Well, if you didn’t get the message after last night’s DGA result, SAG’s Best Ensemble award just underlined it for you — the Best Picture race is over. In the 16 years that the three Guilds have co-existed, only one film has taken the big prize from the DGA, PGA and SAG and not won the Best Picture Oscar — and “Apollo 13” was handicapped by its lack of a Best Director Oscar bid. No such obstacle in this case: “The King’s Speech” has it in the bag.
So, it seems, do a couple of other folks. It was a highly predictable night, as the de facto frontrunner prevailed in each of the four individual acting categories.
Colin Firth, of course, continued his march to the Oscar podium with another impeccably wry, self-deprecating speech — “I’d like to thank security for letting me into the building,” he quipped, earning the night’s biggest laugh. With his victory, “The King’s Speech” becomes the first film to take Best Ensemble and a lead acting gong since “Chicago” eight years ago; this time, however, it won’t lose the latter on February 27.
Meanwhile, Natalie Portman continued her smooth run in the Best Actress race. Some pundits, Kris included, have speculated that Annette Bening could yet be a spoiler on Oscar night, but I can’t see it myself: if a wave of sentimental affection for the older star is brewing, the peer-voted SAG Awards would have been the clear place for it to emerge. Portman continues to be the personification of charm at the podium, while her category is looking like the only viable place for Oscar voters to acknowledge the “Black Swan” phenomenon.
If a sweep mentality takes hold for “The King’s Speech,” I suppose one of the supporting categories could be vulnerable to an upset, but after tonight’s well-deserved twin wins for “The Fighter” co-stars Melissa Leo and Christian Bale — both repeating their Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice victories — there’s little reason to bet against them at the Oscars.
Both actors socked over their acceptance speeches, with Bale (shorn of the Jesus-like mane he sported at the Globes) continuing his genially goofy stage manner and sharing a sweet moment at the podium with the real-life Dicky Ekland. Leo provided the most emotional speech of the night, culminating in a rallying cry for unions.
No alarms and no surprises, then — but why should there be? It was clear from the reaction in the room (especially to the final category) that the winners are universally popular choices, spread across three of the most beloved films in the Best Picture race. “The Social Network” table, on the other hand, was a solemn-looking one: they know when they’re beaten.
No televised precursors until the BAFTAs, then, and I think we all know more or less how that’s going to go. Good night, all.
You can find the full list of film winners at The Circuit. And the TV awards, for those of you who are interested:
Best Actress in a TV Movie or Miniseries: Claire Danes, “Temple Grandin”
Best Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries: Al Pacino, “You Don’t Know Jack”
Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series: “Modern Family”
Best Actress in a Comedy Series: Betty White, “Hot in Cleveland”
Best Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”
Best Ensemble in a Drama Series: “Boardwalk Empire”
Best Actress in a Drama Series: Julianna Margulies, “City Island”
Best Actor in a Drama Series: Steve Buscemi, “Boardwalk Empire”
Best Stunt Ensemble: “True Blood”
[Photo: Reuters]
Comments
233 responses to “‘The King’s Speech’ takes top honors at SAG Awards”
Heh, you’re right; that slipped my mind.
That’s actually even more interesting, though; is it becoming a trend for everything to be that tightly sync’d?
Is it bad that my expectations for The Kings Speech have gone down considerably, I mean low because of all this talk about how it’s like stand up and cheer movie, but I just came back from seeing it and now I think it is the least film nominated in Best Picture?
Predictable, thy name is 2011.
Yeah, SC, it is interesting. Usually there’s at least one actor who doesn’t match up between SAG/Oscar, or the Globe. Now it’s two years in a row that all four do?
On the other hand… seeing as how Bale and Leo are both likely to win Oscars, it will be the first time in 24 years a single films took both supporting acting awards! Very cool, and quite rare in the Academy’s history.
This is really a fair win for TKS, moreso than PGA and DGA. Say what you will about the film, the acting is phenomenal.
It is understandable that some bloggers may not be happy with King’s Speech’s very recent wins but comparing it to Twilight movies??? That’s low! That’s hysterical…also insulting to those who like TKS!
Some people need to calm down and get over it!
Yawn.
Loyal, the film has three (arguably two) excellent performances. Not enough for a Best Ensemble win, in my opinion.
Now that TKS has taken the SAG, i find myself thinking back to when TKS won the PGA and everyone was so shocked and the race got so much more exciting. But then it won the DGA and everything got deathly quiet as we had to seriously consider TKS being the film to beat now. Now that it’s won the SAG It seems all but sewn up, but i’m holding out hope that the fat lady hasn’t sang just yet.
*sung
Curtains, award season.
Has there ever been such a quick turn of events like this in Oscar history?
P.S. I’ve only been paying attention to this for a couple years, so don’t get on me if it’s happened a lot. ;)
Sertan
Are you talking about Sasha Stone? LOL!!!!
“Oscars looove little girls in Supporting. My money is still on Steinfeld.”
Oscar didn’t deny Jennifer Hudson for a little girl.
