With “1917” winning the Producers Guild Award on Saturday night, we might be looking at a year in which the two leading Oscar contenders don’t have a single acting nomination between them
More than most years, the film races at Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards were all about the SAG Ensemble Award that was won by “Parasite,” giving yet another awards-season boost to the twisted Korean-language film.
The big takeaway from the show was that actors love Bong Joon Ho’s movie even if they don’t know the names of the actors — so much so that the movie can win the ensemble award without getting a single individual acting nomination.
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And now the question that will hang in the air for the next three weeks is a related one: Can a movie that isn’t in English and didn’t get a single Oscar nomination for acting be popular enough with the Academy’s huge Actors Branch to actually win Best Picture?
Also Read: SAG Awards 2020: The Complete List of Winners
We don’t know the answer. But after the SAG Awards, we know that it’s a real possibility — and with “1917” winning the Producers Guild Award on Saturday night, we just might be looking at a year in which the two leading Oscar contenders don’t have a single acting nomination between them.
The SAG ensemble award doesn’t go to the Oscar Best Picture winner more often than it does, but people remember the times when it showed a film had real strength with voters: “Shakespeare in Love,” “Crash,” “Spotlight” …
We might also be looking at a year in which the two films that seemed to be frontrunners for much of the season, “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” and “The Irishman,” are suddenly falling by the wayside.
The SAG Awards was an important contest for both of those films. Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time” won the comedy Golden Globe on Jan. 5 but in recent days lost to “1917” at the Producers Guild Awards, while Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” has been landing lots of nominations but winning almost nothing except critics’ awards.
But with “1917” not nominated for any SAG Awards, the ceremony provided an opportunity for one of its competitors to snag a high-profile award and grab a bit of momentum in a shortened awards season. That the competitor who did that was “Parasite,” a black Korean comedy about class divisions, is a further sign that this is one odd, unsettled awards season.
Also Read: How 'Parasite' Director Bong Joon Ho Created the Year's Most Dangerously Charming Film
But in the individual acting categories, SAG only proved that the season isn’t unsettled at all. Instead, the four film-acting winners — Joaquin Phoenix for “Joker,” Renee Zellweger for “Judy,” Brad Pitt for “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” and Laura Dern for “Marriage Story” — have been on a roll through one awards show after another, and seem all but assured to win at the Oscars on Feb. 9.
Of course, you could have said that about Glenn Close in “The Wife” last year at this time, until Olivia Colman was surprised to learn that Oscar voters had a different idea. But even if an upset is still possible in one of the individual categories, it’s unlikely — even less so, perhaps, after Sunday night.
For Phoenix and Zellweger and Pitt and Dern, there’s not much risk in these shows — if they can get up onstage and be relatively gracious, passionate, heartfelt and/or charming, they’ll probably give Oscar voters who are already leaning in their direction permission to remain that way.
Also Read: 'Judy': Why Renée Zellweger Had to Actually Sing in the Garland Biopic (Exclusive Video)
That’s an easy task for Zellweger, Pitt and Dern. Zellweger is always passionate about Judy Garland, the woman she plays in “Judy.” Pitt is effortlessly charming and amusing every time he sets foot on a stage. Dern is the very definition of heartfelt.
And while Phoenix is obviously the least comfortable in an awards spotlight, his obviously unfeigned graciousness toward his fellow nominees made this the most touching and the funniest of his awards speeches. He’s getting better at this, and his performance in “Joker” does the rest.
In the television categories, the big surprise was that “Fleabag” actually lost an award for which it was nominated, a true rarity during the last five months of awards shows. And actress Alex Borstein, who attempted to accept the award on behalf of “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” acknowledged as much when she began her speech by saying, “I voted for ‘Fleabag.’ This makes no sense.”
Elsewhere, it came as something of a surprise that Peter Dinklage had never before won a SAG Award for “Game of Thrones,” and that it took the voters three seasons to finally recognize “The Crown,” and that they loved “Fosse/Verdon” enough to reward both of its lead actors, Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams.
Also Read: Phoebe Waller-Bridge Brings All 3 of Her Emmys to 'SNL' in New Promo (Video)
But really, the Emmy Awards are four months in the rearview mirror or eight months in the future, depending on the direction you’re looking. This time of year, the focus is on movies. And on Sunday night, that meant the focus was on “Parasite.”
And if it’s now down to “Parasite” v. “1917” at the Oscars, where neither of those films has a nominated actor, does that mean the Screen Actors Guild just helped prove that acting nominations don’t really matter?
Maybe they did. Maybe it’s that kind of year.
