The Screen Actors Guild awards provided a counterbalance to the much-protested lack of ethnic diversity in the Oscar nominations on Saturday as the actors union honoured four black actors: Idris Elba (who won two awards), Viola Davis, Uzo Aduba and Queen Latifah.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to diverse TV,” said Elba, presenting an award after Davis’s win. The British actor won outstanding performance in a supporting role for Beasts of No Nation, and outstanding performance in a TV movie or miniseries for Luther. Controversially, he has been overlooked entirely at the Oscars.
The top award went to Spotlight for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, about the Boston Globe’s expose of a network of paedophile priests. Michael Keaton dedicated the award to “the disenfranchised everywhere, for every Flint, Michigan in the world, for the disadvantaged and the powerless”. He added: “There’s fair and there’s unfair and I’m always going to vote for the good guys.”
However, the film’s rival for the best picture Oscar, The Big Short, is still the hot favourite, as it won the Producers Guild award – a reliable bellweather for the top prize at the Academy awards.
It was also a good night for British actors, with Downton Abbey winning outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series. Meanwhile Australian Ruby Rose won as part of the Orange is the New Black ensemble, and Mad Max: Fury Road took home best performance by a stunt ensemble.