The 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards will begin with a "Hamilton" reunion, which will host a Lifetime Achievement Award for Helen Mirren and, possibly, provide a preview of the upcoming Academy Awards.
The SAG Awards begin at 8 p.m. at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Sundays and aired on both TNT and TBS. (The show will also be available to stream on HBO Max on Monday.) Following a non-event from the January Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards will be Hollywood's first major, televised, in-person awards show—with a red carpet Full and tearful speech - this year.
While vaccinations are not mandatory for Academy Award presenters (just attendees), it is required for the SAG Awards, which are voted on by the Hollywood Actors Guild SAG-AFTRA. Actor Forie Jay Smith, one of the cast of the Paramount series "Yellowstone", has said that he will not attend because he has not been vaccinated.
The "Hamilton" trio Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr. and Daveed Diggs will open the ceremony. Kate Winslet is to present the Actors' Lifetime Achievement Award to five-time SAG Award winner Mirren.
A star cast of nominees including Will Smith, Lady Gaga, Denzel Washington, Nicole Kidman and Ben Affleck will ensure that the SAG Awards don't lack for glamour.
Five films have been nominated for the SAG Awards' top honor for Best Ensemble: Kenneth Branagh's "Belfast," Sean Heder's coming-of-age drama "CODA," Adam McKay's apocalyptic comedy "Don't Look Up," Ridley Scott's high-camp "House of Gucci" and Reynaldo Marcus Greene's family tennis drama "King Richard."
The major Oscar nominee, Jane Campion's "The Power of the Dog," failed a Best Ensemble nomination, but three of its cast members — Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Cody Smit-McPhee — are up for individual awards.
Winning Best Ensemble doesn't automatically make a film an Oscar favorite, but the actors have the biggest impact because they constitute the largest percentage of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Last year, the actors picked Aaron Sorkin's 1960s courtroom drama "The Trial of Chicago 7" while the best picture at the Oscars went to "Nomad."
In the television categories, Apple TV+'s "Ted Lasso" comes in with a leading five nominations, just behind HBO's "Succession," Apple's "The Morning Show" and Netflix's much-anticipated "Squid Game" — all four of which are ready for Award.