LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – South Korean thriller “Parasite” was the upset winner at the Screen Actors Guild awards on Sunday, while Joaquin Phoenix and Renee Zellweger were named best actors, cementing their roles as frontrunners at the Oscars next month.

26th Screen Actors Guild Awards – Photo Room – Los Angeles, California, U.S., January 19, 2020 – The cast of “Parasite” poses backstage with their Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture award. REUTERS/Monica Almeida

“Parasite,” the Korean language social satire about the wealth gap in South Korea, beat homegrown Hollywood movies with A-list casts “The Irishman” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” to take the top prize of best movie ensemble cast.

“Parasite” lead actor Song Kang Ho said winning on Sunday made him think that “maybe we haven’t created such a bad movie.”

“I am so honored to receive this award. I will never forget such a beautiful night,” he said through an interpreter.

The SAG awards, which focus entirely on performances, are closely watched as an indicator of Oscar success because actors form the largest voting group in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Phoenix’s terrifying performance as a loner who finds fame through violence in “Joker” has swept awards season.

“I am standing on the shoulders of my favorite actor – Heath Ledger,” Phoenix said on Sunday, referring to the actor who won a posthumous Oscar in 2009 for his turn playing the comic book villain.

Zellweger, likewise, has picked up most of the prizes so far for her performance as a desperate, aging Judy Garland in biopic “Judy.”

Brad Pitt picked up another trophy for his supporting role as a charming stunt man in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” while Laura Dern was named best supporting actress for playing a ruthless divorce lawyer in Netflix domestic drama “Marriage Story.”

“It was a difficult part,” quipped Pitt of his role. “A guy who gets high, takes his shirt off and doesn’t get on with his wife. It was a big stretch,” he said to laughter, riffing on his own life as a twice-divorced Hollywood heartthrob.

Related Coverage

DISAPPOINTING NIGHT FOR ‘IRISHMAN’

Sexual harassment drama “Bombshell” went into Sunday’s awards with a leading four nods but emerged empty-handed.

Martin Scorsese’s $170 million Netflix gangster movie “The Irishman” had another disappointing night, despite a cast that includes Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci.

Several of the contenders for best picture at the Oscars on Feb. 9 were not nominated for best movie cast ensemble at SAG.

Those left out include immersive World War One film “1917,” the big winner at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, as well as dark comic book story “Joker,” heart-wrenching divorce drama “Marriage Story,” and novel adaptation “Little Women.”

De Niro, whose lead performance in “The Irishman” has been snubbed by the Oscars, Golden Globes and SAG, was given a lifetime achievement award at the SAG dinner and used his speech to take a veiled shot at U.S. President Donald Trump.

In television, Jennifer Aniston was an upset winner for her role as a TV anchor in “The Morning Show,” bringing the second award this year for the new Apple TV+ streaming service. Her co-star Billy Crudup won a Critics Choice award last week.

Aniston, in her first television role since the end of “Friends” 25 years ago, seemed visibly shocked.

“What?! Oh my gosh. This is so unbelievable,” she said.

Comedy “The Marvelous Mrs Maisel” and British royal drama “The Crown” took the prizes for their TV ensemble casts. But “Mrs Maisel” actress Alex Borstein said the comedy prize should have gone to quirky British comedy “Fleabag.”

Moments earlier, “Fleabag” creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge accepted the best television comedy actress statuette, capping a year of multiple awards for her and the show.

“This whole thing has been a dream and if I wake up tomorrow and find it’s been just that, thank you. It’s been the most beautiful dream,” Waller-Bridge said.

(This story corrects attribution for quote to Song Kang Ho, not Bong Joon Ho, in paragraphs 3,4)

Additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Nick Zieminski and Simon Cameron-Moore

This content was originally published here.

Accepting a lifetime achievement award during Sunday’s annual Screen Actors Guild awards, actor Actor Robert De Niro took a veiled jab at US President Donald Trump.

