“Everything” won everything.
Two important Oscar bellwethers went down this weekend in Hollywood — the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild Awards.
“Everything Everywhere All At Once,” the trippy and moving arthouse film that was a big theatrical hit last summer, won the top prizes at both, all but guaranteeing that it will take home the Academy Award for Best Picture on March 12 at the Dolby Theatre.
Momentum for what once was its closest rivals — “The Fabelmans,” “The Banshees of Inisherin” and, to a lesser extent, “Top Gun: Maverick” — is dead. There is no conceivable path to victory for any of those movies. “Everything Everywhere” has been, and will continue to be, an unstoppable juggernaut.
Heating up, however, are the acting races.
Right now there is only one shoo-in: Ke Huy Quan will take Best Supporting Actor for “Everything Everywhere,” having won the same category at the Golden Globes and SAGs.
But Best Actress, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress are tighter than a star’s forehead after a Botox treatment.
The actress matchup is Cate Blanchett for her titanic turn in “Tár” versus Michelle Yeoh as the ass-kicking and emotionally wracked Evelyn in “Everything Everywhere.” Yeoh and Blanchett both won Globes — in the comedy and drama categories respectively. But Blanchett has been on a roll ever since, beating Yeoh at Britain’s BAFTAs and the Critics’ Choice Awards. That is, until Sunday night, when Yeoh triumphed at the SAG Awards, proclaiming to the world, “S- -t! F- -k!”
Blanchett’s major advantage, now that we know “Everything Everywhere” will win Best Picture, is that voters still really like writer-director Todd Field’s psychological thriller “Tár.” In addition to actress, it’s nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Cinematography. The best and most logical way to show it some love will be to spread the love and check Blanchett’s box.
Yet Blanchett has already won three golden dudes before. This is the beloved Yeoh’s first Oscar nod in a more-than-three-decade-long career. The category’s a draw.
Meanwhile over at Best Actor, Brendan Fraser — the frontrunner since “The Whale” debuted in Venice — was in a slump. He lost the Globe to Butler, who’s been universally acclaimed for his performance as the King in “Elvis.” Although he triumphed at the Critics’ Choice Awards, he wasn’t even nominated for the BAFTA, which was won by Butler — the only American in the category. That’s important because a big chunk of Oscars voters are foreign. But it was Fraser, not Butler, who was called to the stage at the SAGs.
Still, I give the edge to Butler, who is the lead of a far less controversial movie (“The Whale,” on the flip side, has divided the industry) and has been charming the pants off voters at events around the world. One charmed observer at an “Elvis” screening in London told me Butler “spoke superbly for well over an hour and was very impressive.” Others have echoed their plaudits stateside.
Perhaps the SAG Awards’ biggest surprise came when Jamie Lee Curtis won for her cruel and unusual tax collector character in “Everything Everywhere.” Up till that point, Curtis had lost the Globe, Critics’ Choice and most other major trophies to Angela Bassett for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Regardless of the blip Sunday night, Bassett will likely win her first Oscar for playing Queen Ramonda in the MCU.
Voting for the 2023 Oscars starts Tuesday.
