After multiple victories at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once has solidified its position as an Oscar frontrunner.
The multiverse adventure won the award for best ensemble cast at the ceremony. And several of its performers were also recognized individually.
Best actress went to Michelle Yeoh, who defeated Cate Blanchett, who was the frontrunner.
“This is not just for me. It’s for every little child who looks like me,” Yeoh said in her emotional acceptance speech.
Her co-star Ke Huy Quan became the first Asian to receive the award for the best supporting actor, and his co-star Jamie Lee Curtis surprised everyone by winning the award for best supporting actress.
Everything Everywhere All At Once follows a laundromat owner, portrayed by Yeoh. Who must access various versions of herself from the multiverse to save the world.
The sci-fi adventure’s victory provides it significant momentum leading up to the Oscars on March 12 and establishes it as the clear favorite to win best picture. The film has garnered the most SAG awards (four) ever.
Brendan Fraser, who won best actor for his work in The Whale, was the only recipient in SAG’s film acting categories who were not from Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Yeoh told the audience, which was primarily made up of fellow actors, that “we’re here because we adore what we do, and we’ll never stop doing what we love.”
Thank you for granting me a seat at the table because so many of us need this. We want to be seen and heard, and tonight you have shown us that it is possible,” she said.
The SAG Awards’ best film cast award is the most coveted without a best picture category. The term “ecosystem” refers to a group of people who labor in the construction industry.
James Hong, a 94-year-old veteran actor who portrays Yeoh’s father in Everything Everywhere, gave a humorous acceptance speech in which he promised to return to the ceremony when he turned 100.
“Producers stated Asians were untalented and box office failures.” He said to cheers.
The film’s SAG award was the second significant recognition it received this weekend. On Saturday, it claimed the top prize at the Producers Guild of America (PGA) Awards. Which is a valuable indicator of Oscar success.
Curtis stated in her acceptance speech, “I love acting, I love the job we get to do. I love being a part of a crew, a cast. I love what we do with each other, it’s such a beautiful job… what a dream!”
Curtis, who is the daughter of two actors, Janet Leigh, and Tony Curtis, also made light of the recent “no baby” online debate about stars who may have had an advantage in their careers due to their renowned parents.
“I know you look at me and think. ‘Well, nepotism darling, that’s why she’s there.’ And I get it,” Curtis said. “However, the reality is that I am 64 years old, and this is truly astounding.” The actress had previously referred to herself as a “repo infant” during the ceremony.
Her victory, along with that of Kerry Condon at last week’s Baftas, casts significant doubt over the supporting actress category in advance of the Oscars. Angela Bassett, who starred in the film Wakanda Forever, was formerly regarded as the frontrunner.
Ke Huy Quan, who played Curtis’s co-star, became the first Asian actor to win the best supporting actor honour.
“When I heard that, I immediately realized that this moment no longer belonged to me alone. It also belongs to everyone who has demanded change “Quan said as he gathered his trophy. “This is a very emotional time for me.”
Quan rose to prominence as a child star in films such as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. But he took a break from acting later in his career before returning with Everything Everywhere All At Once.
“I stopped performing because there were so few opportunities,” he said. “And yet, here we are tonight, and the landscape appears so different than before. Thank you to everyone who helped make these improvements possible.”
Brendan Fraser Continues his Comeback
“I will revere this, but not more than what I used to keep in my wallet. Which was my SAG card, which I earned in 1991,” Fraser said, becoming visibly emotional. “It made me feel like I belonged. I would not have believed you if you had told that man back then that I would be standing here right now.”
In The Whale, he plays Charlie, a morbidly obese professor, and he called it “the role of my life.”
The actor, who was a box office sensation at the turn of the millennium with films such as The Mummy and George of the Jungle, continues his enormously successful comeback with this victory.
Until he was cast as the protagonist in Darren Aronofsky’s film, the 54-year-old actor spent several years away from the limelight, playing smaller roles as he struggled to reclaim his former success.
“I just want you to know, all the actors out there who have gone through that or are going through that, I know how you feel, but believe me, if you just remain in there and put one foot in front of the other, you’ll get where you need to go,” Fraser said.
Jessica Chastain (for George & Tammy), Jason Bateman (Ozark), Sam Elliott (1883), and Jean Smart were the acting champions in the television categories (Hacks).
The White Lotus, a satire about affluence, and Abbott Elementary, a sitcom about schools, won the top two TV awards for best drama series and best comedy series, respectively.
Jennifer Coolidge, who won best actress in a drama series for her role in The White Lotus, used her acceptance speech to recount the time her normally rule-abiding father allowed her to avoid school to attend the Charlie Chaplin film festival.
“He pulled me out of first grade to do it,” she said, “and seeing Charlie Chaplin for the first time and having that experience, my passion for film and my love of actors, all of that came from first grade.”
Andrew Garfield presented the lifetime achievement award to Sally Field, who told the audience. “In almost 60 years, there has never been a day when I didn’t feel quietly delighted to be an actor.”
The show’s In Memoriam segment also featured celebrities like Robbie Coltrane, Ray Liotta, James Caan, Dame Olivia Newton-John, Irene Cara, Annie Wersching, and Dame Angela Lansbury.
The SAG Awards and the Bafta Film Awards are both regarded as Oscar predictors. But this year none of the main winners overlapped.
The Banshees of Inisherin and All Quiet on the Western Front dominated last week’s Baftas. While Everything Everywhere won only one of the ten awards for which it was nominated.
No actor has won their category at the Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice Awards, SAG Awards, or Baftas this year, leaving the Oscar race wide open.
