With just three weeks to go until the Oscars, this year’s unpredictable awards season took another surprising twist at Sunday evening’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, as Hollywood’s actors gave their highest honor to Bong Joon Ho’s genre-scrambling class satire “Parasite.”
Beating out a diverse field including “Bombshell,” “The Irishman,” “Jojo Rabbit” and “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” the critically acclaimed South Korean film about two families, one rich and one poor, whose lives become entangled became the first foreign-language film ever to win the SAG ensemble prize, the guild’s closest analogue to a best picture award. (The only other previous foreign-language film to score a SAG ensemble nod was 1997’s Holocaust dramedy “Life Is Beautiful.”)
“Although the title is ‘Parasite,’ I think the story is about co-existence and how we can all live together,” actor Song Kang Ho, who plays the patriarch of the poor family, said as he accepted the award. “To be honored with a best ensemble award, it occurs to me that maybe we haven’t created such a bad movie.”
Coming into the night, many were predicting that either Martin Scorsese’s gangster epic “The Irishman” or Quentin Tarantino’s 1960s fantasia “Once Upon a Time” — both anchored by star-packed casts — would take the ensemble prize. But when the “Parasite” cast, none of whom received individual nominations, earned a warm standing ovation early in the night from the audience of actors at the Shrine Auditorium, while introducing the film, it was clear where the crowd’s affections resided.
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Brad Pitt arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Charlize Theron arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Big Little Lies” cast mates Zoe Kravitz and Reese Witherspoon arrive at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Logan Browning is surrounded by photographers as she arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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“Harriet” actress Cynthia Erivo arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Helena Bonham Carter arrives in shades at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Elisabeth Moss and Michelle Williams meet up on the red carpet at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Henry Winkler arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Leslie Bibb arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Joaquin Phoenix arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Camila Mendes and Francesca Reale arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Danai Gurira arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Leonardo DiCaprio arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Christina Applegate arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Laura Dern arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Lupita Nyong’o arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Luke Brandon Field and Taika Waititi arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Stranger Things” castmates Cara Buono, left, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, Priah Ferguson and Gaten Matarazzo arrive at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Christian Bale interacts with the crowd at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Andrew Scott arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Subaru’s the Barkleys pose on the red carpet at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Roman Griffin Davis arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Superstore” actress America Ferrera arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Lauren Morelli arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Stranger Things” duo Gaten Matarazzo and Millie Bobby Brown seem happy on the red carpet at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Stealing a smooch, Nicholas Crovetti, left, Ivy George and Cameron Crovetti from “Big Little Lies” arrive at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Big Little Lies” trio Cameron Crovetti, left, Ivy George and Nicholas Crovetti arrive at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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“The Handsmaid’s Tale” actresses Kristen Gutoskie and Amanda Brugel arrive at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Big Little Lies” and “The Society” actress Kathryn Newton arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Snowpiercer” and “The Little Mermaid” actor Daveed Diggs waves on the red carpet for the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Logan Browning gets some wardrobe assistance as she arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Stranger Things” actress Millie Bobby Brown arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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O-T Fagbenle, Camryn Manheim and Milo Manheim on the red carpet at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Cary Elwes and Lisa Marie Kubikoff arrive at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Andrew Scott and SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris arrive at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Allison Janney arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Jenna Lyng Adams prepares for the red carpet at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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David Harbour arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Stranger Things” actor Caleb McIntosh signs some merchandise while walking the red carpet for the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Brad Pitt arriving and taking selfies with fans on the red carpet at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Bombshell,” “Barry” and “The Man in the High Castle” actor Stephen Root arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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TV personality Keltie Knight twirls, showing off her dress as she arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Camryn Manheim arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Emily Hampshire arrives and greets fans at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Camerone Parker shows off her dress on the red carpet at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Big Little Lies” actress Chloe Coleman poses at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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“Big Little Lies” and “The Society” actress Kathryn Newton arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Jason Winston George and Elizabeth McLaughlin arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday.
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TV personality Renee Bargh arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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TV personality Lola Ogunnaike arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Stranger Things” trio Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp and Gaten Matarazzo arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Zuri Hall at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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TV personality and actress Erin Lim arrives in yellow at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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TV personality Sibley Scoles arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Liv Pollock at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“The Handmaid’s Tale” actress Amanda Brugel arrives at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Bombshell” actress Charlize Theron arriving at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Daniel Levy greets fans at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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With the actors representing the largest branch of the motion picture academy by far, the SAG Awards are generally considered a significant bellwether indicating which way Oscar voters may be leaning. Over the last 25 years, roughly half of the winners of the ensemble prize have gone on to win best picture at the Oscars. That said, last year’s victor, “Black Panther,” ultimately lost out to “Green Book” (which was not nominated for the SAG ensemble prize).
This year’s wide-open awards horse race has seen different films appear to surge into the lead at varying times, with the accelerated schedule only heightening the sense of uncertainty. The win for “Parasite” — which has earned six Oscar nominations, including the first ever best-picture nod for a Korean film — could be a good omen for its Academy Awards chances.
No foreign-language film has ever won the best picture prize in the academy’s history, however, and “Parasite” will have to overcome stiff competition from more conventional Oscars fare like the World War I drama “1917,” Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time.” Both the comic-book smash “Joker” and “1917” — which are in the thick of the leaders’ pack with 11 and 10 Oscar nominations, respectively, with the latter hot off its Producers Guild Award for best picture win on Saturday — failed to score ensemble nods from SAG.
