And behind door number 22... a guide to some music of the more traditional kind
Catherine Munn and Jacob Martin list their Top 5 programmes to watch over the festive period.
And behind door number nine... some dazzling musical delights
The complete arts guide, for week 9
The SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards are smack-dab in the middle of awards season, yet often get overlooked for their lack of prestige; despite the fast that they’re voted for by the 200,000 members of the SAG (effectively a trade union for US actors). It’s an accolade that is praise from your peers, and is often a proud personal achievement for actors specifically for this reason.
Having a lot of overlap with the Oscar acting nominations (17/20 nominations are the same, to be precise), the win of four favourites has added even more weight to their Oscar chances. Colin Firth as King George VI (The King's Speech) beat out competition from Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network’s Mark Zuckerberg) and James Franco (127 Hours) among others, while Natalie Portman continued her statue success for her portrayal of ballerina Nina Sayers (Black Swan), beating out her Oscar competition Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) and Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole). This is yet another contribution that has put Firth’s chances for some bookies at an astonishing 1/100, while Portman’s are also somewhat high at a maximum 1/16.
In the best supporting categories, The Fighter ruled the roost with wins for both Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund, a crack-addicted former boxer, and Melissa Leo as his shrill ambitious mother. Both performances were a tour de force, but Bale especially made enormous efforts to get into the role including losing a shocking amount of weight and nailing the Boston accent by listening to taped conversations of the person his character is based on. Their odds for Oscars aren’t so locked in though, so this one could be an upset.
Finally, ensemble cast went deservedly to The King’s Speech, who managed a superb portrayal of the 1930s royal family, with an excellent turn (though minor) by Guy Pearce as King Edward VIII and Helena Bonham Carter (who missed out on the Best Supporting Actress award). The only other alternative I would have thought were in with a chance were the extended family unit of The Kids Are All Right whose chemistry simply sizzled on screen, but more surprising was Inception’s total lack of a nomination, which I would’ve expected for a film that was such a team effort.
Boardwalk Empire had their second awards success story following their Golden Globes win, with Steve Buscemi winning best actor in a drama and the ensemble cast taking home the prize too, proving that their appeal wasn’t just with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) walked away with another statue for her fantastic portrayal of Alicia Florrick against usual female drama competition (including Kyra Sedgwick, Glenn Close and Elisabeth Moss), but the comedy awards were somewhat befuddling. Two Modern Family stars (Ty Burrell and Ed O’Neill) and a recent Glee winner (Chris Colfer) were overlooked in favour of 30 Rock’s Alec Baldwin who’d already won the award three times previously (as well as three Golden Globes and two Emmys). Maybe the Modern Family cast had some consolation by winning the Best Ensemble Cast award; rightly so as Modern Family is the epitome of an ensemble cast series where each actor bounces off all others to shine in their own right.
Meanwhile Betty White, an absolute Hollywood comedic gem at 89 years old, won for her supporting performance in middling cable sitcom Hot in Cleveland against stiff competition from worthier opponents – including Tina Fey, Jane Lynch and Sofia Vergara. Now, I can’t get enough of Betty White (I’m a big Golden Girls fan), but maybe they shouldn’t have tried to top giving a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Guild the previous year.
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