Sideways’ scores knockout at SAG Awards

Cate Blanchett with her award. Picture / Reuters

Modest wine country comedy Sideways staged a surprise knockout over favourites Million Dollar Baby and The Aviator by winning the top prize for best ensemble acting at the Screen Actors Guild awards, an important pre-Oscar test.


Hilary Swank won the best actress award for her performance as a gritty boxer in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, and Jamie Foxx was named best actor for his pitch-perfect performance as soul singer Ray Charles in Ray.


Veteran actor Morgan Freeman took the best supporting actor award for playing a gym manager and washed out fighter in Million Dollar Baby, and Cate Blanchett won best supporting actress for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator.


The SAG awards are a major test on the road to the Oscars because actors are the largest single group voting for the Academy Awards. Experts said The Aviator or Million Dollar Baby would have had front-runner's status for the best-picture Oscar, Hollywood's highest award, if either had won.


But the same might not be able to be said of Sideways, a modest comedy that has garnered several critics awards but is not the kind of showy film that wins the Oscar. The film was released by New Corp's Fox Searchlight Pictures.


But for many actors, it seemed a perfect movie giving once-in-a-lifetime roles to relatively unrecognized performers.


On stage, Sideways' actress Sandra Oh thanked her husband, director Alexander Payne, who she said "saw in each one of us something you don't see. Thank you for giving us a shot."


Backstage, co-star Virginia Madsen was asked what the film did for her and said "It got me employed. I am so grateful."


Swank won best actress for her performance as the scrappy boxer in a drama that so far has succeeded in keeping its surprise ending basically secret.


At the Oscars, Swank will likely see stiff competition from Annette Bening, who plays an ageing stage diva in Being Julia, in a rematch of the Oscar race for 1999 films American Beauty and Boys Don't Cry.


Bening won the SAG award that year playing a housewife whose marriage is on the rocks in American Beauty, but lost the Oscar to Swank as a troubled, transgendered teen in Boys Don't Cry.


A who's who of American acting packed the Shrine auditorium in Los Angeles for an honors programme that has established itself as a major stop on the road to the Feb 27 Oscars.


The only person considered a shoo-in for an award was Foxx, a heavy Oscar favourite. Asked backstage if he may be peaking too early with the Ray Charles role, Foxx said no. "I think this is actually the beginning and not the end."


Australian-born Blanchett declared herself totally surprised, saying that had she known she would win, "I wouldn't have worn such a tight dress." She added that the dress made it difficult to walk to the stage.


Freeman joked onstage: "I want to thank everyone I have ever known," then, on a more serious note, added, "I want to thank Clint Eastwood and his family. I want to thank Hilary Swank and ... and I want to thank you all so much."


Australian Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush was best actor in a miniseries or TV movie for his portrayal of conflicted comedian Peter Sellers in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers.


Glenn Close won best actress in a TV movie or miniseries playing Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter.


Tony Shalhoub won the award for best male comic actor in a TV series for his performance as an obsessive-compulsive comedian in Monk.


ABC's hit Desperate Housewives was named best ensemble TV comedy series, and Teri Hatcher won best actress in TV comedy series for her performance on that show.


In an emotional moment, Elaine Orbach took the stage to a standing ovation to accept the award for best actor in a dramatic series for her late husband, Jerry Orbach, who was the crusty homicide detective Lenny Briscoe on television's Law & Order.


She talked about his love of acting on stage and screen, mentioning his roles in Broadway hits like Chicago and 42nd Street and offered his motto: "Never leave a hit show."


Jennifer Garner was named best actress in a TV dramatic series for her work as the super agent in Alias, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation was named best TV drama.

Full list of winners

FILM:

Ensemble Cast: Sideways

Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray

Actress: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby

Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby

Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator

TELEVISION:

Ensemble Cast, drama: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

Ensemble Cast, comedy: Desperate Housewives

Actor, drama: Jerry Orbach, Law & Order

Actor, comedy: Tony Shalhoub, Monk

Actress, drama: Jennifer Garner, Alias

Actress, comedy: Teri Hatcher, Desperate Housewives

Actor, movie or miniseries: Geoffrey Rush, The Life and Death of Peter Sellers

Actress, movie or miniseries: Glenn Close, The Lion in Winter

Lifetime Achievement: James Garner


- REUTERS