|
| |
::FILM NEWS::
LE Newsletter - February 2, 2012
|
| |
‘The Help’ Cleans Up at SAG Awards: Davis, Spencer, Cast Win
Big
Source:
www.eurweb.com
(Jan 30, 2012) *”The Help” got the upper hand in the Oscar race
on
Sunday when the movie won three awards from the
Screen Actors Guild,
including best cast in a surprise over silent movie romance “The
Artist.”
“The Help,” which came into the show with a leading four
nominations, also earned the best actress award for its star
Viola Davis, and a supporting actress trophy for Octavia
Spencer. They both played maids who face discrimination in the
film set in Mississippi during the 1960s.
Actresses Octavia Spencer (L) and Viola Davis pose in the press
room
with their award for Outstanding Performance By A Cast In A
Motion Picture for 'The Help' during the 18th Annual Screen
Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on Jan. 29, 2012 in
Los Angeles
Davis thanked her co-star Cicely Tyson, who inspired her as a
child and was in the audience. Davis talked of dreaming big as a
child when she wanted to become an actress. She encouraged
others to do so, too.
“Dream big and dream fierce,” she said.
Actress Viola Davis accepts the Outstanding Performance by a
Female Actor in a Leading Role award for "The Help" onstage
during the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine
Auditorium on Jan, 29, 2012 in Los Angeles
Davis also took the opportunity to remind the celebrities in
attendance, including A-listers George Clooney, Brad Pitt,
Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep, as well as TV audiences, that
change is still necessary in current U.S. culture.
“The stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color
or women,” she said. “It’s all of our burden. All of us, and we
can, absolutely all of us, we can inspire change.”
Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis accept the Outstanding
Performance b y
a Cast in a Motion Picture award for "The Help" from actor Brad
Pitt onstage during the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards
at The Shrine Auditorium on Jan, 29, 2012 in Los Angeles
Silent movie “The Artist” only claimed one trophy. Jean Dujardin
was named best actor in a drama for his role as a fading screen
star at the end of the talkies who is ultimately saved by love.
Dujardin beat out Clooney and Pitt in the category, seemed
genuinely surprised as he held his statue and thanked SAG.
Others winning SAG film honours included Christopher Plummer for
supporting actor. Plummer, 82, who plays an elderly man who
reveals his homosexuality, much to the chagrin of his family,
thanked his fellow actors from the stage, calling them a wacky
but wonderful bunch of artists.
SAG’s film awards are closely watched for their impact on Oscars
because actors make up the biggest voting group at the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which picks winners. The
Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on February 26.
Coming into the SAG Awards, “The Artist” had been favored by
pundits because it has claimed a string of victories in recent
weeks at the Golden Globe and Critics Choice honours, as well as
among industry groups like the producers and directors guilds.
But pundits may now have to re-calculate their odds back toward
“The Help” with its SAG wins. Another key Oscar contender, “The
Descendants,” was shut out by SAG voters.
Meanwhile, on the TV side:
“Boardwalk Empire” was named best drama series for the second
straight year and “Modern Family was chosen top comedy, also for
the second year running.
Jessica Lange took her first SAG trophy for best dramatic
actress in new show, “American Horror Story,” and Steve Buscemi
was named best actor in a drama for critically acclaimed
“Boardwalk Empire.” Both thanked their cast and crew members.
Alec Baldwin, Betty White and the “Modern Family” were the three
TV winners in comedy categories. Kate Winslet was named best
actress in a small-screen movie or miniseries for “Mildred
Pierce,” and Paul Giamatti won the trophy for actor in a movie
or mini-series with “Too Big to Fail.”
Actress Betty White accepts the Outstanding Performance by a
Female Actor in a Comedy Series award
Among the humorous moments, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Maya
Rudolph from the raunchy film comedy “Bridesmaids” played a game
in which everyone had to take a drink when director Martin
Scorsese’s name was mentioned. The game became a running joke
throughout the show.
“You have to take a drink every time, and I mean every time, you
hear the word Scorsese,” explained Rudolph, to which McCarthy
swigged from a bottle of vodka, saying: “You would be surprised
how much that comes up in casual conversation because people
like to throw that thing around.” Meanwhile, Rudolph clutched a
glass of champagne while Wiig held a glass of beer, bragging
that the beverages and food backstage were “free.”
And of the more poignant points, Mary Tyler Moore – a star on
comedy “The Dick Van Dyke” show in the 1960s, who cemented her
fame in the ’70s on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and starred in
critically acclaimed 1980 movie “Ordinary People” – was given a
lifetime achievement honour.
Actress Mary Tyler Moore poses with her Life Achievement Award
from the Screen Actors Guild backstage at the 18th Annual Screen
Actors Guild Awards
“It means so much, it really does,” she told Reuters about her
honour backstage. |
|
| |
|
::ENTERTAINMENT NEWS WITH A CANADAN TWIST::
