“Anora” or “Wicked”? Maybe “A Complete Unknown”? Turns out, none of the above. “Conclave” ended up winning the key ensemble cast award at the 31st Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, adding an intriguing wrinkle to an awards season that was beginning to look like an “Anora” cakewalk.
The papal drama starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini and a host of others is the very definition of an ensemble piece, but it wasn’t considered a likely SAG ensemble winner, with most awards-watchers leaning toward “Wicked” or “Anora.” The former film went into the show leading all films with five nominations, while the latter had already won the top awards from the Directors Guild, Producers Guild and Writers Guild.
But “Conclave” won on a night on which SAG-AFTRA voters delivered a few surprises, definitely including Timothée Chalamet winning for “A Complete Unknown” after Adrien Brody had won for “The Brutalist” at virtually every other awards show.
Over the years, a SAG ensemble award hasn’t always been the ticket to an Oscar Best Picture victory: The SAG Awards winner has only won the Oscar for Best Picture about half the time, with recent winners including including Oscar also-rans “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” “Black Panther” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
But SAG and the Oscars have matched four times in the last five years, including the last three years in a row — and in the past, SAG ensemble has famously predicted Oscar upsets from “Shakespeare in Love,” “Crash” and “Parasite.”
“Anora” will still likely be seen as the frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar, but the SAG Award win gave “Conclave” a pair of intriguing and perhaps significant wins in the last two weeks of awards season, following its Best Film win at the BAFTA Film Awards in London last week and its Writers Guild win in the adapted screenplay category to counter “Anora’s” win for original screenplay.
A Best Picture race that didn’t look close on Saturday afternoon, after “Anora” won three big prizes at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, suddenly seems to be anything but a runaway.
In the individual film categories at the SAG Awards, Chalamet was the big shock. Demi Moore, meanwhile, reclaimed her spot at the front of the race, taking home the best actress prize for “The Substance” after she’d lost to “Anora” star Mikey Madison at the BAFTAs and Indie Spirits.
In the supporting categories, Sunday’s Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña continued their winning streaks that have lasted all season and that make them prohibitive Oscar favorites. Culkin won the first film award of the evening, supporting actor for “A Real Pain,” and then delivered a rambling speech that included a nod to Brody, who he clearly thought would be up on the stage by the end of the night. And Saldaña, who has been largely unscathed by the controversy surrounding “Emilia Pérez,” picked up yet another supporting actress trophy.
Over the 30-year history of the SAG Awards, individual winners in the film categories have gone on to win Academy Awards for acting 75% of the time. All four SAG winners have repeated at the Oscars 10 times, with eight of those times coming in the last 15 years. But more often, three of the four win at the Oscars and one doesn’t, which could provide a bit of optimism to fans of Brody or Madison.
In the television categories, “Shōgun” added three more wins to its haul (best actor for Hiroyuki Sanada, best actress for Anna Sawai and best ensemble) and Jessica Gunning notched a final victory for “Baby Reindeer,” beating Jodie Foster for lead actress in a limited series.
And it was a good night for “Only Murders in the Building,” which bested “Hacks” to take home the comedy series ensemble award. Selena Gomez was surprised as everyone else, noting on stage that their show “never” wins. In one of the few surprises of the night, Martin Short beat Jeremy Allen White of “The Bear” for lead comedy actor, signaling that the serious cuisine comedy series with no jokes is no longer the awards darling it once was. At least for now.
A montage of films including “Grease,” “Pretty Woman,” “Swingers,” “Boogie Nights” and “Pulp Fiction” paid loving homage to Los Angeles in the wake of the devastating wild fires. And Jane Fonda was honored with a lifetime achievement award. In a rousing acceptance speech, she encouraged people to fight Trump with empathy, noting, “‘Woke’ just means you give a damn about other people.”
hosted by Kristen Bell.
Here is the full list of nominees. Winners are indicated by *WINNER.
