Actors celebrating actors. The Screen Actors Guild doesn't have the longest history for handing out accolades in Tinseltown (it's the 21st annual SAG Awards), but we sure love seeing familiar faces applaud for other familiar faces, don't we?
The awards themselves, are a little different. Their "ensemble" awards are the acting equivalent of Best Picture, Best TV Series, etc. And although actors are rewarded for imaginative performances, the statues themselves don't have the most imaginative name (but gets points for being gender neutral) -- and "the Actor" went to... Birdman.
Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone, Zach Galifanakis, Andrea Riseborough, and Amy Ryan won the top award of the evening for the ensemble cast of Birdman. Following last night's surprise Best Picture award from the Producer's Guild, there might be a little more steam in the Birdman Best Picture Oscar engine. Birdman shares the most overall Oscar nominations (nine) with The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Many expect Boyhood to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and now, Birdman looks to be its stiffest competition. The largest voting branch for the Academy are actors, and both films have narratives that are interesting for actors. Birdman is about an attempted stage comeback by a former superhero actor (played by Keaton, himself a former superhero actor). And Boyhood was shot with the same core cast over a 12 year period, to observe the natural aging process and dynamics in a specific era, within a fictional family.
On the film side, no one film won more than one award in the evening. On the television side, Orange is the New Black proved to be very popular with two wins: Best Ensemble Performance from a Comedic Television Series (40 actors won that one!) and Best Female Actor in a Comedic Series for Uzo Aduba.
With those two trophies, Abuda was the only actor to win multiple trophies tonight. Check out the rest of the winners, below.
2015 SAG AWARD WINNERS:
Film:
Best Ensemble Cast: Birdman
Best Male Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Best Female Actor: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Supporting Male Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Supporting Female Actor: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Television:
Best Ensemble Performance in a Dramatic Series: Downton Abbey
Best Male Actor in a Dramatic Television Series: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
Best Female Actor in a Dramatic Television Series: Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder
Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Television Series: Orange is the New Black
Best Male Actor in a Comedy Television Series: William H. Macy, Shameless
Best Female Actor in a Comedy Television Series: Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black
Best Male Actor in a Television Movie: Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart
Best Female Actor in a Television Movie: Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge
