SAG honors ‘Everything ’
The Screen Actors Guild handed its top award for outstanding cast Sunday night to “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the hit sci-fi comedy that recently dominated the Directors and Producers Guild awards and now appears to be a strong best picture front-runner at the Oscars. Three of the four individual acting trophies went to “Everything Everywhere” cast members, too.
But will they also prevail with Oscar?
The safest bet to repeat is “Everything Everywhere” comeback kid Ke Huy Quan, who won the supporting-actor trophy from SAG and has been collecting statuettes in that category all season. Sunday, the 51-year-old Quan delivered his most touching speech yet.
After rising to fame as a child actor in popular films like “The Goonies” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” Quan found few roles available for Asian actors and moved behind the camera, working in stunt choreography. Still, he paid his SAG dues every year, hoping and biding his time for the resurgence he’s finally experiencing.
“To all those at home who are watching, who are struggling and waiting to be seen, please keep on going because the spotlight will one day find you,” he said.
In an upset victory, Quan’s co-star Jamie Lee Curtis won the supporting-actress statuette over Golden Globe winner Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”) and BAFTA winner Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”).
“I know you look at me and think nepo baby, and I totally get it,” said a thrilled Curtis. “But the truth of the matter is I’m 64 years old and this is just amazing!”
Later in the night, “Everything Everywhere” leading lady Michelle Yeoh won a crucial bestactress prize over “Tár” star Cate Blanchett, whom she acknowledged as a titan from the stage.
Though the SAGS have honored Asian performers from TV shows, Yeoh was the first Asian woman to win best actress in a movie category, and Quan was the first Asian male actor to win for movies as well.
The only film actor to win who didn’t hail from “Everything Everywhere” was Brendan Fraser, who mounted a best-actor comeback with his transformational performance in “The Whale.” Though “Elvis” star Austin Butler earned best-actor prizes at BAFTA and the Golden Globes.
Like many of the night’s winners, Fraser spoke about the ups and downs of a Hollywood career: “I’ve rode that wave lately, and it’s been powerful and good, and I’ve also had that wave smash me right down to the ocean floor,” said.
Television winners include:
Actor in a Comedy Series: Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear”; Actress in a Comedy Series: Jean Smart, “Hacks”; Actor in a Drama Series: Jason Bateman, “Ozark”; Actress in a Drama Series: Jennifer Coolidge, “The White Lotus”; Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series: Sam Elliott, “1883”; Actress in a TV Movie or Limited Series: Jessica Chastain, “George & Tammy.”
The SAG Life Achievement Award was given to Sally Field.
— New York Times
Probst hosts 44th ‘Survivor’ season
There was a time Jeff Probst could not imagine doing what he will on Wednesday, being on hand as host for the start of a 44th season of “Survivor.”
That’s not simply because of the transitory nature of television, where a 44th season of anything is a rarity, even a program that created a sensation when it first aired on CBS in the summer of 2000.
In those early days, there was a restlessness about Probst. He admits “I had a chip on my shoulder about being called a ‘host.’”
Yet as series creator Mark Burnett began stepping away, Probst added “producer” to his title and has since ascended to the level of “showrunner” — industry lingo that means he’s in charge of everything.
At age 61, he’s all in, an evangelist for “Survivor.”
“I have never been so excited to be part of the show,” he said. “I hope it’s apparent. I hope it’s clear that I’m really into ‘Survivor.’ ”
It remains a marvelously designed game, one that tests survival skills in a forbidding environment with social and scheming skills to remain standing to collect the $1 million prize. Even if one cast is a drag, “one of the show’s greatest strengths is that every season hits a reset button,” said Dalton Ross, executive editor at large at Entertainment Weekly.