The broadcast of the SAG Awards party on Netflix was impeccable, smooth, and technically perfect. I don’t want to see it on another platform, it’s a shame that this year’s Oscar is still in competition.

This – for me – becomes even more frustrating because there is a break and I have to escape the commentators who talk over the speeches and fight among themselves for the useless moment to share their feelings instead of adding relevant information. I like listening to the original audio, which transports me to the party and lets me feel the true emotion of the party. Something that nowadays, without any expectation of surprise, is even more important.

But let’s go: this week we will still have the other Syndicate awards (Director and Screenwriter), which don’t have as much appeal as the Actors award, which has more categories, but the most important thing is that in 10 days, we will have the Oscar 2024.

Do you remember who won in 2023?

If you’re still shocked by Will Smith’s slap on Chris Rock, two years ago, or your mouth is still hanging from the night Lala Land was announced as the winner, only to have to hand over the statuette to the real winner of Best Film in 2017, everything is fine. Over the years of the pandemic, everything got even stranger and last year’s party was super peaceful. Do not remember?
This is a sign of predictability: we have to stop and think about who won the Oscar.

In 2024, we know that Oppenheimer will take “everything”, or almost everything, and unless lightning strikes Hollywood will change the script. From the Golden Globes to the SAG, there were practically the same nominees and the same honorees. We already know every bit of what’s coming.

Confirmations for March 10th

At the party led with class and lightness by Idris Elba, the SAG Awards 2024 had diversity and kind of broke the tie in the two main categories: Best Actor and Best Actress. The supporting actors are very close to Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Robert Downey Jr. They didn’t lose a single award this season, they don’t even need to grow in anxiety.

Da’Vine saves us from hearing the same things. Her work as the mourning cook in The Holdovers, directed by Alexander Payne, is unanimous and she now has her speech written, which I swear is not arrogance, on the contrary, it demonstrates her humility to be ready and not embarrass herself. That said, I hope that at the Oscars she gives us tears and good times because it will be impossible for her to maintain her composure.

Robert Downey Jr., on the other hand, has disappointed me. His list of thanks is very specific: from Mel Gibson to Jodie Foster, including Gwyneth Paltrow, he is very specific in recognizing those who helped him in his worst career moment, without going into details. I consider this the interesting part of his thanks, but the jokes about his arrogance and the fact that Christopher Nolan would have advised him to be less histrionic are already tiring. It would be interesting if, for the Oscars, he brings another behind-the-scenes story.

While there is no doubt that Oppenheimer will win Picture, Director, Score, Actor, and Supporting Actor, the women in the cast can forget about dreaming about the stage. Favoritism is tied for Actor and Actress, with Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer) and Emma Stone (Pretty Little Things) earning the same amount as Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) and Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon).

At the parties where Drama and Comedy were separated, the four were leading, but, at SAG, as at the Oscars, it is a single group and the doubt was discarded: Cillian and Lily are the Academy’s favorites. They will hardly lose on March 10th.

And Barbie?

Well, we’ll probably have Billie Eilish with her song, but, in general, Barbie is already passed on to Hollywood.

Pedro Pascal’s effect ruined Succession’s party

The most complex part of the SAG Awards in 2024 was the TV, not so much the cinema. That’s because last year’s strikes interfered with the Emmys, and now we’re still talking about Succession and The Crown after both series went off the air more than six months ago.

In this case, the night of February 24th was the farewell to the toxic Roys and just like Barbie, the Industry seems to be in a hurry to celebrate what comes next. Thus, we took for granted the victories of Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin, who took all the awards so far, but who lost to Elizabeth Debicki from The Crown and, Pedro Pascal for The Last of Us.

What?

So it is. Succession still won Best Drama Series, but its defeat was a somewhat sad note for content so celebrated in 2023.

The scare caught Pedro in a way that made him even more popular among fans. Unprepared, but quick to improvise, he was humble, emotional, and very deserving.

His dominance is obvious, having starred in The Mandalorian and The Last of Us, two great successes, and in the HBO series, his technique was more demanded, with a felt and exciting performance in the right tones. Anyone who knows what lies ahead for the second season knows that we will almost certainly have more Pedro on stage.

In part, when the Succession party stops, we get the impression that everyone is tired of looking back. If there were one more award before the Oscars, Oppenheimer would be living the Barbie days, but luckily for him, he still has the win in his pocket.

The Bear: a drama sold as a comedy that is in the wrong place

I’m a big fan of The Bear and I wanted the entire cast to be awarded, celebrating its victory as Best Series for the second year, but it irritates me that this drama is competing as a Comedy. There is no way to compare the performances and the result, for me, is unfair.

Until a major comedy threatens StarPlus’ strategy, we will see this bizarreness more often.

The tribute to Barbra Streisand

The person honored for her incredible film career was the legendary Barbra Streisand, who is obviously iconic and deserving of the award like few others. Her speech was brief, she talked about Politics, she talked about how she opened doors, and she mentioned her famous difficult temperament.

What really got strange is that although Barbra has a vast and important career, the presentation video repeatedly focused on the same (few) films from the past and barely referred to her more recent works. Were these comedies ripped without much repercussion? Even so!

Nobody expected that Barbra wouldn’t receive a standing ovation, that there would be fans of hers in the audience, but Anne Hathaway‘s tearful emotion even when the actress was making jokes seemed like overacting, I almost shouted for her to give her Oscar back. For me, the embarrassing moment of the night.

Congratulations, Netflix

For those who followed the strikes and Fran Drescher‘s leadership, it was a bit tense for her to remember the agenda of the disputes in front of one of the executives who opposed accepting the actors’ demands, Ted Sarandos, the boss of Netflix. Of course, everything is resolved, but for a few frames it was as if we were back in June 2023, it must not have been pleasant conversations between them.

But now that Hollywood is at peace, we must once again praise Netflix’s broadcast of the SAG Awards, marking its global live broadcast debut. In one word? Perfect.
Bring on the Oscars!

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