Los Angeles Times - 26.11.2019

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THE ENVELOPE LOS ANGELES TIMES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019

FILM ENSEMBLE

“The Irishman”

“Once Upon a Time ... in

Hollywood”

“Marriage Story”

“Little Women”

“Bombshell”

On the cusp: “Jojo Rabbit,”

“Dolemite Is My Name,” “Knives

Out,” “Downton Abbey,” “The

Farewell,” “Hustlers,” “Avengers:

Endgame”

Volume used to matter more

here, with SAG Awards voters

favoring movies with big casts.

(More jobs!) Lately, though,

crowd-pleasing commercial films

have been doing well, which

could be good news for the enter-

taining “Dolemite” and “Knives

Out,” the latter being a terrific

example of the joys that a su-

perbly cast ensemble movie can

deliver.

“Downton Abbey” won the

SAG Awards’ television drama

ensemble prize three times,

putting the movie in play here. It

still feels like something of a

reach, but I learned long ago

never to underestimate the spell

Maggie Smith holds on this body

of voters.

LEAD ACTRESS

Renée Zellweger,“Judy”

Scarlett Johansson,“Marriage

Story”

Charlize Theron,“Bombshell”

Lupita Nyong’o,“Us”

Saoirse Ronan,“Little Women”

On the cusp:Awkwafina, “The

Farewell”; Alfre Woodard, “Clem-

ency”; Cynthia Erivo, “Harriet”;

Helen Mirren, “The Good Liar”

This is the group that Emily

SCARLETT

JOHANSSON

and Adam Driver in

“Marriage Story.”

Netflix

Perfect

union?

Noah Baumbach’s

intimate drama

‘Marriage Story’

could earn nods in

all five SAG Award

film categories.

BY GLENN WHIPP

»The SAG Awards’ film ensemble prize is

the evening’s best award, a chance to see the

(usually) sprawling casts of an (occasionally)

great movie take the stage and celebrate. ¶It’s

also the event’s least predictive award in terms of

the direction that Oscar voters will take. Only 11

of the 24 SAG Awards winners have gone on to

secure the Academy Awards’ best picture trophy.

(“Spotlight” was the last movie to win both.) Last

year, “Black Panther” won SAG; “Green Book”

prevailed at the Oscars. ¶Who will be competing

this year? Let’s take an early look.

THE GOLD STANDARD