“One Battle After Another” finally found a skirmish it couldn’t win.
After sweeping all awards season, the Paul Thomas Anderson film lost its first significant guild prize at the Actor Awards on Sunday night as the Screen Actors Guild handed top honors to the vampire drama “Sinners,” directed by Ryan Coogler.
“This project is anointed,” said Delroy Lindo, who accepted the award on behalf of his “Sinners” castmates. “‘Thank you’ does not come near to encompassing what we feel — the gratitude.”
The Actors, newly renamed from the SAGs, have a mixed track record as an Oscar predictor. Last year, “Conclave” won SAG’s cast award but lost the best-picture Oscar to “Anora,” while the leading actors honored by the guild — Timothée Chalamet for “A Complete Unknown” and Demi Moore for “The Substance” — were later beaten at the Oscars by Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”) and Mikey Madison (“Anora). The only SAG winners who went on to Oscar victory were the supporting actors Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”) and Zoe Saldaña (“Emilia Pérez”).
Still, a win here can indicate who has momentum in a close Oscar matchup, and some of this year’s acting races feel even more fluid now that SAG voters have weighed in.
The lead-actor category delivered the night’s most notable upset, as the “Sinners” star Michael B. Jordan defeated Timothée Chalamet (“Marty Supreme”), who had triumphed in this category last year. During his acceptance speech, Jordan spoke about an acting career that began in childhood and marveled at being in a ballroom filled “with people who’ve seen me grow up in front of the camera.”
In the supporting-actress category, the “Weapons” star Amy Madigan notched a significant victory over the Golden Globe winner Teyana Taylor (“One Battle After Another”) and the BAFTA winner Wunmi Mosaku (“Sinners”). In a charming speech, Madigan paid tribute to her co-stars and commented on the nude figure featured on the guild’s trophy.
“Let’s see, what do we have here?” she said, comprehensively inspecting the statuette’s smooth physique. Apologizing for her digression, she said with a laugh, “It’s like when you’re little and you have Barbie, and you got Ken and you whipped down his drawers!”
Two other acting races appear to be coming into sharper focus. The “Hamnet” star Jessie Buckley continued her winning streak in the best-actress category, while in the supporting-actor race, SAG voters chose the BAFTA winner Sean Penn (“One Battle After Another”). Penn has skipped both the ceremonies he’s won at so far, though we’ll see if he’s present in two weeks when he could pick up his third Oscar.
While “One Battle After Another” has won top honors from the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and BAFTAs, along with prizes from the producers and directors guilds, the SAG ensemble victory does open a slim path for “Sinners” to prevail at the Oscars. Both “Parasite” and “Spotlight” won SAG’s cast award before triumphing in a close best-picture race.
But few contenders falter at the Oscars when they have as formidable a portfolio as “One Battle After Another,” and the Producers Guild win that film secured Saturday night is considered a more reliable best-picture predictor than the top SAG prize.
Elsewhere at the Actor Awards, Seth Rogen paid tribute to Catherine O’Hara, who died at 71 in January. O’Hara was named best actress in a comedy series for her turn as a deposed executive in Rogen’s Hollywood satire, “The Studio.”
“Something that I’ve just been marveling at over the last few weeks was really her ability to be generous and kind and gracious,” Rogen said, accepting the award on her behalf, “while never, ever minimizing her own talents and her own ability to contribute to the work that we were doing.”
He spoke good-naturedly of O’Hara’s habit of rewriting scenes of their series before they were about to be shot, saying, “She knew she could destroy, and she wanted to destroy every day on set.”
“The Studio” also won the Actor for best ensemble in a comedy series. “The Pitt” won best ensemble in a drama series.
Harrison Ford received the guild’s lifetime-achievement award. “It is a little weird to be getting a lifetime achievement award at the half-point of my career,” the 83-year-old joked during an otherwise earnest, tearful speech. “I’m still a working actor.”
Here is the complete list of winners:
Film
Outstanding Cast
“Sinners”
Nominees in this category: “Frankenstein,” “Hamnet,” “Marty Supreme,” “One Battle After Another”
Actor in a Lead Role
Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”
Nominees in this category: Timothée Chalamet in “Marty Supreme,” Leonardo DiCaprio in “One Battle After Another,” Ethan Hawke in “Blue Moon,” Jesse Plemons in “Bugonia”
Actress in a Lead Role
Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”
Nominees in this category: Rose Byrne in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Kate Hudson in “Song Sung Blue,” Chase Infiniti in “One Battle After Another,” Emma Stone in “Bugonia”
Actor in a Supporting Role
Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”
Nominees in this category: Miles Caton in “Sinners,” Benicio Del Toro in “One Battle After Another,” Jacob Elordi in “Frankenstein,” Paul Mescal in “Hamnet”
Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Madigan, “Weapons”
Nominees in this category: Odessa A’zion in “Marty Supreme,” Ariana Grande in “Wicked: For Good,” Wunmi Mosaku in “Sinners,” Teyana Taylor in “One Battle After Another”
Stunt Ensemble in a Movie
“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning”
Nominees in this category: “F1: The Movie,” “Frankenstein,” “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners”
Television
Ensemble in a Drama Series
The Pitt”
Nominees in this category: “The Diplomat,” “Landman,” “Severance,” “The White Lotus”
Ensemble in a Comedy Series
“The Studio”
Nominees in this category: “Abbott Elementary,” “The Bear,” “Hacks,” “Only Murders in the Building”
Actor in a Drama Series
Noah Wyle, “The Pitt”
Nominees in this category: Sterling K. Brown in “Paradise,” Billy Crudup in “The Morning Show,” Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus.” Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”
Actress in a Drama Series
Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”
Nominees in this category: Britt Lower in “Severance,” Parker Posey in “The White Lotus,” Rhea Seehorn in “Pluribus,” Aimee Lou Wood in “The White Lotus”
Actor in a Comedy Series
Seth Rogen, “The Studio”
Nominees in this category: Ike Barinholtz in “The Studio,” Adam Brody in “Nobody Wants This,” Ted Danson in “A Man on the Inside,” Martin Short in “Only Murders in the Building”
Actress in a Comedy Series
Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio”
Nominees in this category: Kathryn Hahn in “The Studio,” Jenna Ortega in “Wednesday,” Jean Smart in “Hacks,” Kristen Wiig in “Palm Royale,”
Actor in a TV Movie or Limited Series
Owen Cooper, “Adolescence”
Nominees in this category: Jason Bateman in “Black Rabbit,” Stephen Graham in “Adolescence,” Charlie Hunnam in “Monster: The Ed Gein Story,” Matthew Rhys in “The Beast in Me”
Actress in a TV Movie or Limited Series
Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”
Nominees in this category: Claire Danes in “The Beast in Me,” Erin Doherty in “Adolescence,” Sarah Snook in “All Her Fault,” Christine Tremarco in “Adolescence”
Stunt Ensemble in a TV Series
“The Last of Us”
Nominees in this category: “Andor,” “Landman,” “Squid Game,” “Stranger Things”
Kyle Buchanan is a pop culture reporter and also serves as The Projectionist, the awards season columnist for The Times.
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