Oscars 2020: See the Nominees in All 24 Categories (Photos)
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Nine films are nominated for Best Picture at the 92nd Annual Academy Awards. This year’s Oscars ceremony, which takes place the earliest ever in awards season, will take place on Feb. 9. And for the second year in a row, this year’s ceremony will have no host. Check out the full list of nominees in all 24 categories.
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Neon
BEST PICTURE
“Ford v Ferrari,”
“The Irishman,”
“Jojo Rabbit,”
“Joker,”
“Little Women,”
“Marriage Story,”
“1917,”
“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,”
“Parasite” (Pictured)
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Netflix
BEST DIRECTOR
Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite,”
Todd Phillips, “Joker,”
Sam Mendes, “1917,”
Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman” (Pictured),
Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”
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Warner Bros.
BEST ACTOR
Antonio Banderas, “Pain and Glory,”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,”
Adam Driver, “Marriage Story,”
Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker,” (Pictured)
Jonathan Pryce, “The Two Popes”
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Roadside Attractions/LD Entertainment
BEST ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo, “Harriet,”
Scarlett Johansson, “Marriage Story,”
Saoirse Ronan, “Little Women,”
Charlize Theron, “Bombshell,”
Renée Zellweger, “Judy” (pictured)
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Sony Pictures
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tom Hanks, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
Anthony Hopkins, “The Two Popes”
Al Pacino, “The Irishman”
Joe Pesci, “The Irishman”
Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” (pictured)
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STXfilms
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell” (pictured),
Laura Dern, “Marriage Story,”
Scarlett Johansson, “Jojo Rabbit,”
Florence Pugh, “Little Women,”
Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”
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Netflix
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Knives Out,”
“Marriage Story” (pictured),
“1917,”
“Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood,”
“Parasite”
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Peter Mountain/Netflix
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“The Irishman,”
“Jojo Rabbit,”
“Joker,”
“Little Women,”
“The Two Popes” (pictured)
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A24/Photo by Eric Chakeen
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Irishman,”
“Joker,”
“The Lighthouse” (pictured),
“1917,”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
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Netflix
BEST FILM EDITING
“Ford v Ferrari,”
“The Irishman,”
“Jojo Rabbit,”
“Joker,”
“Parasite”
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Sony
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“The Irishman,”
“Jojo Rabbit,”
“Joker,”
“Little Women” (pictured),
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
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Lionsgate
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“Bombshell” (pictured)
“Joker,”
“Judy,”
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil,”
“1917”
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Fox Searchlight
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Joker,”
“Little Women” (pictured),
“Marriage Story,”
“1917,”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
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Disney
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from “Toy Story 4,"
“Into the Unknown” from “Frozen II” (pictured),
“(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from “Rocketman,”
“I’m Standing With You,” “Breakthrough,”
“Stand Up” from “Harriet”
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Universal
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
“The Irishman,”
“Jojo Rabbit,”
“1917” (pictured, Dennis Gassner),
“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,”
“Parasite”
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Walt Disney Studios
BEST SOUND EDITING
“Ford v Ferrari,”
“Joker,”
“1917,”
“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (pictured)
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20th Century Fox
BEST SOUND MIXING
“Ad Astra” (pictured)
“Ford v Ferrari,”
“Joker,”
“1917,”
“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
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Disney
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Avengers: Endgame,”
“The Irishman,”
“The Lion King” (pictured),
“1917,”
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”
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Sony Pictures Classics
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
“Corpus Christi,” Poland
“Honeyland,” North Macedonia
“Les Misérables,” France
“Pain and Glory,” Spain (pictured)
“Parasite,” South Korea
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Disney-Pixar
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,”
“I Lost My Body,”
“Klaus,”
“Missing Link,”
“Toy Story 4” (pictured)
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Pixar
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
“Dcera (Daughter),”
“Hair Love,”
“Kitbull” (pictured)
“Memorable”
“Sister”
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Nat Geo
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“American Factory,”
“The Cave” (pictured),
“The Edge of Democracy,”
“For Sama,”
“Honeyland”
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Netflix
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
“In the Absence,”
“Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)” (pictured)
“Life Overtakes Me,”
“St. Louis Superman,”
“Walk Run Cha-Cha”
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Mubi
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
“Brotherhood,”
“Nefta Football Club” (pictured)
“The Neighbors’ Window,”
“Saria,”
“A Sister”
The 92nd Academy Awards take place on Feb. 9
Nine films are nominated for Best Picture at the 92nd Annual Academy Awards. This year’s Oscars ceremony, which takes place the earliest ever in awards season, will take place on Feb. 9. And for the second year in a row, this year’s ceremony will have no host. Check out the full list of nominees in all 24 categories.
Steve Pond
Awards Editor • steve@thewrap.com • Twitter: @stevepond