Could “Hidden Figures” pull off a surprise win at next month’s Oscars?
Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards suggested it’s entirely possible.
The film won Best Performance by an Ensemble – essentially that group’s Best Picture – besting “La La Land,” “Manchester by the Sea” and “Moonlight,” the three expected to battle it out.
Considering actors account for more Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members than any other branch, that could be a sign.
Emma Stone (from “La La Land”), Viola Davis (“Fences”) and Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”) won as expected, but Denzel Washington (“Fences”) beat Casey Affleck (“Manchester”), revealing a crack in Affleck’s stranglehold on the Best Actor prize.
Between now and Feb. 26, expect plenty of jockeying before we learn who’s going home with Oscar. If Washington wins, it’ll be his third, putting him in that rare class that includes Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn (who got four), Daniel Day-Lewis and Walter Brennan.
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While film actors were a bit more reserved in their acceptance speeches, television winners followed Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes lead and called out President Trump for some of his actions, including his executive order on immigration.
Most heated was David Harbour, one of the stars of “Stranger Things,” who got a standing ovation after saying, “We will shelter freaks and outcasts, those who have no home. We will get past the lies. We will hunt monsters. And when we are at a loss amidst the hypocrisy and casual violence of certain individuals and institutions, we will, as per Chief Jim Hopper, punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy what we have envisioned for ourselves and the marginalized.”
“Stranger Things” won Best Performance by an Ensemble/Drama; “Orange Is the New Black” (starring former Sioux Cityan Lori Petty) got Best Ensemble/Comedy.
Individual winners were Julia Louis-Dreyfus (“Veep”), William H. Macy (“Shameless”), Bryan Cranston (“All the Way”), Sarah Poulson (“The People v. O.J. Simpson”), Claire Foy (“The Crown”) and John Lithgow (“The Crown”).
Iowan Ashton Kutcher introduced the show and welcomed “everyone in airports that belong in my America. You are part of the fabric of who we are. We love you and we welcome you.”
Louis-Dreyfus, the first winner, followed and said the immigrant ban “is a blemish and it is un-American.” Others followed suit until Taraji P. Henson, one of the stars of “Hidden Figures,” related current events to her film. “When we put our differences aside and we come together as a human race, we win. Love wins. Every time.”
Lily Tomlin won the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented by her friend Dolly Parton.
