choosing a new Pope, took a moment to pray for the health of Pope Francis, who remains in critical condition in the hospital. Later, the crew took home the final prize of the evening.
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Biggest Union Booster
Zoe Saldaña continued her awards-season sweep by picking up the SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the now embattled Netflix-distributed film, Emilia Pérez. She used her platform to give Jane Fonda a run for her money, politically speaking. “I am proud to be a part of a union that allows me to be who I am. I’ve never been questioned where I come from or judged for how I speak or what my pronouns are,” she said. “Everyone has the right to be who they are. Emilia Perez is about truth and love and us actors really have to tell stories that are thought-provoking and beautiful and live within the spectrum of artistic freedom.”
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Realest Reaction
In another somewhat surprising upset, Timothée Chalamet took the top acting prize for his work as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, triumphing over Golden Globe winner Adrien Brody. The young star shouted out his mother, who accompanied him to the award show and has “been working at Actors’ Equity for 30 years.” He then did the unthinkable: admitting that it was a really challenging part and confessing that he wanted to be one of the greats. “I know the classiest thing would be to downplay the effort that went into this role,” he said. “The truth is, this was five and a half years of my life. I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist.” He then added, “The truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness.”
Best Flashback, Take Two
Demi Moore continued her winning streak, taking the top acting prize for her work in The Substance. She took the chance to look back to when she got her SAG card when she was 15. “It changed my life because it gave me meaning, it gave me purpose, and it gave me direction because I was a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life,” she said. “That little girl who didn’t believe in herself. I just… the words are kind of beyond me, so I’m going to have to just say ‘thank you.'”
Biggest Omen
Conclave took the night’s big prize for Ensemble in a Motion Picture. Could this be a sign of an upset at an increasingly cloudy Oscars Best Picture race?
Biggest Shut-Outs
Both perennial awards favorite The Bear and Oscar Best Picture frontrunner Anora were shut out of the awards entirely.
Best Sloth Shout-out
Over the course of the awards show, Bell had little run-ins with some of her many, many past colleagues, who were all vying for the title of her favorite co-star. Of course, anyone who has seen the viral video of Bell losing her mind over a certain animal already knew who that title would go to in the end: the sloth. “That sloth is the closest thing I’ll ever have to a sex tape,” Bell said, before showing a photo of her one true love and closing out the evening.
