Several significant victories at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards have solidified Everything Everywhere All At Once's position as the front-runner for the Oscars.
The multiverse adventure took home the award for best cast in a film at the ceremony, and several of its stars received individual recognition.
By defeating Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh won the award for best actress.
Yeoh's emotional acceptance speech included the moving line, "This is not just for me; it's for every little girl who looks like me.".
Ke Huy Quan, her co-star, made history by becoming the first Asian to win best supporting actor, and Jamie Lee Curtis, his co-star, shocked everyone by winning best supporting actress.
In the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once, Yeoh plays the owner of a laundromat who must use alternate versions of herself from the multiverse to save the world.
The sci-fi adventure now has a lot of momentum heading into the Oscars on March 12 and is clearly the favorite to win best picture.
In the film acting categories, Brendan Fraser, who starred in The Whale, was the lone winner who wasn't from Everything Everywhere All At Once.
We're here because we love what we do, and we will never stop doing what we do, Yeoh told the audience, which was primarily made up of other actors, during her speech.
"I appreciate you giving me a seat at the table because so many of us need this, we want to be heard and seen, and tonight you have shown us that it is possible," she continued.
Since there isn't a category for best picture, the award for best film cast is considered the highest honor at the SAG Awards. During the ceremony, actors cast ballots to determine the winners.
As Everything Everywhere won the top prize, veteran actor James Hong, 94, who portrays Yeoh's father in the movie, made a humorous acceptance speech and promised to attend the awards ceremony again when he was 100 years old.
I received my first SAG card seventy years ago. during those times. The audience applauded as he said, "Look at us now. Producers said the Asians weren't good enough and they aren't box office.
The film's second significant honor this weekend was the top prize at the SAG Awards. Another important predictor of success at the Academy Awards, the Producers Guild of America (PGA) Awards, were held on Saturday, and it took home the top honor.
Curtis expressed her love for acting in her own acceptance speech, saying, "I love acting, I love the job we get to do, I love being a part of a crew, part of a cast, I love what we do with each other, it's such a beautiful job. such a dream. ".
The recent "nepo baby" online debate about celebrities who may have had an advantage in their careers because they have famous parents was also made fun of by Curtis, who is the daughter of two actors, Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis.
I understand that when you look at me you think, "Well, nepo baby, that's why she's there," Curtis said. But the fact is, I'm 64 years old, and this is simply amazing. ".
Prior to the Oscars, her victory, along with Kerry Condon's at last week's Baftas, seriously calls into question the supporting actress category. Angela Bassett from Wakanda Forever was previously thought to be the most likely winner.
Ke Huy Quan, Curtis' co-star and the first Asian actor to win the award for best supporting actor, achieved a historic triumph.
"After hearing that, I realized right away that this moment no longer belongs to just me. As Quan accepted his trophy, he added, "It also belongs to everyone who has requested change. "I'm having a really emotional moment right now. ".
Quan first gained notoriety as a child star in movies like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but he later took a break from acting before making a comeback with Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Because there were so few opportunities, he explained why he stopped acting. "And yet, here we are tonight; the surroundings have changed significantly from before. Thank you to everyone who helped make these changes possible. " .
In other categories, Austin Butler, a young actor who has won at several other precursor ceremonies for his portrayal of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's biopic, lost to Fraser, who won for his work in The Whale.
He recalled, clearly moved, that he used to keep his SAG card, which he received in 1991, in his wallet. "I will treasure this, but never more than what I used to keep in my wallet, which was my SAG card," he said. "I felt like I belonged because of it. I wouldn't have believed you if you had told that man that I would still be standing here today at that time. ".
He referred to playing the obese professor Charlie in the film The Whale as "the role of my life.".
With roles in movies like The Mummy and George of the Jungle at the turn of the millennium, actor Brendan Fraser has made a hugely successful comeback.
But the 54-year-old then went unnoticed for a while, taking on smaller parts as he tried to regain his prior success, until he was chosen to play the lead in Darren Aronofsky's movie.
All the actors out there who have experienced it or are experiencing it, I understand how you feel, but trust me, if you just hang in there and put one foot in front of the other, you'll get where you need to go, said Fraser.
Jessica Chastain (for George Clooney) won an acting award in the TV categories.
The wealth satire The White Lotus and the school-based sitcom Abbott Elementary took home the top two TV awards for best drama series and best comedy series, respectively.
Jennifer Coolidge, who starred in The White Lotus and won best actress in a drama series, told the tale of how her normally law-abiding father allowed her to miss school so she could attend the Charlie Chaplin film festival during her acceptance speech.
She claimed, "He pulled me out of first grade to do it, and having seen Charlie Chaplin for the first time and having that experience, my love of film, my love of actors, all of that came from my first grade. ".
Sally Field was given the lifetime achievement award by Andrew Garfield. In her acceptance speech, Sally Field told the audience: "In all of these nearly 60 years, there is not a day that I don't feel quietly thrilled to call myself an actor. ".
Robbie Coltrane, Ray Liotta, James Caan, Dame Olivia Newton John, Irene Cara, Annie Wersching, and Dame Angela Lansbury were just a few of the famous people who appeared in the show's In Memoriam segment.
Although none of the big winners this year overlapped, the SAG Awards and the Bafta Film Awards are both regarded as Oscar indicators. The Banshees of Inisherin and All Quiet on the Western Front, however, dominated last week's Baftas.
