The 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards is honoring acting achievements in film and television. The 2018 SAG Awards, hosted by Kristen Bell, is taking place at The Shrine Auditorium on Sunday in Los Angeles.
The show focuses on women, with mostly female presenters and an opening with only actresses speaking about their art. Producers say they were inspired by last year’s Women’s March to highlight women’s achievements at this year’s SAG Awards.
Tension over sexual misconduct accusations brewed before the show, with Giuliana Rancic of E! asking Alison Brie about the allegations against her brother-in-law, James Franco. Brie, who is married to Dave Franco, said, “I think that above all what we’ve always said is it remains vital that anyone who remains victimized should have the right to speak out and come forward.” But she also added, “Not everything that has come forward is fully accurate.”
Follow the awards show live here. All times are Eastern unless otherwise noted.
9:28 p.m. Sterling K. Brown wins best male actor in a drama series
Bell returned to the stage and said she was initially nervous about hosting the SAG Awards before realizing that no one would pay attention to her
“This is a room full of actors,” she said. “Everyone is only paying attention to themselves.”
To prove her point, she started rattling off random phrases: “Fire pit … meat city … Steve Carell,” she said.
Carell stopped in his tracks before he stopped in his tracks to turn and give a thumbs up.
Olivia Munn and Niecy Nash took the stage together and said they watched “everything” in the category they were presenting, outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series, and talked about the shows and performances they loved — but it became apparent very quickly that they had not watched anything.
Nash talked about Peter Dinklage in “Game of Thrones” and said, “He was amazing … as the dragon.”
Nash corrected herself after the nominees were announced and said, “Peter Dinklage was not the dragon.” Then she asked if she could announce the award if Sterling K. Brown won — “because he’s black.” Nash got her wish and Munn handed over the envelope as Brown got on stage to accept his award for his role on “This is Us.”
Brown said that people think actors are weird, but said, “Everybody is weird and strange. We just embrace ourselves for who we are.” He thanked his colleagues on “This is Us” and his actress wife, Ryan Michelle Bathe.
9:15 p.m.: Rita Moreno presents Morgan Freeman with lifetime achievement award
Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf introduced a look at “Lady Bird.”
An emotional Rita Moreno took the stage to present life achievement award to Morgan Freeman and as the audience gave her a standing ovation, she said, “It was five years ago on this very stage that my dear and beloved friend Morgan Freeman presented this same honor to me.” Moreno said she’d always hoped she could return the favor.
“The stars aligned and here I am,” said Moreno as she said she and Freeman met nearly 50 years ago on the set of children’s show “Electric Company” in 1971. She recalled how Freeman played Dracula and impersonated Freeman’s Dracula character. She praised Freeman for his commitment to education and various other charitable organizations before she presented a montage of his performances. Freeman, who wore a baseball cap, took the stage and Moreno said, “Morgan, pick up your hat. Okay, now we can see you.” Freeman said to the audience, “You have no idea how long I had to put up with that.”
“These moments in one’s life usually require an entire litany of thank yous,” he said. “I can’t do that because I don’t know all of your names, so I won’t try.” He thanked SAG-AFTRA for the honor, his family, his colleagues.
Freeman closed his speech by saying, “I’m going to tell you what’s wrong with this statue … From the front, it’s gender-specific.” He smiled and said, “Maybe I started something,” before taking his award.
8:57 p.m.: Nicole Kidman gives rousing acceptance speech
Mary J. Blige and Jason Clarke presented a look at their movie “Mudbound.”
Rosanna Arquette and Marisa Tomei took the stage. Arquette, who spoke out against disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in October, said that because people were empowered to speak up about abuse, “We can control our own destiny.”
Tomei thanked Arquette for being “one of those silence breakers.” Arquette started to tear up as she thanked all of the women and men who came forward to talk about sexual assault, including Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino, Anthony Rapp and Olivia Munn. The award went to Nicole Kidman, who got her first SAG win after 10 nominations.
“I’m incredibly nervous because this is reality colliding with fantasy right now,” said Kidman. She confessed that she was up till 1 a.m. the night before working and also had the flu, but said, “But I’m here. And I’m incredibly grateful.” She said she shared her award with co-stars Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern.
Kidman talked about how Hollywood has made strides in backing women.
“I’m thankful our careers can now go beyond 40 years old,” said Kidman as she added that she hopes the industry continues to tell women’s stories.
8:44 p.m.: Alexander Skarsgard wins male actor in a TV movie or limited series
Allison Williams and Daniel Kaluuya introduced a look at their movie, “Get Out.”
Laura Linney presented outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role, which went to Sam Rockwell for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” Rockwell encouraged young actors to “hang in there” and mentioned his days bussing tables.
Megan Mullally and Gina Rodriguez joined forces to present outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or limited series. Rodriguez wore a Time’s Up pin. The actor statuette went to Alexander Skarsgard for “Big Little Lies.”
Kristen Bell sat in the audience and said she wanted to talk about her favorite multi-hyphenate who is also “easy on the eyes” as she sat next to her husband Dax Shepard. Then she said she was talking about Greta Gerwig, as the camera panned to Gerwig instead with Shepard looking unamused.
8:29 p.m.: Allison Janney wins best supporting actress for “I, Tonya”
Molly Shannon and Leslie Mann presented outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series. The award went to the cast of “Veep,” and Matt Walsh made a speech and thanked the cast’s “leader,” Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Walsh joked and thanked his colleagues for giving him a “Grammy” before looking at his trophy and saying, “SAG Award. Sorry.”
Sarah Silverman told a story about a young girl who wanted to be an actress, but was cast as a carrot in a school play. Silverman joked, “That carrot grew up to be Dame Judi Dench,” before presenting outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role. Allison Janney won the SAG Award for her role in “I, Tonya.” In her acceptance speech, Janney said, “It’s incredibly emotional to be in this category of great women I love so much,” before praising the other nominees for their “brilliant” performances.
8:17 p.m.: Kristen Bell opens the SAG Awards
Kristen Bell opened the 2018 SAG Awards with a monologue, talking about how she was the first host ever for the SAG Awards. Bell joked and called herself the “first lady” and said, “I honestly never thought I would grow up to be the first lady but I kinda like it.”
Bell joked that her platform would be to fight against cyberbullies but talked about the real purpose of the SAG Awards.
“Everyone’s story deserves to be told, especially now,” she said. “We are living in a watershed moment and as we march forward, let’s make sure we’re leading the charge with empathy and diligence, because fear and anger never win the race.”
Then Bell joked, “I think we can come together and delight in one thing: ‘Frozen 2’ is coming out in theaters in 2019.”
Maya Rudolph and Kristen Bell presented the first award of the night, outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series, which went to William H. Macy for “Shameless.” Aziz Ansari was a nominee, but the actor, who was recently accused of sexual misconduct, was absent.
Connie Britton and Mandy Moore took the stage to present the next award outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series, which went to Julia Louis Dreyfus, who recently announced she is battling breast cancer. Britton said, “Julia Louis Dreyfus couldn’t be here. Julia, we’re thinking of you and we love you.”
Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and Frances McDormand introduced a look at “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
