Each week Daily Mirror columnist Jessica Boulton guides us through the weird and wacky showbiz world with Jess Saying, her wry and whimsical take on the past seven days.... Thank you Netflix! Last night was just the second time we've been able to watch the SAG Awards in the UK. And - crikes! - what a mixed treat they were.
There was adulation from most but not all for Lifetime Achievement Award winner Jane Fonda. (She's not so popular in certain parts of the Armed Forces). The Pope was sent a Get Well Soon message from the cast of Conclave. And Karla Sofia Gascon continued to be completely erased from Emilia Perez's legacy after her controversial tweet scandal.
But before we even think about who won what when and why, there's five things that were the real talking points from the night:. 1. Was it refreshingly honest or totally egomaniacal when Timothee Chalamet declared he wanted to "be one of the greats" like Marlon Brando? I believe the actual phrase was that he "was in pursuit of greatness" - before holding his Best Actor in a Movie award aloft and declaring - with a gravitas I'm sure SAG appreciated - "This doesn’t signify that, but it’s a little more fuel." Ouch.
I rather feel Tim's overdone it on the Kardashian Konfidence Training. The poor SAG gong hadn't been that insulted, since, well, Kieran Culkin's bizarre rant about its weight earlier in the night. (You know, the one that prompted every winner to make the very same joke when they got their award......).
2. Who was the absolute bona fide genius who booked Kristen Bell as host? And can we please get her to do all awards shows from now on? From her new take on her Frozen song (she voiced Anna in the movies) to her reunion with co-stars from The Good Place (Ted Danson and William Jackson Harper) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (Jason Segel), to that moment on stage with her Nobody Wants This co-star Adam Brody (my heart can barely take it)......I don't know where to begin.
But, boy, did Kristen's hubby Dax Shepard miss out by opting to stay home and babysit the kids. I'm torn as to my absolute favourite Bell moment of the night. Was it her sending herself up with that infamous sloth video? Her reunion with Adam's wife Leighton Meester as she took up the Gossip Girl mantle once again? Or the fact she showed a clip of her 00's alter-ego Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls getting hot and heavy to a roomful of Hollywood icons?.
3. Talking of references to our favourite noughties and nineties TV shows.....Someone on production is clearly a TV fan after my own heart. Across the various montages and skits on the night there was an X Files reunion, a New Girl reunion, multiple references to Buffy, Clueless, Beverly Hills 90210 and Gossip Girl, and a 30-second clip of - ( don't think for a second I missed it) - The OC theme tune. Although why the cameraperson couldn't show us Adam's face when he heard that literal blast from the past is a mystery.
4. The award for best Trump dig of the night goes to..... Jane Fonda of course. I mean, the speeches were always going to be political with activist Jane getting the honour of the night. But if Trump wasn't keen on Hollywood before, he certainly wasn't after she spoke. "Bullying" and "misogyny" I believe were just two of the terms that were not used - not directly, but definitely inferred with intent.
Not to mention Jane also came out with enough poignant one-liners to bring out her own range of inspirational fridge magnets: "'Woke' just means you give a damn about other people"; "It's okay to be a later bloomer as long as you don't miss the flower show"; "I'm not done"; and the slightly less pithy: "This is a good time for a little Norma Rae.".
Being from the Fonda Dynasty, it was all about making an impassioned speech. But if only she came from the other end of Hollywood Royalty....the Kardashians. For then there would have been slogan t-shirts, mugs, hats and eco-water bottles all printed and ready to flog in the interval. Talk about missing a trick, Jane.
5. Forget the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, there's a new way people in Hollywood are finding themselves interconnected nowadays: by who gave who Coronavirus. Presenting the award for Best Actor in a Limited Series, Jamie Lee Curtis shocked the room by saying: "And the Actor goes to…the man who gave me COVID at the Golden Globes, Colin Farrell.".
Yes, it turns out that in 2023 awards season saw a web of celebs connected by Covid as Jamie Lee Curtis got it from a kiss on cheek with Colin Farrell who got it from a kiss on cheek from Brendan Gleeson. One of them was luckier than the others, I would argue.....
The Baftas gave us plenty of shocks and treats to keep us talking well into Monday. There was Saoirse Ronan fangirling over Take That (yelling out that she’d been to see them twice on tour), Kylie Jenner snuggling up to boyfriend Timothée Chalamet and Warwick Davis making us all sob as he delivered his Fellowship speech from his specially made lectern.
