As award season continues to dazzle with its star-studded attendance, the SAG Awards, the most recent celebration, took center stage on Feb. 23, where Hollywood’s most recognizable figures honored their peers with laughter, exceptional acceptance speeches, and interesting technical issues.
The SAG Awards, or the Screen Actor Guild Awards, produced by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, took place Sunday night at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The ceremony honors actors with 13 awards in TV and film, and according to the SAG website has, “the largest voting body on the awards circuit,” with a voting association of 130,000 actors and performers.
This year, the show was hosted for the second time by actress Kristen Bell, who was recognized with a nomination in the Female Actor in a Comedy Series category for her role in Netflix rom-com “Nobody Wants This.” The show was kicked off by an altered rendition of Bell’s “Do You Want To Build A Snowman” from her role as Anna in the 2013 film “Frozen.”
“Do you want to be an actor,” Bell sang, “Let’s get your foot inside the door,” going on to summarize the films up for awards to the tune of the song.
Many household names were in attendance, such as actress and singer Selena Gomez, “Stranger Things” lead Millie Bobby Brown, and “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo, who was nominated in the Outstanding Performance by A Female Actor in a Leading Role category for the aforementioned musical.
Remarkably, “Wicked” held the lead in nominations going into the night, with five nods, and left the auditorium without a single win. Despite this, the majority of the snub-accusations are pointed at drama TV series “The Bear.” The submission of the series into the comedy category has sparked debate on whether or not it qualifies in that group, as the show mainly explores themes of grief and rocky family dynamics.
Nevertheless, “The Bear” lead Jeremy Allen White was bypassed for the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series award in favor of Martin Short for his role in “Only Murders in the Building.” Short, however, fell victim to the ‘SNL 50th Covid Curse,’ and was unable to attend the ceremony.
Short’s inability to be present for the show was not the only hiccup that the awards faced. During Jane Fonda’s acceptance speech for the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, the sound system had a series of complications that were impossible not to notice.
After the initial confusion caused by a technical issue, the speech was interrupted several times by a sequence of unidentifiable noises, and a pre-recorded announcer’s voice stating, “Here at the 31st–” before being quickly cut off.
Despite the presentation issues, the most outstanding moment of the night was no doubt handed to American-French actor Timothée Chalamet. Chalamet went home with the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role category for his work portraying Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown.” The category was stacked with talent, including Daniel Craig for “Queer” and Adrien Brody for “The Brutalist,” as well as others.
The remarkable part of Chalamet’s triumph came with his acceptance speech, in which the “Beautiful Boy” and “Dune” actor highlighted his idols such as Daniel Day Lewis and Viola Davis.
“I’m really in pursuit of greatness,” Chalamet said. “People don’t usually talk like this, but I want to be one of the greats.”
Chalamet’s indication of his future in Hollywood summarizes the goal of the SAG awards. In the midst of more serious award shows, SAG is a night more relaxed, and a time for actors to recognize their fellow artists for their works. In addition to this, it provides an opportunity for audiences to become more familiar with the newer generation of “greats,” many of which were on display on this significant night.