The two-time Academy Award winner and star of Oscar-nominated mob film ‘The Irishman’, made his comments never once mentioning Trump by name, as the president faces a Senate trial this week on impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Trump was at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention and Trade Show in Austin, Texas, earlier in the day.

Scroll down for video

Robert De Niro accepts the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award onstage during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles Sunday. During his acceptance speech, he took a veiled jab at President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump fist pumps while speaking at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Convention and Trade Show in Austin, Texas, Sunday

Stepping onto the stage to a rousing standing ovation and cheers at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday evening, De Niro said, ‘there´s right, and there´s wrong and there’s common sense, and there´s abuse of power, and as a citizen I have as much right as anyone else … to voice my opinion.’

‘And if I have a bigger voice because of my situation, I´m going to use it whenever I see a blatant abuse of power. And that´s all I´m going say about that tonight,’ the actor added.

He then went on to thank his ‘comrades in arms’ for bestowing the life achievement honor, presented by the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Actors. An almost star-struck Leonardo DiCaprio had presented the award to De Niro.

Although known for his often-taciturn demeanor in public appearances while strictly guarding his private life, De Niro has emerged as one of Trump’s most vocal critics outside of political circles.

In 2018, he launched an expletive-laden attack on the president on live television as a presenter on stage of the Tony Awards.

Trump responded on Twitter by calling De Niro ‘a very low-key individual’.

President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base on Sunday, returning from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. He previously responded to a 2018 De Niro criticism by saying he was ‘a very low-key individual’

A versatile actor with more than 100 films to his credit, the 76-year-old De Niro’s biggest movies include dramas like ‘The Deer Hunter,’ ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘The Godfather: Part II’.

He is also known for starring in comedies such as ‘Meet the Parents’ and ‘Silver Linings Playbook’.

A frequent collaborator with his Irishman director, Martin Scorsese, De Niro built his career with haunting portrayals of loners and tough guys.

He played a deranged ex-convict in ‘Cape Fear’, a disturbed vigilante in ‘Taxi Driver’, a disillusioned Vietnam War veteran in ‘Deer Hunter’, and a ruthless gangster in ‘Goodfellas,’ all directed by Scorsese, whom he considers a close friend.

De Niro also is co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, established to help revitalize lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks that reduced the World Trade Center to ruins.

Robert De Niro accepted the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award from Leonardo DiCapri onstage during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday

Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep attend the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on Sunday in Los Angeles

De Niro has been overlooked this awards season for his acting turn as hitman Frank Sheeran in the mob film ‘The Irishman’, but recouped as one of the producers of the movie when it received an Oscar nomination for best picture

The method actor and perfectionist attended the Stella Adler Conservatory and the American Workshop and, as well as trained under Lee Strasberg, the acclaimed actor and director. De Niro quickly earned a reputation for intense preparation.

He learned to speak a Sicilian dialect to play the young mobster Vito Corleone in ‘The Godfather: Part II,’ a role that earned him his first Oscar in 1975. And he famously gained 60 pounds, or 27 kilos, for his second Oscar-winning performance as boxing great Jake LaMotta in 1980’s ‘Raging Bull’.

He also found success playing his hard-bitten screen image for laughs, in such comedic roles as an insecure mob boss in ‘Analyze This’ and a retired CIA operative in ‘Meet the Fockers’.

De Niro has been largely overlooked this awards season for his acting turn as hitman Frank Sheeran in The Irishman, but recouped as one of the producers of the film, when it received an Oscar nomination for best picture.

De Niro joins previous SAG lifetime recipients including Alan Alda, Elizabeth Taylor, Morgan Freeman, Clint Eastwood and Debbie Reynolds.

De Niro takes shot at Trump as he accepts SAG lifetime award,

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

Add your comment

Post comment to your Facebook Timeline What’s This?

By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.

We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.

You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.

This content was originally published here.

Tag: SAG

‘Parasite’ scores upset at SAG awards, boosting Oscar chances – Reuters

Related Coverage

DISAPPOINTING NIGHT FOR ‘IRISHMAN’