ALL THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUG SAG AWARDS '18

Frances McDormand and Nicole Kidman lead the way with top honours at the Screen Actors Guild

Dark comedy Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri won three prizes at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards on Sunday in a ceremony marked by women and their stories amid the sexual misconduct scandal that has swept Hollywood. The film about a furious woman seeking justice for the murder of her daughter was named best ensemble, the top SAG honour. Frances McDormand won the best actress and Britain’s Gary Oldman won best actor for playing wartime leader Winston Churchill in Focus Features’ Darkest Hour. The SAG awards are indicators of likely Oscar success in March because actors form the largest group of voters in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The SAG ceremony took place after two days of marches by hundreds of thousands of women throughout the United States. Host Kristen Bell said that women were having a “watershed moment”. “Let’s make sure we lead the charge with empathy and diligence because fear and anger never win the race,” said Bell. Accusations of sexual misconduct have forced dozens of powerful men in Hollywood to step down, be fired or dropped from creative projects.

Women, many of them leading actresses, have responded by breaking their silence through the #MeToo social media movement and the Time’s Up campaign for legal support of victims.

On the red carpet, women swapped the black gowns that marked support for victims of sexual harassment at the Golden Globes two weeks ago for brighter blues, green and metallic hues.

Women were the dominant theme inside the Shrine Auditorium. Nicole Kidman, 50, won for playing a battered wife in HBO’s female-centric TV series Big Little Lies.

Aziz Ansari, nominated for his Netflix comedy series Master of None, was a no-show on Sunday after making headlines last week when a woman described feeling violated following an awkward date last year. James Franco, a best actor nominee for The Disaster Artist, did show up but skipped the red carpet and did not win.

PHOTO: JEANBAPTISTE LACROIX/ AFP Nicole Kidman won for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series for playing a battered wife in Big Little Lies

A still from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

A still from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

PHOTO:INSTAGRAM/ANUPAMKHER Anupam Kher’s Big Sick was nominated under two categories; he is seen here with Morgan Freeman, who was bestowed with the Screen Actors Guild’s lifetime achievement award

PHOTO: ISTOCK Frances McDormand