The Social Network (and especially Toy Story 3) are the most deserving films of the BP Oscar. Unfortunatelly, It took a while but the Academy is missing the ”Oscar movie”… Mostly because, in my opinion, it has chosen 4 good (except for Crash, that is an average film) overrated films in the past 5 years trying to change this stereotype of ”Oscar movie”
Come on:
– CRASH was the worst of the 5 nominees in 2006. And The Constant Gardner and A History of Violence, which weren’t nominated were a lot better. Even better than the nominated films.
– The Departed if far from Scorcese’s best and was a lot far from The Queen and Letters From Iwo Jima.
– No Country is NOT the masterpiece many people call. Fargo is the Coen’s masterpiece. And There Will Be Blood, Juno (and even Michael Clayton and the not-nominee Into the Wild) were better.
– The Hurt Locker is inferior to Inglorious Basterds.
Guy it wasn’t so long you ask about whether Oscar bait existed or what it was, because recent victories didn’t fit the old model. Tom Shone argued earlier this year that the reason for because such films were few and far between now. In any case, are you compelled to re-examine whether Oscar bait exists and what it is after 2/27?
So what are the chances of TSN winning best pic at the Oscars? Should we even consider its chances or just write it off?
It’s funny how people who are not happy TKS is taking every award from the industry try to find reasons to bitch over it.
When TKS won DGA? ”Oh, what a shame, it is not a director movie. It the performances that make the film!”
And then, TKS takes the ensemble cast, and the same people are trying to convince themselves (I imagine) that the other 4 films nominated were better acted.
Sometimes, somehow, you have to give Caeser what is Caeser’s. And clearly, the acting in TKS is wonderful.
Still think Melissa Leo is in very big trouble. Remember that she didn’t score a BAFTA nom (but Amy Adams did). The foreign members are presumably going with Helena Bonham Carter. As I think that the Academy liked True Grit more than only recognizing its overdue Roger Deakin’s cinematography, Hailee could possibly win this. American members could vote for her and not Leo. And they could split, putting HBC strong in the race again.
Oh FFS, Thandie Newton won the damn BAFTA.
Also, I thought Santa Claus did a good job presenting Best Ensemble tonight, especially with the jetlag he must have had. ;)
Afrika,
I dont want to name names in a different blog. I think we all know who we are talking about! Some people need to get over it!!!
And in this “free” country, you can easily criticize the President of US, but if you try to say anything negative about her majesty(!), you get deleted!
I really like this blog much better. Much calm down, and level headed! and the blogger does not treat the followers like a piece of sh**…
“And clearly, the acting in TKS is wonderful.”
*cough*Timothy Spall*cough*
Yeah, those actors in The King’s Speech were so awful, they acted like they were in some amateur production of The Lion in Winter. How dare they? Why didn’t Helen Bohham Carter bleach her hair blonde and chew the scenery? Oh, wait Melissa Leo already did that in The Fighter? And why didn’t Guy Pearce overact and steal scenes from Colin Firth? Oh wait, Christian Bale already did that to Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter (I love Bale but even he admitted this when he accepted his award at the BFCA awards).
Actually I like The Fighter a lot, but when you say The King’s Speech was poorly produced, poorly directed, and now not deserving of an acting ensemble award I can’t help but disagree at least about the acting.
Well, it looks as though that The Social Network could fulfill that critical prophecy of being the next Citizen Kane, as it’s likely to go home with a singular award on Oscar night (though I have my doubts about even it’s safest bet at this point).
But it’s best to go back Guy’s article from a few days ago and remember that it’s best to just love the films you love and be thankful when they recieve any kind of appreciation or recognition.
8 days ago, if you would have asked me what movie was winning Best Picture and Director, I would have said bet the house on The Social Network.
Now, after having won the Producers, Directors and Screen Actors Guilds awards, I would put my money on The King’s Speech.
What looked like a Secretarian race just over a week ago is now neck to neck.
This is an unfathomably boring race. The only major category I would argue that has any differing possibilites is Best Director, and who even knows about that.
@The Other James– I don’t see how Portman’s winning this year is compensation for anything in her past. And I don’t think she deserves to win this year either.
TKS first won PGA, then they blamed it on preferential voting.
Then it won DGA, they said it was TV directors voting for Hooper. They also said it was the acting not directing that make TKS a good movie!
Now, it won SAG, they say it didnt deserve it!!!
They say It is all Harvey’s magic! I wonder why Harvey didnt use his magic before for other movies that didnt win anything big!
It is time to grow up!
daveylow
Probably because they were two busy doing nothing in their nothing roles. There are two notable performances in The King’s Speech, vs. many notable turns, both small and large, in The Social Network and four great performances in The Fighter.
Sertan, if Social Network had won any of those awards you probably would’ve come up with your own excuses for it winning. Chill out.
I would just like to say that it’s easy to forget that, in the heat of Oscar season, these are opinions. Art is subjective. Now, I will give you that some art is terrible and some art is great. Yes. But in a year like this, with TSN, Black Swan, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, Toy Story 3, etc., all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, I really can’t complain. All excellent pieces of art, significantly beautiful in their own right.
