The 14th annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards held at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center, aired this past Sunday.
The Writers Guild of America allowed its members to write for the SAG Awards due to the union’s strong support of the writers during their long strike.
After the lack of Golden Globe glitz and anxiety over the unknown fate of the Academy Awards, it was assumed that the SAG Awards would hoard in viewers who had to get their celebrity kicks somehow.
Unfortunately, as Lisa de Moraes of The Washington Post discussed in her article, According to Jim and Cops fared better than the SAG Awards, which only drew about 6.1 million viewers (compare that to the 40 million the Academy Awards brought in last year).
The recipients of “The Actor” are voted upon by the entire guild. Thirteen awards are given out during the two-hour ceremony to television and film actors as well as cast and stunt ensembles.
No Country for Old Men was the big motion picture victor and took home two Actors for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Javier Bardem).
The Sopranos was awarded three Actors for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, by a Male Actor in a Drama Series and by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (James Gandolfini and Edie Falco respectively), making it the television series victor.
It certainly seems appropriate that The Sopranos swept the awards show. The show had its series finale this past year and by giving the Actor to Gandolfini, Falco and the rest of the cast, SAG was almost congratulating them on six wildly successful seasons.
A close second in the television series section of the awards was 30 Rock which received Actors both female and male outstanding performances (Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin repectively). Outstanding Ensemble was awarded to The Office.
The coveted SAG Awards Annual Life Achievement Award was given to Charles Durning, remembered for his supporting role in The Sting.
Sean Penn, who directed Into the Wild, was surely disappointed when his film, nominated for three Actors, came home empty-handed.
Another surprise was that the highly critically acclaimed Atonement was forgotten in all categories. It has received seven nominations from the Academy, including Best Picture.
All in all, the SAG Awards were a nice change to the re-runs and reality shows which have been storming our televisions lately. It is said that the films which do well at the SAG Awards fair similarly with the Academy, so we will all have to wait and see if that holds true this year.
