“The Chicago 7 Trial” won the highest award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) in the United States, a verdict that reinforces its prospects for the Oscars to be delivered on April 25.
The court drama directed by Aaron Sorkin and produced by Netflix won the prestigious distinction of best cast on Sunday at the SAG awards ceremony, which was reduced to a one-hour virtual broadcast due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The film, which tells the true story of seven anti-Vietnam War protesters accused of inciting a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, stars Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong and Frank Langella.
Langella, who plays the film’s racist judge, evoked Martin Luther King Jr. upon receiving the award.
“We need leaders who make us hate ourselves less,” he said. “We owe a debt of appreciation to the voices of the Chicago 7, and especially to Aaron Sorkin, our leader, whose voice is the soul of this film.”
Another Netflix production, “The Mother of the Blues,” about a tense recording session by popular singer Gertrude “Ma” Rainey and her band in the 1920s, took home the best actor and actress awards to the late Chadwick. Boseman and Viola Davis.
In a year that has seen Hollywood promote the representation of minorities on both sides of the camera, the actors’ guild also awarded the award for best supporting actor to Daniel Kaluuya, who in the film “Judas and the black messiah” embodies to Fred Hampton, the late leader of the political organization Black Panther.
And “Minari,” a South Korean immigrant story set in Arkansas in the 1980s, took home the best supporting actress award, making Yuh-jung Youn the first Asian winner of a SAG individual acting award for a film.
– Up for “Nomadland” –
The SAG Awards are seen as a key indicator of Oscar winners, because actors make up the largest block of voters in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which annually awards the golden statuettes.
Last year, the South Korean film “Parasites” began its historic run for the best picture Oscar by winning the SAG jackpot for best performance by cast.
While Chloe Zhao’s road movie “Nomadland” remains a favorite for the best picture Oscar this year, the film, in which several non-actors perform fictional versions of themselves, did not even receive a SAG nomination for cast. “Nomadland” star nominee Frances McDormand also lost to Davis.
Boseman, star of “Black Panther”, who died last August at age 43 from colon cancer that he had never revealed, was awarded for his work as trumpeter Levee in “The Mother of the Blues”, in what seems like a clear omen of the Oscar.
So far, only two actors have received a posthumous Oscar: Peter Finch for Sidney Lumet’s “Killing Power” (1976), and Heath Ledger for Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” (2008).
The late actor was also honored in the annual “In memoriam” segment, along with top stars who died this year, including Sean Connery and Christopher Plummer.
But “The mother of the blues”, along with “A night in Miami” and “Da 5 Bloods”, all with black casts, lost the final prize of the night before “The trial of the 7 of Chicago”, which now has the best chance of unseating “Nomadland.”
Voting for the Oscars begins April 15.
– “The Crown” and “Queen’s Gambit” –
On television, British royal saga “The Crown” won the SAG award for best cast in drama, and its star Gillian Anderson won best actress.
In the comedy category, “Schitt’s Creek” took the award for best cast, and Catherine O’Hara for best actress.
The SAG award for best comedian went to Jason Sudeikis for “Ted Lasso” and the award for best dramatic actor went to Jason Bateman for “Ozark.”
In miniseries, Mark Ruffalo and Anya Taylor-Joy replicated their Golden Globe triumphs for “The Undeniable Truth” and “Queen’s Gambit.”
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