Well we have made it to the end of the awards season celebrating the films of 2024. The Screen Actors Guild Awards is usually a great barometer of what to expect at the Oscars, and tonight told me two things I feel are for certain when we embark on Hollywood’s biggest night in one week. Here are my takeaways on the 2025 SAG Awards and my random thoughts that were in real time of the show.

What We Learned

Two things feel for sure for the 2025 Academy Awards, based on how awards season has gone. 1. Kieran Culkin is going to win Best Supporting Actor after winning the SAG award and the Indie Spirit award this week. 2. Hollywood is completely distancing itself from Karla Sofía Gascón and Demi Moore is going to win Best Actress.

With the clarity of those two awards comes the murkiness of the other major awards. I think Best Picture is a real crapshoot and the other categories feel ripe for surprises. All in all, the SAG Awards are a great night of TV, even if they don’t always act as a harbinger of things to come.

Random Thoughts During the 2025 SAG Awards

This is a movie blog so it is focused on the movie categories. But let me get my New Girl on tonight too.
Loved the Hacks intro.
Big Bowen Yang but him being in the open is as questionable as him being in Wicked (I support both)

Zoey Deschanel sitting without energy next to her property brother broke my heart…she’s never recovered from being the forgotten person from New Girl.
”Do You Want to Be An Actor” song was a great monologue bit since Kristen Bell does not deliver jokes well in this setting. It was well written yet performed forgettably by Bell. But it is all worth it with Jeremy Allen White crying at it!
MALE IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - Kieran Culken, A Real Pain

Feels inevitable that he wins the Oscar. And he deserves all of the awards.
Love that he never prepares anything and he just goes into “Roman Roy winning an award” mode up there, but then ends it with heart.
So glassy eyed, but still got to give love to Jesse Eisenberg

I did not know Millie Bobby Brown was British…
The Good Place + Challengers crossover bit was very funny. I miss the feeling of watching The Good Place for the first time.
Kumail is even more jacked than he was in Eternals.
Have to love the theatre-kid like behavior of when one person does something on stage that gets a laugh, everyone copies it. Kieran jokes about the weight of the trophy, and everyone else does. The Anora cast makes adorable mistakes reading the prompter, and then Kumail makes the same joke. Anyone who has done high school theatre knows what I am talking about.
Of course these TV actors aren’t here for the award shows. First Jean Smart and then Martin Short. Movie nominees never miss an award.
Oh weird, the Emilia Perez presentation did not include Karla Sofia Gascon
This is a blog about movies but damn, the female actor in a TV movie or limited series was full of heavy hitters. I need to watch Baby Reindeer and Jessica Grinning winning against some hall-of-famers is impressive
A Forgetting Sarah Marshall callback is music to my ears. The most underrated RomCom of all time.
Jane Fonda winning the lifetime achievement award this year seems very intentional, but I will keep this free of politics.
I need a documentary just about Jeff Goldblum listening to Jeremy Strong talk.
The Law & Order guest actor segment was amazing. Seeing them one after another was really cool. An “ADHD person on IMDB’s” dream.
FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - Zoe Zaldana, Emilia Pérez

With all of the drama around this film, its lead, and what people feel is a bloated award season, no one has said Zaldana was not deserving of her big award season.
Her speech was great. I appreciate this being an award show where people talk about the logistics of their profession and how important their union is.

SCHMIDT AT THE SAGs. It feels like Zoey hates New Girl and having to act like Jess. Her face after presenting the nominees like Jess made me sad.
Conclave is Gossip Girl with Popes. They nailed it. Also Pope Francis getting a shout out is very meta. Also John Lithgow took reading the presentation of Conclave as serious as he has taken any role. Bless him.
In Memoriam was very good. Cheers to the Oscars not making it a disaster like they always seem to do..
MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE - Timothy Chalamet, A Complete Unknown

Felt like this was his year for the big awards, especially with the AI scandal around Adrian Brody.
His castmates clearly love him which is awesome to see.
Him talking about being one of the greats is spoken like a guy who should be courtside of the Knicks every game as they also make their big run.

FEMALE ACTOR LEADING ROLE - Demi Moore, The Substance

Oooffff the silence when Karla was announced as a nominee.
Then the shift to the standing ovation for Demi Moore, who absolutely deserved the award.
Layered dresses are so in.
Feels like she is saving the big speech for the Oscars. Her winning here means she has a real shot, and it would be monumental for her to win for a true horror movie. It would rock and she is the favorite.

CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE - Conclave

Probably a surprise but well deserved. The capital A Acting was in full force in Conclave and the four of them standing together is pretty impressive.
A great way to highlight Isabella Rossalini, since her winning the Oscar is very unlikely.
Ralph Fiennes is so dorky and yet a huge force. He to date is one of the greats to never win an Oscar, and I do not think his third time's a charm for him with Chalamet and Brodie in his way.