It looks like Russell and Tom will be twiddling their thumbs a while longer.
The two frontrunners for the Best Actor Oscar were trounced at Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, a closely watched barometer whose lead performance winners have gone on to Oscar gold 10 out of 12 times. The culprit? Benicio Del Toro, who took the lead actor trophy for “Traffic” regardless of his supporting role Oscar nod.
The drug-war drama, which features a core cast of 19 and 135 speaking parts in all, won the evening’s film ensemble award over “Almost Famous,” “Billy Elliot,” “Chocolat” and “Gladiator.”
Meanwhile, Julia Roberts jumped another hurdle toward Oscar glory with a leading actress win for “Erin Brockovich,” with Albert Finney winning for supporting actor.
“This is freaky,” the shaken Roberts said at the podium. “If this was a prom, this would be, like, the best school ever to go to.” She added, “Now I really feel so much better about my level of talent than I did this afternoon.”
NBC’s “The West Wing” continued to steamroll the competition by taking honors for best ensemble cast in a drama, while stars Allison Janney and Martin Sheen won trophies for female and male actor in a drama, respectively. The network’s “Will & Grace” was awarded for best ensemble comedy series.
Winners of the 7th annual award show are selected entirely by members of the actors’ guild. This year it presented a Life Achievement Award to screen legends Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee.
Here are the winners: FILM Outstanding Performance by a Cast of a Theatrical Motion Picture: “Traffic”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: Benicio Del Toro, “Traffic”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Julia Roberts, “Erin Brockovich”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role:Albert Finney, “Erin Brockovich”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Judi Dench, “Chocolat” TELEVISION Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series: “The West Wing”
Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series: “Will & Grace”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series: Martin Sheen, “The West Wing”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series: Allison Janney, “The West Wing”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series: Robert Downey Jr., “Ally McBeal”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series: Sarah Jessica Parker, “Sex and the City”
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Brian Dennehy, “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman”
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries: Vanessa Redgrave, “If These Walls Could Talk 2” Plus check out our schedule of upcoming awards shows.
