The other big winner of the night was The Studio. The cast won for best ensemble in a comedy series, Seth Rogen for best actor in a comedy series and Catherine O\u2019Hara for best supporting actress in a comedy series. O\u2019Hara\u2019s posthumous win was the most poignant moment of the night, with Rogen accepting on her behalf. \u201cShe really showed that you could be a genius and be kind,\u201d Rogen said as the camera cut to tearful close-ups of O\u2019Hara\u2019s fellow nominees Jenna Ortega and Kathryn Hahn.<\/p>\n
Kathryn Hahn, Chase Sui Wonders, Seth Rogen and Ike Barinholtz pose with the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Award for The Studio at the 32nd Annual Actor Awards Presented by Sag-Aftra. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
That kind of solidarity is supposed to be what these awards are all about. This is, after all, a ceremony sponsored by a union. Noah Wyle flashed his union card during his acceptance speech for best actor in a drama series in The Pitt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so grateful to this union and for all the privileges and protections it affords me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Amy Madigan drove the point home in her acceptance speech for her high-camp turn as Aunt Gladys in Weapons. \u201cActors love other actors,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a union person; I come from Chicago,\u201d she added later. She also compared the flat crotch of the Actor award to a Ken doll.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the name of the statue, by the way: the Actor. It\u2019s partly why SAG said it decided to change the name to the Actor Awards. Also to make the name more understandable to international audiences. And while the Actor statue may not be fully anatomically correct, he does have a little turquoise butt, flashed regularly from the podium throughout the night.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a fitting detail for an evening of television that\u2019s a bit … well, cheekier than other awards shows. Because it streamed on Netflix, there was no bleeping of F-bombs. Winners were not played off by an orchestra. The banter was not as stiff as the scripted dialogue we expect from the Oscars.<\/p>\n
Meg Stalter chewed scenery with Paul W. Downs, playing \u201cthe comic relief that was cut from Hamnet\u201d. Janelle James gave a delightful impression of Angela Bassett in Waiting to Exhale, made even more delightful when her scene partner, Sterling K. Brown, fluffed the punch line (he said \u201cwhite\u201d when he should have said \u201cblack\u201d). Bell tried to read a monologue full of medical jargon from The Pitt while Wyle timed her.<\/p>\n
Megan Stalter the 32nd Annual Actor Awards. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Moments such as these hinted at the power that this awards show could have if it leaned into the looseness. So, too, did the opening shots of actors sitting at tables that were noticeably crowded with bottles, cocktails and stemware. Seeing all those drinks \u2013 and the \u201cI\u2019m so-and-so, and I\u2019m an actor\u201d intros that reminded me so much of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting \u2013 made me wonder if the Actor Awards could grab the boozy baton from the Golden Globes, which I am told was much more fun back when it was more of a tipsy Hollywood in-joke.<\/p>\n
Some of the best moments of awards shows in recent memory were when actors made mistakes \u2013 Faye Dunaway bellowing La La Land, John Travolta introducing the wick-edly talented \u201cAdele Dazeem\u201d. But in a post-Will Smith\/Chris Rock world, it seems unlikely that producers would encourage more spontaneity any time soon.<\/p>\n
Instead, the Actor Awards emphasised the \u201cstarted from the bottom, now we\u2019re here\u201d vibes. The ceremony began with actors recounting tales of struggle early in their careers. Kristen Wiig recalled getting stung by a bee on set while working as an extra and going to the hospital. Kate Hudson said she \u201cused to get in trouble for daydreaming\u201d. Michael J. Fox \u2013 after an extended round of applause from his peers \u2013 recalled dumpster diving in Los Angeles before he was cast on Family Ties.<\/p>\n
Sure, it\u2019s kind of inspiring to hear these tidbits. And it\u2019s kind of cute to hear Woody Harrelson make self-deprecating jokes when presenting his buddy Harrison Ford with a lifetime achievement award: \u201cHis movies have grossed 10 billion dollars. I consider one of my films a big hit if 13 people see it on JetBlue.\u201d<\/p>\n
But wouldn\u2019t it be more fun to see actors act out a little bit?<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The other big winner of the night was The Studio. The cast won for best ensemble in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[168959,3376,6946,95,10779,430,156,1888,71,109076,13840,130,13617,111,139,2551,69,193,168958,5419,82064,10809,5865,223,8238,16566],"class_list":["post-310073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-32nd","tag-actor","tag-actors","tag-and","tag-awards","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-first","tag-from","tag-guild","tag-like","tag-more","tag-name","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-night","tag-nz","tag-other","tag-sags","tag-screen","tag-sinners","tag-sunday","tag-takeaways","tag-the","tag-under","tag-winners"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}