Morality tale ‘Three Billboards’ wins big at Screen Actors Guild Awards
One of the most unpredictable awards seasons in memory took another small step toward clarity at Sunday evening’s SAG Awards, as Hollywood’s actors – who represent the motion picture academy’s largest branch – gave their highest honour to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Director Martin McDonagh’s dark morality tale took home three awards, including the top prize for ensemble, beating out Lady Bird, Mudbound, Get Out and The Big Sick. Frances McDormand won the lead actress award for her turn as a grieving mother who tries to spur the local police to solve her daughter’s murder, while Sam Rockwell earned the supporting actor award for his performance as a racist, dim-witted cop.
Though this year’s wide-open awards race has stymied even the most veteran Oscar prognosticators, the victories for Three Billboards – which follow its win earlier this month at the Golden Globes – could bode well for its Oscar prospects. Over the last 24 years, roughly half of the winners of the ensemble prize have gone on to win best picture at the Oscars.
That said, two of this year’s strongest contenders – Guillermo del Toro’s fantastical fable The Shape of Water and Steven Spielberg’s Pentagon Papers drama The Post – were left out of the SAG ensemble category.
