We are now just days away from the eagerly anticipated Screen Actors Guild Awards and stars like Frances McDormand and Gary Oldman will aim to maintain their momentum. Both scooped Golden Globes earlier this month and they are now the heavy favorites to earn further success at the upcoming Oscars. Two-thirds of Screen Actors Guild winners go on to claim an Academy Award too, so all eyes will be on the glittering ceremony. It takes place at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday, January 21, and will be broadcast live on TNT and TBS, with Kristen Bell hosting.
The list of nominations is similar for the SAG awards, the Globes and the Oscars, with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Get Out heavily represented. The former stars McDormand as a vengeful mother seeking answers about her daughter’s death. It has received rave reviews from critics and won Best Drama at the Globes, while McDormand won the Best Actress gong. Make sure to check Youwager for favorites and you will see that McDormand is now heavily expected to win the Oscar.
It would be her second Academy Award as she won Best Actress back in 1996 for her portrayal of a heavily pregnant police officer trying to solve a gruesome case in Fargo. She has since put in several superb performances and has won a Tony and an Emmy, but has not added to her sole Oscar. If she wins it this spring it will cement her status as one of the best actresses of all time, and she is the overwhelming favorite to do so, but claiming the SAG will keep the momentum going.
Gary Oldman looks also to be closing in on his first Oscar after winning the Golden Globe for Best Actor. He gives an incendiary performance as British war time leader Sir Winston Churchill in The Darkest Hour and he too has received universally positive reviews. Oldman has enjoyed a magnificent career and has appeared in many commercially successful and critically acclaimed movies, but widespread individual glory has eluded him. Until now. Oldman has a Golden Globe under his belt and should now go on to seize further glory at the SAG Awards and then at the Oscars.
The Best Picture race is looking a lot tighter though. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is the favorite to win the SAG Award and the Oscar, but it is not odds-on and several contenders could well eclipse it. The Post has fallen behind Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, Dunkirk, Get Out and Call Me By Your Name in the Oscar betting, but it looks an interesting shout for the Cast in a Motion Picture award at the SAG Awards. It has Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks both on song, with Steven Spielberg directing, and touches on important issues, so it looks a good sleeper choice for the future gongs during the awards season.
Dark comedy Lady Bird is also in the running after scooping Best Picture – Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globes. It will go head-to-head with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri at the upcoming awards, including the SAG Awards and The Oscars, but The Post is also in the mix. You also cannot overlook Guillermo Del Toro’s genre-bending extravaganza, The Shape of Water, or the highly rated Get Out.
At the Globes, Allison Janney won Best Supporting Actor for her role in I, Tonya, while Sam Rockwell took the Best Supporting Actor gong for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Neither is guaranteed Oscar joy, and the SAG Awards will provide a telling insight into who will go on to dominate the awards season. Laurie Metcalf looks a great option in the supporting actress stakes for her performance in Lady Bird, while Willem Dafoe is superb in The Florida Project and he too looks a strong candidate.
The 2018 SAG Awards promises to deliver a gripping night where dreams will be made, so make sure to tune in.
