The Screen Actors Guild Awards, also known as the SAG Awards, were on Sunday, February 23. They were hosted by Kristen Bell and aired on Netflix at 8 p.m.
The SAG Awards recognize standout performances in television and film throughout the year. The categories consist of best cast, best actors/actresses and best stunt cast all respectful to television and film.
Kristen Bell opened the award show with a rendition of “Do You Want to Build a Snowman”, but made it completely about now famous actors and actresses in their very early roles. Nominees Timothée Chalamet appeared as a patient in the ICU and Demi Moore was featured playing a woman kidnapped in a daytime drama.
Timothée Chalamet was one of the more surprising winners of the night, taking home the award for his role as Bob Dylan in the biopic A Complete Unknown. Chalamet became the youngest lead male actor to win the SAG, and it was his first major win in any award season.
Chalamet is only 29 years old and has been a major name in Hollywood since 2017 with the film Call Me By Your Name. Chalamet has since then been flooded with nominations of BAFTAs, Oscars, Golden Globes, and so many others for his performances in Lady Bird, A Beautiful Boy, Little Woman, Dune: Part One, Wonka, and Dune: Part Two; however, he has always lost to other, more notorious actors.
Adrien Brody from The Brutalist was favored to win after he was awarded the BAFTA, Critics Choice and Golden Globe in the same category as Chalamet.
Chalamet’s acceptance speech is also one of the more surprising occurrences of the night. First off, Chalamet looked more than surprised to win, and secondly his speech was not what viewers have typically grown to see. Instead of a ‘humble’ speech most are used to, Chalamet talked about he wants to be one the greats. There is something about the way Chalamet presents himself and performs in films that one cannot help but agree with his claim to be named amongst other great actors.
People on social media did take some minor offense to Chalamet’s speech, claiming that he is full of himself and that there is something wrong with this new generation’s attitude. Here’s the thing, whether or not Chalamet wins the Oscar is irrelevant. He has not one thing to prove to anyone, and the fact that he was the youngest person awarded the SAG for best male leading actor and the youngest person (besides James Dean) to be nominated for an Oscar twice is incredible. People can talk all they want about Timothée Chalamet’s acceptance speech, but it also is about the time people become confident in their abilities and express what they want to make out of their lives.
In the end however, Chalamet and his fans should not be frustrated or disheartened if he loses the Oscar, because there is still so much time left in his career and so much talent that he will bring to the screen. It is safe to say Hollywood is not done with Timothée Chalamet yet.
The Academy’s choice for the Oscars will be very interesting now, not only due to Chalamet’s shocking win but because of Demi Moore’s win for The Substance against Mikey Madison in Anora.
Moore has now taken the SAG Award, Golden Globe and Critics Choice while Madison has only received the BAFTA.
Demi Moore definitely has an upper hand because of the familiarity The Substance presents, but also the unique way the story is told. The idea of harsh beauty standards in society and in Hollywood is not unknown to the voters of the Academy, but it is also not unfamiliar to Moore and the way Moore delivered her performance was nothing short of spectacular. While Mikey Madison and Anora are incredible, Moore’s relationship with the industry may be enough to propel her to win the Academy Award.