24 Hours of Awards Shows: The Lost Weekend Inside the SAGs, Spirits and PGAs

Have you heard about the 24 Hours of Le Mans? This weekend I tried to do something similar to another type of race, the Oscars race. From midday Saturday to Sunday at 9:30 p.m. (with sleep off), I ran the awards route from the Shrine in downtown Los Angeles for the SAG Awards, to the big tent on the beach in Santa Monica for Indie Spirits, and then off to the side The other from town at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood for the Producers Guild Awards (the same location where the season will end in just two weeks at the Oscars for Governors).

By my count, I heard 58 winning speeches during this period, and I can’t even begin to count the number of annoying introductions by the presenter. Oh, and a very loud protester on Santa Monica Beach.

Every year, we have a host of events leading up to the Oscars — pre-ceremonies, gala parties, endless tributes and adjacent activities — but this weekend lost down the rabbit hole of the madness of Hollywood’s Oscar season was one of a kind, unique. Of its kind. urgent, Because for the first time three Main Entrepreneurs and influencers, whichever way you want to classify them, were all happening in the middle of the six days of final Oscar voting. I’m not sure how this was scheduled or who did it (likely something to do with the year of strikes in the industry), but somehow the PGA and SAG Awards that often predict the Oscars were postponed until late in the season and suddenly they were happening a few days later. Oscar voting was already in progress (ballots are scheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m. PT).

As for the spirits, they were fed up with the fact that the ceremony was held the day before the Oscars and moved the show, they told me specifically at that time in 2019, to be more part of the Oscars conversation in terms of influence.

So, how was horse racing affected on the all-important weekend, which was the last chance to make an impression on Oscar voters (or at least those who haven’t cast their ballots yet)?

With a PGA rating for the film as Best Picture, and a sweeping sweep of 3 out of 5 SAG wins including a casting win, Oppenheimer These wins add to her growing list that includes the Golden Globes, Critics Choice, BAFTA and DGA awards — a clear indication that she’s a front-runner who seems unstoppable. As one executive associated with a rival Best Picture nominee said upon his arrival at the PGA, “This is probably going to be a bit of a coronation.”

The Spirits has managed to keep itself in the conversation with most of its major wins spread among three Oscar contenders for Best Picture: past life, Which won the award for best film and director; American fantasy, which took the script and lead performances; And keepers, Which won three leading awards for supporting performance, cinematography and outstanding performance. None of these films seem likely to dethrone Oppenheimer The Oscars were swept, but Universal executives aren’t taking anything for granted, and as one high-ranking studio executive said during his PGA entry, “We’re taking everything one day at a time.”

For SAG, which has an enviable record of bringing out eventual Oscar glory, Saturday night’s show was, according to many critics, the one that could put it away. Poor things Emma Stone, who after sharing her Golden Globe wins with Moonflower Killers Lily saw favorite Gladstone (she won drama, Stone won comedy), while Stone had wins at Critics Choice and then BAFTA (where Gladstone was inexplicably not nominated). Well, Jessica Chastain may have said “not so fast” when she opened the envelope to reveal Gladstone, not Stone, as the winner of the lead actress award. This is now back in play all the way until Oscar night. Searchlight’s Matthew Greenfield told me at Spirits that he still has high hopes for Stone eventually winning. Gladstone, on the other hand, was genuinely surprised and touched by the SAG win when I met her as she entered the party about an hour and a half after the show ended, holding the trophy in her hand and receiving lots of congratulations.

SAG could also have predicted an Oscar win Holding Paul Giamatti with whom he shared Globe glory Oppenheimer Cillian Murphy then beat it to the Critics’ Choice Insight. But since then, Murphy has won a BAFTA, and now SAG, plus he was the only acting nominee to earn a spot on 60 Minutes shortly before Oscar voting began. As the star title, And He played a real person, and has other proven Oscar merits, so now in this race, Giamatti, who was charming and funny on the campaign trail, has lost some momentum. never say never. It’s a very strong category that also includes the best work of Bradley Cooper, Colman Domingo, and Jeffrey Wright, the latter of whom is the only other Best Actor nominee to pull off a big win this season by taking the lead in the performance in Spirits yesterday. American fantasy. He might have said it to a lot of the contenders at this point during the very long official six-and-a-half-month Oscar season, “You go to these awards shows. You get tired of them, and then you win and it kind of changes the atmosphere!”

