Not even the all-day drizzle that soaked Los Angeles could dampen the spirits of both the nominated and nomination-less, who strutted their finest before a chilly but adoring crowd of fans, enjoyed an awards ceremony, and then headed backstage to a barrage of reporters. Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium was the place, Sunday the 22nd of February was the day, the SAG Awards were the fete du jour. Cue the music! Roll camera! It’s time to hand out little naked men.
Shocking no one, least of all himself, Tim Robbins took home the first Actor of the evening for his role in Mystic River. Backstage, the 45-year-old Robbins was the first of the night to comment on the weight of the foot-tall bronze statuette depicting a naked actor wearing a helmet and holding a mask. “Susie‘s got of these. I’m gonna get them in a dark room, see what happens,” he joked, referring to the award his longtime love Susan Sarandon won for 1995’s Dead Man Walking. “I figure I can work out with both of ’em, do curls.”
On a more serious note, about his character of Dave Boyle, an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse, “I grew up with guys like that. I’ve had that in me a long time,” he said.
Frontrunner and now best actress winner Charlize Theron, as tan and blond as ever a girl could be–and a far, far cry from her serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins‘ Monster–also commented on the weight of the Actor, prompting a pressroom attendant to more than happily bound onstage to relieve her of her burden. “No! Keep your hands off it!” she said, grinning, as he drew close.
The South-African native went on to explain the role, for which she gained 30 pounds, wore facial prosthetics and acted out a lesbian sex scene, “just felt different from anything I’ve done before.” (No doubt.) Though the statuesque Theron is expected by many (including yours truly, Hollywood.com) to win the Oscar next Sunday, she remains unconcerned about awards show success. “I said to my dogs, will you still love me if I don’t win? and they said ‘yes.'”
Best supporting actress winner Renee Zellweger got a hug and a kiss from her manager John Carrabino before she made her way somewhat slowly to the stage (maybe it was that tight strapless Carolina Herrera gown). In her best Cold Mountain aw-shucks manner she exclaimed, “Oh, my heart!” before thanking the cast and crew who helped her pull off the much-lauded performance for which she already took home a Golden Globe award, namely the film’s director, Anthony Minghella. “Cooperative effort with Anthony…It was like play everyday on the set…my memories of it are all joyful.”
Though she is hotly tipped to win the best supporting actress Oscar when the Academy doles out its awards, Zellweger claimed the awards show would be “a little more relaxed” than last year when she was up for best actress in Chicago.
The actress, who recently wrapped the Bridget Jones sequel and will, we imagine, soon lose the more voluptuous physique she gained for the role, expressed her continuing amazement at being invited to such awards shows. “I don’t know…I haven’t really thought about it…it’s an honor, it’s a surprise, it’s hard for me to wrap my head around the invitations to these ceremonies.”
Earlier in the evening during the show Zellweger accepted the award for the shocker of the night, best actor winner and no-show Johnny Depp, who in an remarkable upset during an evening fraught with unsurprising winners, took top actor honors for his wonderfully fey pirate Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Sadly, the world (and a horde of eager backstage reporters) will have to wait for the opportunity to hear what this always-fascinating actor might say backstage after finally being recognized for his work. After nearly 20 years in the business, the 40-year-old Depp is getting lauded for arguably one of the least risky roles of his career.…Ah, that’s Hollywood for you.
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Angels in America star Al Pacino hit the stage to talk about his best actor in a miniseries award, thankfully bereft of that ratty little ponytail he sported at the Golden Globes. Asked for the best acting advice he ever received, Pacino gave credit to legendary acting teacher Lee Strasberg, who told him when he was having trouble with his character in Justice for All, “Darling, learn your lines!” “And he was right!” Pacino added.
When it was pointed out to him that his Donnie Brasco co-star Depp had just been announced as best actor winner, he had nothing but good words for him. “I’m really thrilled,” he said before it hit him, and he asked, incredulously, “He won best actor? Is he here?” When told no, Pacino shrugged. “Ah, it figures.”
In a sedate black jacket and skirt, a genial Meryl Streep thanked the audience in, oddly, mostly rhymed verse when accepting her female actor (telefilm or miniseries) award for her role in HBO’s Angels in America. “If anyone’s biting his cuticles, ow… lest I say anything political now, I’m only an actor, this isn’t the factor. God forbid I should seem hypercritical, but it is a fact, I’ve been lucky to act with gratitude and joy, in this story of love that shone down from above on the life of a dying boy,” Streep read from her prepared speech, referring to her Golden Globes parting comment about President Bush’s top priorities. She also thanked Tony Kushner, the play’s author, who penned this story about AIDS in America during the ’80s.
Will & Grace fave Megan Mullally, sporting that dreadful little ponytail of Pacino‘s from the Golden Globes (so that’s where it went!), dragged fellow nominee and co-star (and verrrry pregnant) Debra Messing onto the stage to accept her female actor comedy series award. “It was very spontaneous. I just forcibly, physically manhandled her up on the stage…Debra is a really good comedic actress. I couldn’t [believe] I would win again–that’s three years in a row,” Mullally gushed.
Sex and the City took home top cast honors for the last time tonight, just as the hit series’ finale was airing on the east coast. Wearing, (oh, horrors) almost the same dress, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis accepted the award along with co-star Cynthia Nixon. As was the case last year when SAG honored the show with the best ensemble comedy award, star and producer Sarah Jessica Parker did not make the trip out from New York City due to “a family obligation that had been planned for months,” Nixon explained.
Flanking a gold-beaded Nixon like matching violet bookends, the women fielded such questions as what women should do on Sunday nights now that Sex is over. “DVDs!” cried Cattrall. “They could think up plots for the movie and send them into HBO,” suggested Nixon helpfully, referring to reported plans of a Sex movie.
The women seemed faintly nostalgic but definitely upbeat about the ending of their show. Cattrall commented that the last day of shooting was really poignant, particularly her last line on the show: “I think my job here is done.” About what men should have learned about women from the long-running show, Nixon added, “Women really care about sex. And clothes.”
“Shoes,” Davis chimed in, reflecting the show’s almost pathological obsession with footwear–particularly if they’re Jimmy Choo or Manolo Blahnik.
Kiefer Sutherland took home top television actor honors for his leading role on Fox’s one-day-a-season drama 24. Backstage the actor clarified his earlier “thank you” to Sean Penn, saying the actor changed how a young Kiefer viewed his career in film. He also credited Timothy Hutton with paving the way for young actors to play roles written for young people instead of “a 35-year-old playing them.” The Canadian born actor explained that Penn and Hutton, “broke an incredible amount of ground and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude.”
Francis Conroy of HBO’s celebrated Six Feet Under, wearing a lovely ash-colored cocktail dress, accepted the best female actor (drama series) award, saying she was “deeply honored.” Later she returned to the stage with the rest of the cast of the show when they were collectively honored for best ensemble cast (drama series). Upon returning to the stage, Conroy seemed more than a bit surprised by their win for a second time in as many years, while fellow cast member Lauren Ambrose, in a lively pink slip dress, explained that she was “just happy to go to work every day” and joked that “booze and pills” kept her going during long shooting days.
And the night’s big winner? The cast of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, who took home the best movie ensemble cast award–unfortunately without main cast members Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood in attendance.
Joked John Rhys-Davies (Gimli), he and those of the cast present and accounted for (including Liv Tyler, who stood out not only as the only female cast member present, but also as the tallest) were the “unemployed ones.”
The cast made reference to their intense bond forged over the years they spent in New Zealand shooting the film, and it was Tyler who perhaps summed it up most succinctly. “It was the greatest experience,” she said. “I will be different forever.”
