SAG Awards: ‘Birdman’ Wins Best Cast

Birdman won best cast at the 2015 SAG Awards on Sunday night.

The actors in the Fox Searchlight film, which is nominated for nine Oscars, added to their awards haul. The film and its stars have already taken home Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice and Producers Guild awards — having just won the top honor at the PGAs the night before. (The film is also up for several BAFTA and Independent Spirit awards.) Still, while Birdman went into the SAG Awards with a leading four nominations, the best cast trophy was its only win.

Several actors in the ensemble, led by Michael Keaton, spoke, with Edward Norton suggesting the film’s star speak first by saying, “Age before beauty.”

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“It’s the ultimate team sport, what we do for a living,” Keaton, who earlier lost the SAG Award for best actor to Theory of Everything star Eddie Redmayne, said. “These guys are unbelievable. Every time I turned around, I ran into another tremendous actor. … I’m proud to be a part of this group.”

Naomi Watts, who was either excited about Birdman‘s win or recovering from her near fall, stepped to the microphone next, beginning her remarks with, “Oh my God! Wow!” After she calmed down, she thanked Searchlight, producer John Lesher and director Alejandro G. Inarritu, who also got a shout-out in Keaton’s remarks.

Actor Zach Galifianakis jokingly referenced Julianne Moore‘s best actress acceptance speech earlier in the evening, repeating her remark of, “When I was on As the World Turns” to laughter from the audience at the Shrine Auditorium.

“This is such an honor, and this movie was such an incredible experience. We’re so grateful,” Emma Stone said, responding to an audience member who shouted, “I love you!” with “I love you, too.”

Norton then returned to the microphone, saying, “It’s fun to be an actor, but as everybody in this room knows, it’s a true privilege to be a working actor. And it’s a triple privilege if you get to work on something you love as much as a piece of material like this. We owe that courage to [New] Regency and Fox Searchlight, who risked their money making this movie.”

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Birdman‘s ensemble beat out the casts of Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything.

The SAG Awards has a mixed track record in terms of whether its top prize of best cast can predict which film will win the Oscars’ top prize of best picture. While the cast of Argo won the top SAG Award in 2013, with the film later winning best picture at the Oscars, in 2012 The Help won best cast at the SAG Awards with The Artist taking home best picture, and last year, American Hustle won best cast, but 12 Years a Slave won best picture.