It did happen, but I noticed more than ever that the “vibe” was so great this year, that many actors and filmmakers were thrilled to have their strikes behind them, and as Cooper told me on nomination day, it’s a happy community just to see each other and celebrate. By work. That’s definitely the vibe I picked up at all of these shows this weekend. There was relief that there were only a few days left, and a real warmth among all those invited to the party. There should be. I’ve had more than one conversation about how great movies have been this year, and I truly believe that whether you win or lose, it doesn’t matter because because of the pandemic and the strikes some real sense of normalcy has returned.

Of course there’s always horse racing. Who wins and who loses. so what. Saturday night, we were also able to celebrate Barbra Streisand who received a SAG Lifetime Achievement Award and gave a rousing speech. Shots of some people like Anne Hathaway in the audience showed them filled with tears. In the movie Spirits I met Chastain (nominated for memory) But all she could talk about in a raspy voice (she wasn’t sure how she’d lost it) was Streisand and the “vibe” in the room. memories.

Then on Sunday night the same “vibe” when Guillermo del Toro poignantly and wonderfully introduced Martin Scorsese who received the PGA’s Life Achievement Award and summed up what being a director and film lover is all about, especially when he recounted how he kissed Elke. Sommer, when he found himself a PGA winning student in 1965, sitting next to her on the podium. You had to be there. I’m glad I was. Gail Berman’s enthusiastic acceptance of the Norman Lear Achievement Award got a “yes” from me as well.

I met Christopher Nolan and company Oppenheimer And Dunkirk Star Kenneth Branagh is there at the PGA, while Nolan is trying to finish a chicken pot pie. “I guess people don’t really eat that stuff,” he laughed. He was in a good mood after returning from Europe where he received a fellowship award in London, had a big night at the BAFTA Awards, and on Friday was in Paris where he was honored at the Cesar Awards. ‘Tis his season – and he deserves it.

I wasn’t the only one who did the triple this weekend. Among other things, Beef Steven Yeun and Ali Wong were one step ahead but they managed to actually be the only two people Wins In all three ceremonies, completing a complete sweep of the TV Awards for the show (which included the PGA as producers). I was happy to sit in meat Table in spirits. It was a great seat (I’m usually stuck somewhere in the back near the parking lot). My favorite moment there was watching Da’Vine Joy Randolph sit down Retainers The table is directly behind us. She did win Best Supporting Spirit, just as she has at every ceremony this year, but it was a wonderful sight to see the complete joy on her face when young star Dominic Cessa won the Outstanding Performance award. Her absolute happiness for him was evident. Even that lone protester outside the tent with a very loud megaphone couldn’t ruin moments like this.

It was also great at the PGA pre-reception to catch up with Irwin Winkler who told me he was there to “support Marty.” He came for me when I got my award. Of course he has a long history of producing for Scorsese, and remembers absolutely everything. I told him he should write another book, but at 92 he says he’s too busy, especially working with Amazon and MGM after they joined. He won an Oscar for it rocky in 1976 and listed all the other candidates exactly as it happened yesterday. He’s going to the Oscars this year, but says it will likely be his last (“Unless they give me another one,” he laughed). It turns out that he promised each of his five grandchildren that he would take them to the Oscars. He kept his promise to the four of them, and now his 15-year-old granddaughter is traveling to be his date to the 96th Academy Awards.

And finally at the PGA, I have to congratulate Phil Lord, who, along with his partner Chris Miller, was among the many filmmakers Jason Reitman brought together to purchase the Village Westwood Theater. He and Miller won Best Animated Feature for their film Spider-Man: Via The Spider-Verse, But I was happy to see him bonding with Alexander Payne so close retained The table is there. Theirs was one of their two favorite movies all year, Payne said, and then they took a selfie. Payne is also one of the owners of the village. I don’t think there’s a greater moment this season than seeing that photo of all those amazing directors standing in front of the theater after they salvaged it (word is that one bidder wanted to keep the facade of the historic monument but turn it into the office building inside. Gross). It was an important symbol of the future of cinemas that made a really powerful statement. The theater also happens to be the place where I saw my first film and loved it. My mother always said I learned to read by looking at the village marquees and the Bruin Theater across the street.

While Lorde and I were talking after the show, Nolan and Emma Thomas came in having just won the final prize of the evening. “Hey, there’s my fellow owner,” he said to Lord, and explained that he was very happy to be part of the new board of directors that would give this theater a whole new life.

With that, it arrived in the parking garage, the whirlwind of the weekend was over, and the race would continue.