Oppenheimer on Saturday took top honors at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, as Hollywood stars partied at their union’s first prize-giving gala since staging its longest-ever strike last year.
The prestigious prize for best performance by a cast at the SAG Awards is historically a strong predictor for the Oscars, and makes Oppenheimer a formidable frontrunner for best picture.
Christopher Nolan’s epic drama about the father of the atomic bomb also took the awards for best actor for Cillian Murphy, who plays the titular scientist, and best supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr, portraying his bitter rival.
Photo: Reuters
“Thank you for the invitation to play a genuine part in making this scarily important film,” said Kenneth Branagh, speaking on behalf of the cast.
The mood at the gala was celebratory all round, as members of SAG-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) — the union that represents about 120,000 performers, including A-list stars — congregated in numbers for the first time since the strike ended in November last year.
Branagh recalled how the film’s cast had walked out of their London premiere in July last year as the work stoppage was about to begin.
“We went from the red carpet and we didn’t see the film that night. We happily went in the direction of solidarity with your good selves,” he said.
“So this, this is a full circle moment for us,” he said, to loud applause.
The guild ultimately extracted hard-fought gains including better pay and protections against artificial intelligence (AI) from studios including Disney and Netflix.
“You survived the longest strike in our union’s history with courage and conviction,” SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher said.
Warning that AI could “entrap us in a matrix where none of us know what’s real,” Drescher said “seminal” gains made in talks would “set the trajectory for many generations to come.”
The awards were streamed live on Netflix, a first for a major Hollywood award show.
That made for some significant tweaks to the age-old traditions of such ceremonies. There were no ads and profanity was permitted.
“Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of Oprah,” Idris Elba said of the change.
In the best actress category, Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon) bested her main rival Emma Stone (Poor Things) in a closely watched result that throws that Oscars race wide open.
Supporting actress prizes have been going consistently this season to Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers), and Saturday’s gala was no different.
Barbra Streisand received a lifetime achievement award, earning a rapturous standing ovation in a rare public appearance for the 81-year-old.
Additional reporting by AP
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