Oscar hints at weekend awards ceremonies
The Screen Actors Guild Awards often function as an Oscars bellwether, but two earlier ceremonies over the weekend helped “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Angela Bassett build momentum ahead of next month’s Academy Awards.
“Everything Everywhere,” the acclaimed multiverse adventure starring Michelle Yeoh, won outstanding producer of a theatrical motion picture at Saturday night’s Producers Guild of America Awards. The same honor went to “Nomadland” in 2021 and “CODA” last year before both films won best picture at the Oscars.
It’s the latest major win for “Everything Everywhere,” which leads all films at March 12’s Oscars with 11 nominations, including for best picture. The comedy-drama won best picture at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, where Ke Huy Quan won best supporting actor. Quan and Yeoh both won Golden Globes, as well.
The win at Saturday’s show came in a category also including Oscar best picture nominees “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “Elvis,” “Tár” and “The Fabelmans.”
Tom Cruise received the David O. Selznick Award, a lifetime achievement honor. He’s served as a producer on films including “Top Gun: Maverick” and the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
“My whole life I wanted to make movies,” Cruise said at the Beverly Hilton in Southern California. “I wanted to travel the world, and I wanted adventure.”
Saturday’s NAACP Image Awards, meanwhile, saw the New York City-born Bassett take home three honors, including best supporting actress for her portrayal of the mourning Queen Mother Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”
Bassett had already won supporting actress trophies at the Globes and Critics’ Choice Movie Awards for her performance in the Marvel movie and is nominated at the Oscars, too. Her NAACP wins Saturday came for entertainer of the year and outstanding actress in a drama series for “9-1-1.”
“I can’t help but reflect that oftentimes when I’m seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, it was often someone there who looked like me, with open arms, assuring me that there was a place for me as an actor,” Bassett said during an acceptance speech at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Southern California.
“I’m deeply, deeply grateful,” she said. “Gratitude is the universe’s way of saying that we are not existing in this world alone.”