Demi Moore, Timothee Chalamet and papal drama Conclave were the big winners on the night at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, which is considered a bellwether for the Oscars. Moore, 62, picked up the leading actress award for body horror The Substance and Chalamet, 29, secured the leading actor prize for Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown at the 31st annual awards ceremony held at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Hall in Los Angeles.
During her acceptance speech Moore, who plays a TV fitness instructor that turns to a miracle drug after being fired from her job, reflected on her membership of the acting organisation from the age of 15 saying it “changed my life because it gave me meaning”.
She added: “It gave me purpose. It gave direction. I was a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life. I knew nothing about acting, but I watched and I listened and I learned from all of you. “You have all been my greatest teachers. I am so grateful that I have continued over these so many years to be able to try and sometime succeed and sometimes fail, but to be able to keep going.”.
The outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture went to Conclave, fronted by British actor Ralph Fiennes – who plays a cardinal overseeing the election of a new pope and beset by scheming fellow men of god, including Sergio Castellitto and John Lithgow’s characters.
They all took to the stage at the event along with Italian actress Isabella Rossellini, who has a stand-out role as a fierce nun in the Edward Berger-directed Vatican drama. Earlier in the evening, introducing the film, Rossellini said “we would like to wish Pope Francis a quick recovery” following news that the pontiff remained in “critical condition” with early kidney failure on Sunday.
On stage, accepting the award with the cast, Fiennes hailed Berger and producer Tessa Ross after saying: “I’ve not been elected to speak. I’ve been designated to speak on behalf of our conclave, our ensemble.”. Dune and Wonka actor Chalamet said that the “truth is I’m really in pursuit of greatness”, and he did not want to “downplay the effort that went into this role and how much this means to me”, which he spent five years crafting to portray a young Dylan.
“I poured everything I had into playing this incomparable artist Mr Bob Dylan, a true American hero,” he added. “And it was the honour of a lifetime playing him.”. The supporting categories went to favourites Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain – about mismatched cousins who tour Poland in honour of their grandmother – and Zoe Saldana for playing a lawyer who helps a Mexican drug boss change gender in Netflix’s Emilia Perez.
Saldana and Culkin have previously picked up the Bafta and Golden Globe prizes for their films in the same categories and look to be the frontrunners for the Oscars being held on March 2. “It is funny that the heaviest of all awards is given by actors,” Succession star Culkin said.
“Believe it or not, this actually means a lot to me.”. In the TV section, Irish actor Colin Farrell picked up the best actor TV limited series gong for The Penguin, in which he plays a DC Comics villain of the same name, while the female prize in the category was snagged by Yorkshire-born Jessica Gunning for playing stalker Martha Scott in dark Netflix drama Baby Reindeer.
Japanese historical drama Shogun continued its run of awards success, with acting awards won by Hiroyuki Sanada, and Anna Sawai, along with best stunt ensemble and outstanding performance by an acting ensemble in a drama prizes. The series, which airs on Disney+ and FX, sees British actor Cosmo Jarvis arrive in Japan during the 1600s as a sailor from England who tries to use the country’s leaders for his own ends, but ends up being outwitted by the canny Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Sanada), who is helped by his translator Lady Toda Mariko (Sawai).
Other winners included the cast from Only Murders In The Building, which includes Hollywood stars Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez, and is about a trio who start a podcast about true crime in their apartment flats. Canada-born Short, 74, who along with co-star Martin did not attend, also won outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy, as 73-year-old US star Jean Smart picked up the actress version of the category for Hacks, about a comedian who hires a joke writer.