So, when the awards season gets predictable (as ALWAYS), I feel a litte sad, because the wealth could most certainly be spread out. But I’m not upset. In such a great year of nominees, how great it is to see Colin, Natalie, Christian, and Leo (no matter how much I dislike the woman, great performance) get love from the industry.
Gosh, what a great year :D
Drew,
I dont think so! I dont have any personal investment in either movies! I could live any movie winning BP. I just dont like that people attack other people and the people who like them. I think some people just take it too seriously and make it personal!
I really love Blue Valentine and to some extent Rabbit Hole, mostly because of N.Kidman. Knowing that they have no chance at winning anything is very relaxing!
Drew,
AMEN. Love the films you love. :D
Another reason for the oscars to move back to march — and give time for voters to rethink their decisions and upsets to happen. 8 years ago — Chicago lost best director, best screenplay to the pianist and best actor went to adrien brody who won no previous precursor, best actress to nicole kidman (both much deserved) and they had that show in march. But the academy’s thinking is to move it in january so they are the first, if they held it next week, the results would be the same and what fun is that — already this will be the most predictable awards show — so much for that wide open race. Natalie portman is not the best actress.
So Portman and Firth are locked to win in the actress and actor categories. Bale and Leo also look like locks but I cannot help feeling one of the latter two (will fall at the Oscars) as it is quite rare for both supporting categories to be won by the same film…infact, the last time that happened was in 1986 – Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters) and before then in 1971 – Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson (The Last Picture Show) then we go back to 1951 – A Streetcar named Desire which won best actress and both supporting categories. Infact in 83 years, the same fim has won both supporting acting Oscars only 6 times.
As for Best Picture, it will seem that with the PGA, DGA and now, SAG ensemble in the bag, TKS is poised to take the directing and best picture Oscars but I will not count out TSN picking up at least the directing category. In 2002, Rob Marshall (another new comer director) won the DGA and lost the Oscar to veteran Roman Polanski (The Pianist) while Chicago won best picture. This reasoning is based on the fact that there are still 4 weeks to go and the ballots have not even been sent out yet…..4 weeks is a long time to get tired of the frontrunner….remember what happened to Brokeback Mountain in 2005(granted, the winter Olympics meant 2 extra weeks of campaigning)
I wish harvey’s magic worked on last years more deserving Inglorious basterds.
i got a second look at the social network and i thought it was worthy of all the accolades it has received.
Dillon Green, why don’t you like Leo?
Hence all of the exclamation points in your comments.
I would have loved to have seen you defending Social Network after it swept the critics prizes and the immediate response was that they were sheep. One could make the same argument for King’s Speech sweeping the guilds and likley the Oscar’s now. But you don’t see me advocating that kind of retaliation.
Drew,
It’s just that everybody (especially TSN fans) were expecting DGA/PGA to go to TSN.
Now, I am sorry, but it is clearly not an acting movie, particularly when you compare it to TKS. Say anything about directing in TSN, fine, but alledging that acting in TKS is not good…well it’s bad faith in my opinion.
Robert Hamer beat me to it. The two leads are excellent, but some of the acting at the edges of The King’s Speech is dicey. Timothy Spall is obviously the worst offender, but Derek Jacobi is on pretty poor form too.
*** And I’m not speaking of you in particular, just saying.
“The clip they showed from “The King’s Speech”–the corny “because I have a voice” scene–only underscores how underserving that movie is.”
I think this is one of the things this movie is all about… Having a voice and learning to express it to be heard….
Harvey did a couple of ”magic” in the past (Shakespeare In Love; Cider House Rules and Chocolat for Best Picture). But TKS is not the case. It’s a great ”Oscar movie”. Of course Harvey has merit in this TKS winning wave… but last year he was not able to do the same with Basterds, which was a period film about WW-2. Not even the screenplay that was far more desrving than The Hurt Locker’s they won.
Shakespeare In Love was also a great Oscar movie… but Harvey’s campaign made it beat one period WW-2 drama critics-darling box office favourite Spielberg film….. IT WAS MAGIC
Love all of the winners, but what percentage of SAG voters are Academy voters? There is usually a major difference amongst the winners in several categories over the years.
Gabriel, I was expecting it to as well, and admitedley, I was disappointed when it didn’t. Considering that this year has been recently compared to the year when Gladiator won, there is still a chance, albeit a slim one, that Fincher could still when director when Soderberg failed to win either the globe or the DGA for traffic.
As for the acting, I would highly disagree with that notion when you look at piece of material which is that demanding and that challenging of it’s actors. Anyone willing to rise the occasion and deliver sorkineese dialogue and bring to life those characters as well as they did is worthy of praise and respect. King’s Speech is an actors showcase, no doubt, but I think Guy and Robert offered pretty good reasons for why it isn’t the best films in terms of performance.
Granted, Soderberg did have the luxury of being a double nominee.
147–I believe there are 1,000-1,200 people in the actors branch and SAG has 100,000 members, so the overlap is likely very minimal. It would depend on the proportion of AMPAS members in SAG, I would guess that’s very high, but unlikely to be 100%.
This is to say AMPAS members are likely a fraction of the SAG membership.
I think the movie “Julia” also won for both supporting categories in 1977. That’s between “Hannah and her sisters” and “The last picture show”