LOS ANGELES — Every actor who prevailed at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last year went on to win an Oscar, as did SAG’s ensemble winner, “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The year before, SAG Awards voters were ahead of the curve, crowning “CODA” as its ensemble winner a month before its unlikely best picture victory at the Oscars.
As the actors branch is the motion picture academy’s largest faction, the SAG Awards nominations generally offer a reliable indication of how the Oscar acting races will take shape. Of course, since it’s actors doing the voting, there’s a tendency to reward showy (OK, hammy) performances, particularly for work centered on the profession they view as the most important in the world. Acting!
Who’s up and who’s down on the film side after Wednesday’s nominations? Here’s a rundown.
Up: “The Color Purple”
Blitz Bazawule’s adaptation of the 2005 Broadway musical version of Alice Walker’s revered 1982 novel felt like a surefire Oscar best picture contender at its first public screening at the academy’s Samuel L. Goldwyn Theater in mid-November. The closing credits received a standing ovation. What else do you need to know?