Oppenheimer dominates at SAG Awards 2024 with wins for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr

All eyes were on Hollywood overnight for the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards as Oppenheimer continues to dominant awards season

Oppenheimer continued its awards season success at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, with Cillian Murphy winning best actor in a motion picture for his role as the theoretical physicist, and the film scooping best cast in a motion picture.

Co-star Robert Downey Jr won best supporting actor in a motion picture for his role in Christopher Nolan’s biopic as head of the Atomic Energy Commission Lewis Strauss.

The event, held at the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles, follows the longest strike in Sag-Aftra history.

The awards are considered a key Oscar indicator ahead of the ceremony next month.

Murphy has won the top acting prize at the Bafta Awards and the Golden Globes for his role as J Robert Oppenheimer – described as the father of the atomic bomb. “Twenty-eight years ago when I was trying to become an actor, I was a failed musician and I felt extremely like an interloper, but now looking out at you guys here today, I know I am part of something truly wonderful, so thank you,” Murphy said.

The film was also presented with the award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture which Sir Kenneth Branagh, who plays physicist Niels Bohr in the film, described as a “full circle moment” following the actors’ strikes. “Thank you Sag-Aftra, thank you for fighting for us,” he said. “Thank you for every Sag-Aftra member whose support and whose sacrifice allows us to be standing here, better than we were before."

Lily Gladstone was named best actress for her role as Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, while Da’Vine Joy Randolph picked up the prize for best supporting actress for her role as Mary Lamb in The Holdovers. “I am beyond humbled and I am so incredibly grateful to be considered among you,” Randolph said of her fellow nominees Emily Blunt, Penelope Cruz, Jodie Foster and Danielle Brooks.

TV juggernaut Succession, about warring siblings in a media dynasty, was named best ensemble for a drama series. Star Alan Ruck said the cast had made “friends for life” and described it as “one last hurrah” following the end of the last series. “Right now, you are looking at some of the luckiest people on the planet. And some of the most grateful,” he said.

It was a successful night too for TV comedy-drama The Bear, the story of a star chef who returns to Chicago to run the family business after the death of his brother.

Stars Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri were presented with the awards for best actor and actress in a comedy series respectively, while the series won best ensemble in a comedy series. Edebiri said: “I am going to butcher a James Baldwin quote because I heard it the other day, but the act of love is really an act of mirroring and I think anything that anyone sees in me that is worth anything is because of the people who love and support me. “One of the biggest displays of that is The Bear.” Steven Yeun and Ali Wong won best actor and actress in a limited series for their roles in Netflix’s Beef, a series about a duo who start a life-changing feud after a road rage incident. Actor Pedro Pascal appeared visibly shocked and emotional as he appeared on stage to collect the award for best male actor in a drama series for his role in The Last Of Us. “This is wrong for a number of reasons, I’m a little drunk, I thought I could get drunk. I’m making a fool of myself, but thank you so much for this,” Pascal told the audience, before becoming visibly emotional.

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