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown” *WINNER
Daniel Craig, “Queer”
Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”
Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Pamela Anderson, “The Last Showgirl”
Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”
Karla Sofia Gascon, “Emilia Pérez”
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Demi Moore, “The Substance” *WINNER
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Jonathan Bailey, “Wicked”
Yura Borisov, “Anora”
Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain” *WINNER
Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”
Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown”
Jamie Lee Curtis, “The Last Showgirl”
Danielle Deadwyler, “The Piano Lesson”
Ariana Grande, “Wicked”
Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez” *WINNER
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
“Anora”
Yura Borisov
Mark Eydelshteyn
Karren Karagulian
Mikey Madison
Aleksey Serebryakov
Vache Tovmasyan
“A Complete Unknown”
Monica Barbaro
Norbert Leo Butz
Timothee Chalamet
Elle Fanning
Dan Folger
Will Harrison
Eriko Hatsune
Boyd Holbrook
Scoot McNairy
Big Bill Morganfield
Edward Norton
“Conclave” *WINNER
Sergio Castellitto
Ralph Fiennes
John Lithgow
Lucian Msamati
Isabella Rossellini
Stanley Tucci
“Emilia Perez”
Karla Sofia Gascon
Selena Gomez
Adriana Paz
Zoe Saldana
“Wicked”
Jonathan Bailey
Marissa Bode
Peter Dinklage
Cynthia Erivo
Jeff Goldblum
Ariana Grande
Ethan Slater
Bowen Yang
Michelle Yeoh
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
“Deadpool & Wolverine”
“Dune: Part Two”
“The Fall Guy” *WINNER
“Gladiator II”
“Wicked”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
Javier Bardem, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story”
Colin Farrell, “The Penguin” *WINNER
Richard Gadd, “Baby Reindeer”
Kevin Kline, “Disclaimer”
Andrew Scott, “Ripley”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Limited Series
Kathy Bates, “The Great Lillian Hall”
Cate Blanchett, “Disclaimer”
Jodie Foster, “True Detective: Night Country”
Lily Gladstone, “Under the Bridge”
Jessica Gunning, “Baby Reindeer” *WINNER
Cristin Milioti, “The Penguin”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Tadanobu Asano, “Shogun”
Jeff Bridges, “The Old Man”
Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Day of the Jackal”
Hiroyuki Sanada, “Shōgun” *WINNER
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Kathy Bates, “Matlock”
Nicola Coughlan, “Bridgerton”
Allison Janney, “The Diplomat”
Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
Anna Sawai, “Shōgun” *WINNER
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”
Ted Danson, “A Man on the Inside”
Harrison Ford, “Shrinking”
Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building” *WINNER
Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”
Quinta Brunson, “Abbott Elementary”
Liza Colon-Zayas, “The Bear”
Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”
Jean Smart, “Hacks” *WINNER
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
“Bridgerton”
Geraldine Alexander
Victor Alli
Adjoa Andoh
Julie Andrews
Lorraine Ashbourne
Simone Ashley
Jonathan Bailey
Joe Barnes
Joanna Bobin
James Bryan
Harriet Cains
Bessie Carter
Genevieve Chenneour
Dominic Coleman
Nicola Coughlan
Kitty Devlin
Hannah Dodd
Daniel Francis
Ruth Gemmell
Rosa Hesmondhalgh
Sesley Hope
Florence Hunt
Martins Imhangbe
Molly Jackson-Shaw
Claudia Jessie
Lorn MacDonald
Jessica Madsen
Emma Naomi
Hanna New
Luke Newton
Caleb Obediah
James Phoon
Vineeta Rishi
Golda Rosheuvel
Hugh Sacha
Banita Sandhu
Luke Thompson
Will Tilston
Polly Walker
Anna Wilson-Jones
Sophie Woolley
“The Day of the Jackal”
Khalid Abdalla
Jon Arias
Nick Blood
Ursula Corbero
Charles Dance
Ben Hall
Chukwudi Iwuji
Patrick Kennedy
Puchi Lagarde
Lashana Lynch
Eleanor Matsuura
Jonjo O’Neill
Eddie Redmayne
Sule Rimi
Lia Williams
“The Diplomat”
Ali Ahn
Sandy Amon-Schwartz
Tim Delap
Penny Downie
Ato Essandoh
David Gyasi
Celia Imrie
Rory Kinnear
Pearl Mackie
Nana Mensah
Graham Miller
Keri Russell
Rufus Sewell
Adam Silver
Kenichiro Thomson
“Shōgun” *WINNER
Shinnosuke Abe
Tadanobu Asano
Tommy Bastow
Takehiro Hira
Moeka Hoshi
Hiromoto Ida
Cosmo Jarvis
Hiroto Kanai
Yuki Kura
Takeshi Korokawa
Fumi Nikaido
Tokuma Nishioka
Hiroyuki Sanada
Anna Sawai
“Slow Horses”
Ruth Bradley
Tom Brooke
James Callis
Christopher Chung
Aimee-Ffion Edwards
Rosalind Eleazar
Sean Gilder
Kadiff Kirwan
Jack Lowden
Gary Oldman
Jonathan Pryce
Saskia Reeves
Joanna Scanlan
Kristin Scott Thomas
Hugo Weaving
Naomi Wirthner
Tom Wozniczka
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
“Abbott Elementary”
Quinta Brunson
William Stanford Davis
Janelle James
Chris Perfetti
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Lisa Ann Walter
Tyler James Williams
“The Bear”
Lionel Boyce
Liza Colon-Zayas
Ayo Edebiri
Abby Elliott
Edwin Lee Gibson
Corey Hendrix
Matty Matheson
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Ricky Staffieri
Jeremy Allen White
“Hacks”
Rose Abdoo
Carl Clemons-Hopkins
Paul W. Downs
Hannah Einbinder
Mark Indelicato
Jean Smart
Megan Stalter
“Only Murders in the Building” *WINNER
Michael Cyril Creighton
Zach Galifianakis
Selena Gomez
Richard Kind
Eugene Levy
Eva Longoria
Steve Martin
Kumail Nanjiani
Molly Shannon
Martin Short
“Shrinking”
Harrison Ford
Brett Goldstein
Devin Kawaoka
Gavin Lewis
Wendie Malick
Lukita Maxwell
Ted McGinley
Christa Miller
Jason Segel
Rachel Stubington
Luke Tennie
Michael Urie
Jessica Williams
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
“The Boys”
“Fallout”
“House of the Dragon”
“The Penguin”
“Shogun” *WINNER
