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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The CIA thriller "Argo" continues to steamroll through awards
season, winning the top honor for overall cast performance at the Screen Actors
Guild Awards on Sunday.
SAG's lead acting honors went to Jennifer Lawrence for her role as a
troubled widow in a shaky, new relationship in the lost-souls romance "Silver Linings Playbook," and Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in the Civil
War epic "Lincoln."
Bing: More about SAG Awards | More on Daniel Day-Lewis
The supporting actor awards went to Anne Hathaway of "Les Misérables," and Tommy Lee Jones of "Lincoln."
"It occurred to me — it was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln," said
Day-Lewis, a solid front-runner to join an exclusive list of
three-time Oscar winners for Best Actor. "And therefore, somehow it is only
so fitting that, every now and then, an actor tries to bring him back to life
again."
The SAG motion picture cast winner, "Argo" claimed the top honor from
the Producers Guild of America, whose winner often goes on to claim Best Picture
at the Academy Awards. "Argo" also was a surprise victor two weeks ago at the
Golden Globes, where it won Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director for
Ben Affleck.
The award momentum positions "Argo" for a rare feat at the Feb. 24 Oscars,
where it could become just the fourth film in 85 years to be named Best Picture
without a nomination for its director.
"To me, this has nothing to do with me, it has to do with the incredible
people who were in this movie," said Affleck, who also stars in "Argo," and accepted
the SAG prize alongside his cast.
It was a brisk, businesslike and fairly bland evening as the actors union
handed out honors to a predictable lineup of winners, who for the most part, had
triumphed at earlier Hollywood ceremonies or past SAG shows.
"Now I have this naked statue that means some of you even voted for me, and
that is an indescribable feeling," ''Silver Linings" star Lawrence said after explaining she
earned her SAG card at age 14 by filming a spot for MTV.
Hathaway won for her role as a doomed single mother forced into prostitution
in the adaptation of the stage musical based on Victor Hugo's epic novel. She
won over four past Oscar recipients: Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Nicole Kidman and Maggie Smith.
"I'm just thrilled I have dental," Hathaway said. "I got my SAG card when I
was 14. It felt like the beginning of the world. I have loved every single
minute of my life as an actor. ... Thank you for nominating me alongside
incredible women and incredible performances."
Jones, who was not at the show, won for his turn as abolitionist firebrand
Thaddeus Stevens in the Civil War epic. The win improves his odds of becoming a
two-time Academy Award winner. He previously won a supporting-actor Oscar for
"The Fugitive."
On the television side, with "30
Rock" ending its run, its stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin won the SAG awards for best comedy
performers. It was Baldwin's seventh-straight win, while Fey earned her fifth
SAG prize.
"Oh, my God. It's ridiculous," Baldwin said. "It's the end of our show, which
is sad. Everybody is sad about that. It was the greatest experience I've ever
had."
Fey gave a plug for the show's finale airing Thursday, noting that it's up
against "The Big
Bang Theory."
"Just tape 'The Big Bang Theory' for once, for crying out loud," Fey
said.
"Modern
Family" won for best overall ensemble in a TV comedy show. Accepting for the
cast, "Modern Family" co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson offered thanks
to the makers of "30 Rock," and another departing series "The
Office," saying "you all have set the comedy bar so high."
Ferguson joked that if the "30 Rock" or "The Office" stars need jobs, they
should contact the "Modern Family" casting director.
The TV drama lead acting awards went to Claire Danes of "Homeland" and Bryan Cranston of "Breaking
Bad."
"It is so good to be bad," Cranston said.
"Downton
Abbey" won the TV drama cast award.
Julianne Moore's turn as Sarah Palin in "Game Change" earned her the TV prize
for best actress in a movie or miniseries. Kevin Costner won for best actor in a
movie or miniseries for "Hatfields & McCoys."
Fey, who memorably spoofed Palin herself in "Saturday Night Live" sketches,
said backstage that Moore's performance was "incredible. She really disappeared
into the character, she did a real film-acting job. You wouldn't want a
sketch-acting job in that movie."
Earlier, the James Bond adventure "Skyfall" and the fantasy series "Game of
Thrones" picked up prizes for best stunt work, honors announced on the red
carpet before the official SAG Awards ceremony.
JoBeth Williams and Scott Bakula announced the winners, noting the value of
stunt players, who often are overlooked for their contributions to film and
television.
"The stunt men and women of our union are critical to the work that gets
done," Bakula said. "They keep us healthy, they keep us alive, they keep us
working. They keep our shows working."
The SAG honors are the latest show in a puzzling Academy Awards season in
which Hollywood's top prize, the Best Picture Oscar, looks up for grabs among
several key nominees.
Honors from the actors union, next weekend's Directors Guild of America
Awards and last Saturday night's Producers Guild of America Awards — whose top
honor went to "Argo" — typically help to establish clear favorites for the
Oscars.
But Oscar night looks more uncertain this time after some top directing
prospects, including Affleck for "Argo" and Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty," missed out
on nominations. Both films were nominated for Best Picture, but a movie rarely
wins the top Oscar if its director is not also in the running.
Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" would seem the Oscar favorite with 12
nominations. Yet all of the triumphs for "Argo" leave the Oscar race looking
like anybody's guess.
The SAG honors should at least help to establish solid front-runners
for the stars. All four of the guild's individual acting winners often go on to
receive the same prizes at the Academy Awards.
The SAG cast prize has a spotty record at predicting the eventual Best
Picture recipient at the Oscars: Only eight of 17 times since the guild added
the category has the cast winner gone on to take the Best Picture Oscar. "The
Help" won the guild's cast prize last year, while Oscar voters named "The
Artist" as Best Picture.
Such past guild cast winners as "The Birdcage," ''Gosford Park" and "Inglourious Basterds" also failed to take the top
Oscar.
Receiving the guild's life-achievement award was Dick Van Dyke, who presented the same prize last
year to his "The Dick
Van Dyke Show" co-star, Mary Tyler Moore.
After waiting onstage for a prolonged standing ovation to end, Van Dyke said,
"That does an old man a lot of good."
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