Joaquin Phoenix won his first-ever SAG Award for his lead turn as a mentally disturbed aspiring stand-up comic turned supervillain in “Joker,” while Renée Zellweger took home the lead actress prize for playing Hollywood icon Judy Garland in her difficult final years in the biopic “Judy.” Both Zellweger and Phoenix took home Golden Globe Awards earlier this month and are considered front-runners in their respective categories for the Oscars.
After giving a somewhat rambling and jaded speech at the Globes, Phoenix seemed in better humor. He extolled the talents of his fellow nominees and saluted the late Heath Ledger — who won a posthumous Oscar for playing the Joker in “The Dark Knight” — calling him his favorite actor and saying, “I’m here tonight standing on [his] shoulders.”
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Park So-Dam, Lee Sun-Kyun, Choi Woo-Shik, Lee Jeong-eun and Song Kang-ho lift their Actors onstage during the show at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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Brad Pitt kisses the Actor statuette as he accepts the award for supporting actor for “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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The show at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Reese Witherspoon, left, and Kathryn Newton during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Quentin Tarantino is captured at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Allison Janney, left, Adam Scott and Naomi Scott during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Leonardo DiCaprio and Julia Butters chat during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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The cast of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” comes onstage after winning the comedy series ensemble at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Quentin Tarantino, right, interacts with another attendee during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Leonardo DiCaprio and Julia Butters during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Tony Shalhoub of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” with the award for actor in a comedy series at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Phoebe Waller-Bridge with the award for actress in a comedy series at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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James Tupper during the show at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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Jennifer Aniston gets a hug during the show at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Laura Dern embraces her father, Bruce Dern, at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Strangers Things” actor Joe Keery during the show at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Attendees chat with Al Pacino during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Laura Dern with the Actor for her role in “Marriage Story” during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Glenn Close presents the Actor to Joaquin Phoenix during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Tim Conway ‘s image is shown during the memorial section of the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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The cast of “Parasite” introduces its film during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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Courtney B. Vance speaks onstage during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Director Bong Joon Ho, center, Lee Sun Kyun, right, and Choi Woo Shik, left, of “Parasite,” winner of film ensemble, make their way through the crowd during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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A shot of Renée Zellweger in the crowd during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Henry Winkler, left, and Darrell Britt-Gibson hug during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Helena Bonham Carter reacts to the announcement that “The Crown” has won the Actor for ensemble in a drama series at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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Renée Zellweger accepts her Actor award for “Judy” at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Peter Mayhew of “Star Wars” is memorialized during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Comedian John Witherspoon is honored during the memorial section of the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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An image of Luke Perry is displayed during the memorial setion of the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Eugene Levy, left, and his son, Daniel Levy, of “Schitt’s Creek” take the stage during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Sam Rockwell accepts his Actor for “Fosse/Verdon” at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall.
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“The Crown’s” Helena Bonham Carter, left, Josh O’Connor, Erin Doherty and Sam Phillips accept the Actor for best ensemble in a drama series during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
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Joaquin Phoenix speaks onstage after receiving the Actor for “Joker” at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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“Game of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage makes his way to the stage during the show at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Robert De Niro is presented a lifetime achievement award during the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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Laura Dern won the supporting actress prize for her turn as a cutthroat divorce lawyer in “Marriage Story,” while Brad Pitt took home the supporting prize for playing a grizzled 1960s stuntman in “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.” “I’ve got to add this to my Tinder profile,” Pitt cracked in one of the night’s most memorable speeches “Let’s be honest, it was a difficult part: a guy who gets high, takes his shirt off and doesn’t get along with his wife. It was a big stretch.”
In the television categories, Amazon stuck to the template it set at the Emmys and rode an early wave of comedy wins to lead the night with three awards. “Fleabag” star Phoebe Waller-Bridge completed the trifecta, adding a SAG Award to her Emmy and Golden Globe trophies, while Tony Shalhoub won for his role in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which also took home the comedy ensemble prize.
As if to underscore Amazon’s recent comedy dominance, “Maisel” co-star Alex Borstein seemed shocked to win — mainly because of the in-house competition. “I voted for ‘Fleabag,’” she said upon accepting the series’ ensemble award, “This makes no sense.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, “Fosse/Verdon,” FX’s limited series about the romantic and creative partnership of performers Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, was catnip to actors, earning matching awards for stars Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams.
No other network or TV series nabbed more than a single SAG Award, with “The Morning Show’s” Jennifer Aniston (Apple TV+), “Game of Thrones’” Peter Dinklage (HBO) and the ensemble of “The Crown” (Netflix) taking home one apiece.
Robert De Niro earned a SAG Life Achievement Award — and a reverent standing ovation — in recognition of his illustrious nearly 50-year career, from his early breakout in 1973’s “Mean Streets” up through his roles in two of this year’s best-picture nominees, “The Irishman” and “Joker.”
After two previous SAG Awards that were dominated by issues surrounding gender in Hollywood, Sunday’s ceremony was a relatively light and apolitical affair. But accepting his award, De Niro — who hasn’t exactly been shy when it comes to his feelings about the current president — made an impassioned case for his fellow actors to use their platforms in these turbulent times to speak up for what they believe in.
“I can imagine some of you are saying, ‘Alright, alright, let’s not get into politics,’ but we are in such a dire situation, so deeply concerning to me and to so many others, I have to say something,” De Niro said. “There’s right and there’s wrong and there’s common sense and there’s abuse of power, and as a citizen I have as much right as anybody — an actor, an athlete, a musician, anybody else — to voice my opinion.”
Times staff writer Matt Brennan contributed to this report.