Sunday’s SAG Awards put the Oscars on notice.
The show unexpectedly delivered a night of passionate speeches and surprising choices for the prizes voted on by the 160,000 members of the combined membership of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA). After the Golden Globes’ blanket anointing of “La La Land” on Jan. 8, these awards seemed like a manifesto✃ from some rebels with a cause.
In a year distinguished by diversity in casting and storytelling, the actors’ unions gave their top award, for best ensemble, to the patriotic box-office smash, “Hidden Figures.” Taraji P. Henson, who stars as real-life mathematical genius Kathe🃏rine Johnson, gave a rousing acceptance speech.
“The shoulders of the women we stand on are three American heroes. Without them, we would not know how to reach the sta﷽rs,” she said. “This story is about what happens when we put our differences aside and we come together as a human race. We win, love wins. Every🅺 time.”
Henson also invoked the name of astronaut John Glenn, who requested Johnson to plot h꧋is trajectory as he orbited the Earth in 1961.
“Hidden Figures” passed the $100 million mark at the box office this weekend, coming in third place. It is one of the nine films nominated for Best Pic𒁃ture at the Academy Awards and was not considered a serious contender for the top prize, but its victory at the SAG Awards has insiders wondering if the combination of the movie’s uplifting subject matter, the public’s passionate response to the film and the political climate make it a serious threat to the trio of films (“La La Land,” “Moonlight” and “Manchester By the Sea”) that have dominated the media’s coverage.
Hollywood, already disconsolate over the election of Donald Trump, was from select countries entering the US. The resulting political speeches at the podium gave the SAG Awards real punch. Instead of listening to a bunch of actors thank the usual litany of agents, managers, lawyers and Botox vendors,ꦇ viewers were able to connect with them personally, if only for a few minutes, as they revealed personal stories.
Inst♎ead of listening to a bunch of actors thank the usual litany of agents, managers, lawye꧑rs and Botox vendors, viewers were able to connect with them personally as they revealed personal stories.
Best supporting actor award winner Mahershala Ali of “Moonlight” acknowledged in🧸 his acceptance speech that he is a Muslim convert. “I think what I’ve learned from working on ‘Moonlight,’ 😼[is] we see what happens when you persecute people, they fold in on themselves,” Ali said. Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose father fled Nazi-occupied France, denounced the immigrant ban when she accepted her award for best actress in a comedy series for “Veep.”
In another pleasant turn, the stars of “Fences,” Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, won for best actor and best supporting actress, respectively. Combined with Ali, that saw African-American actors win three out of the four top acting categories (Emma Stone of “La La Land” w�༺�on the best actress award).
The Screen Actors Guild previously awarded a trio of black actors in 2007, when Forest Whitaker won for best actor for “The Last King of Scotland” and Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson took the supporting statuettes for “Dreamgirls.” Only Whitaker and Hudson repeated at ✃the Oscars.
Given SAG’s resounding recognition of diversity in film — and a year after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy — theꦗ 2017 Academy Awards now have a much-needed element of suspense.