Screen Actors Guild Award Winners
The Screen Actors Guild handed out their annual awards the other night. The winners were all solid, with one glaring exception. As I mentioned in a previous rant, some fool decided it was ok to nominate Leonardo DiCaprio as best SUPPORTING actor for his role in The Departed… a role in which even the blindest of people know he was clearly the lead. So how can they compound their stupidity? By giving the award to Eddie Murphy over him.
Don’t get me wrong, Eddie was quite good in Dreamgirls… I’ll even go so far as to say that if SAG hadn’t of acted like morons and nominated Leo for SUPPORTING actor, then I wouldn’t have a problem with the idea of Eddie winning the award (he wouldn’t have been my pick to win… but he was good enough that I certainly wouldn’t have a “problem” with him getting it). But to even suggest that Eddie Murphy’s performance was better than the one Leo gave in The Departed is just dumb.
Who knows… maybe the people at SAG realized how stupid it was to nominate Leo in that category and decided to turn a blind eye to him being in there. If that’s the case… then I actually applaud the SAG voters for the move. Anyway, here’s your list of the SAG winners. Expect to see this list of winner duplicated EXACTLY for the Oscars.
Actor:
Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”
Actress:
Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Supporting actor:
Eddie Murphy, “Dreamgirls”
Supporting actress:
Jennifer Hudson, “Dreamgirls”
Cast:
“Little Miss Sunshine”
1. Kristina replies at 29th January 2007, 8:47 am :
Little Miss sunshine is this year’s Crash. That’s not a compliment.
2. Rodney replies at 29th January 2007, 8:52 am :
That’s just it. Leo did such a HORRIBLE job of being a Supporting Actor in this film.
All the things supporting roles are? He wasnt.
So it makes sense for him not to win that category.
Now if they put the Departed up for best Comedy/Musical, well that would make more sense.
3. Darren J Seeley replies at 29th January 2007, 1:16 pm :
I strongly disagree, John. I’m very happy that Murphy won.
I also strongly agree that DiCaprio was put in the wrong slot to begin with.
4. VegasorBust replies at 29th January 2007, 4:33 pm :
I do agree that Little Miss Sunshine is a bit overated but I am happy to see it win over Babel. If Babel wins best picture at the academy awards, then next year the academy can make some new awards catagories, example: Better things you can do with your time then watching Babel. A) get a root canal B) tax audit C) watch Lady in the Water in reverse. I am wondering which one of those three might win.
5. SamF replies at 29th January 2007, 8:14 pm :
at least forest whitaker won…he was utter amazing (best performance for the last few years tbh)
6. TommyGunn replies at 2nd February 2007, 4:30 pm :
I had never even heard of little miss sunshine until it got reviewed on this dvd review show i watch called Cinemattractions. The hosts of the show hit the nail right ont the head. They said it was a fun and very quotable movie but it was a bit overrated. I couldn’ agree more. Alan Arkin as the grandpa was hilarious. That’s what I want to be like when i get too old to care.
7. BKN replies at 22nd February 2007, 7:40 pm :
I disagree with John on two main points in this post: First, I believe that Leonardo DiCaprio was correctly placed in the “supporting actor” category. Second, I believe that Eddie Murphy deserved the SAG award for his role in Dreamgirls.
Placing Leonardo DiCaprio in the “supporting actor” category was a smart move on the part of the SAG. The thing about The Departed is, it contains an ensemble cast. In that film, there were so many talented celebrities and strong characters (i.e. Jack Nicholson as Frank Costello, Mark Wahlberg as Dignam, and Matt Damon as Colin Sullivan) that it was difficult to clearly name one character as the lead. For example, the presence and actions of DiCaprio’s character all hinged on Costello’s presence and actions throughout the plot. Given that, it becomes difficult to name DiCaprio as the “lead character” in the film. Also, since he was already nominated in the lead category for Blood Diamond, I think it is very logical to avoid the DiCaprio vs. DiCaprio phenomenon and honor him for his work in separate categories. To me, that seems like more of a compliment than nonchalantly lumping his work together. By dividing him into two categories, it creates a distinction between his two excellent performances, and is thereby better not only for the SAG Awards, but for the acknowledgement of his accomplishments.
Despite DiCaprio’s strong performance in The Departed, I still contend that Eddie Murphy was deserving of his win in the “supporting actor” category for Dreamgirls. He was forced to exude a wider spectrum of emotions and genres in his role than DiCaprio in The Departed. DiCaprio’s character fit the common mold for a crime/action movie, which only requires somber emotions – mainly sadness and anger. In contrast, Murphy’s character began the film as a comedian, and then evolved into a sensitive, dejected drug addict and has-been. This required not only charisma and comedic skill, but subtle sensitivity, rejection, sadness, anger, and love. In addition, Murphy unveiled a wider range of talents that included vocal performance. Although this alone should not get someone an award, when vocal talent is required on top of expert acting talent, the role becomes noticeably more challenging. Eddie Murphy tackled that challenge and surprised audiences across the country. He should also be given credit for this aspect of his performance. He broke away from all of his previous, low-brow comedy roles (i.e. The Nutty Professor, Daddy Day Care, and now, Norbit) to take on something difficult and out of his comfort zone. DiCaprio has played characters like his Departed persona before, and has never branched out into areas like comedy, romance, or dramas that don’t involve disastrous explosions or catastrophes (i.e. Titanic, The Beach, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, etc.)
For all of the aforementioned reasons, Leonardo DiCaprio was rightfully placed in the “supporting actor” category at the SAG Awards, and fairly lost the prize to Eddie Murphy’s poignant performance in Dreamgirls.
8. William replies at 6th January 2008, 2:36 am :
SAG sucks and are filled with completely over-rated, over-paid, talentless hacks! No wonder everyone considers them to be a joke!