IN THEIR OWN WORDS
A handful of stars delivered standout speeches at annual SAG Awards
Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite made history Sunday at the 26th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, becoming the first foreign-language film to win the ceremony’s top prize: best cast in a motion picture.
Joaquin Phoenix won best actor in a leading role for Joker, continuing a winning streak that has landed him a Golden Globe and a Critics’ Choice Award. Renée Zellweger, also a Golden Globe winner, earned the best actress win for her well-received portrayal of Judy Garland.
Fosse/verdon was a standout in the television categories, with leads Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams winning for their roles as Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, respectively, in the limited series/tv movie category.
Jennifer Aniston took the award for best actress in a TV drama for The Morning Show. Peter Dinklage won best actor in a TV drama, adding a note of victory to the swan song of HBO’S Game of Thrones.
The top prizes for TV comedy went to Phoebe Waller-bridge, for Fleabag, and Tony Shalhoub for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Following are some of the highlights from Sunday’s two-hour show.
BRAD PITT’S TARANTINO JOKE
Pitt had one of the funniest speeches of the night while accepting the trophy for actor in a supporting role for Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. He began with yet another joke about his dating life. “I get to add this to my Tinder profile,” he quipped.
His speech was at times self-deprecating — at one point he joked about how on-the-nose his role could be from certain perspectives. “It was a difficult part, a guy who gets high, takes his shirt off and doesn’t get on with his wife. It was a big stretch,” he joked.
But Pitt saved the biggest zinger for director Quentin Tarantino, who has been known to have a foot fetish. “I’d like to thank my co-stars, Leo (Dicaprio), Margot Robbie, Margot Robbie’s feet, Margaret Qualley’s feet,” he joked before revealing the, um, kicker: “Quentin Tarantino has separated more women from their shoes than the TSA.”
JENNIFER ANISTON’S EMOTIONAL SPEECH
Aniston looked genuinely shocked — and teary eyed — as she took the stage to accept her trophy for the Apple TV+ drama The Morning Show. It was Aniston’s first SAG win since 1996, when she shared best TV comedy ensemble with the cast of Friends.
“What?! Oh my gosh. This is so unbelievable,” Aniston said.
“Boy, did we get to dive deep into our own experiences and our own history and really be able to breathe life into these extraordinary characters,” she said, before joking: “Who knew that emotional breakdowns felt that good? It really was, like, seven months of therapy covering about 20 years of work. So thank you for watching that.”
ROBERT DE NIRO’S SUBTLY POLITICAL SPEECH
De Niro, recipient of this year’s lifetime achievement award, is an outspoken critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, but his speech did not mention Trump directly. After reflecting on his craft, De Niro first praised the actors’ union: “I thank SAG-AFTRA for tirelessly fighting on our behalf for workplace and economic gains and respect. And that especially bears remembering these days when there’s so much hostility towards unions,” De Niro said. “Political leaders who support unions are more likely to support Affordable Care Act, equitable taxes, humane immigration regulations, a safe environment, a diverse citizenry, reproductive rights, sensible gun control and fair wages and benefits,” the veteran actor continued. “We owe them our support and we owe them our vote.”
JOAQUIN PHOENIX’S HEATH LEDGER TRIBUTE
Phoenix has been notably averse to many awards shows, even admitting on the SAG Awards stage that he “couldn’t fully appreciate” the ceremony several years ago. But he took the time onstage to honour his fellow nominees, addressing each of them directly as he praised their work. Phoenix ended his speech with a nod to another actor who had portrayed the Joker: “I’m standing on the shoulders of my favourite actor, Heath Ledger,” he said.
EUGENE AND DAN LEVY’S NON-HOST BANTER
The father-son duo, both nominated for Schitt’s Creek, opened and closed the show with witty banter, but — as they reminded us — they were not the hosts of the ceremony. (Following the lead of several recent awards shows, the SAG Awards went hostless.) Fittingly, the elder Levy kicked things off with a dad joke — involving a famous toilet paper commercial — that he worked into one of SAG’S trademark “I am an actor” profiles. The Washington Post