With some of the biggest movies of the year vying for the top prize at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, GoldDerby predicts the Best Ensemble winner.
While the Screen Actors Guild Awards do not hand out a "Best Picture" trophy, the top prize of the night highlights the best movie casts of the year with the Best Ensemble award. Among this year's nominees are some of the award season favorites as well as some surprises.
The reviews for each movie differ greatly and are not always good indicators of which nominee will walk away with the top prize. However, the awards-focused website GoldDerby has calculated the odds each of the Best Ensemble nominees has at winning the award at the big show.
Will Smith leads the ensemble of the sports drama King Richard. The true story follows Richard Williams (Smith) who is the father of two aspiring tennis players, Venus and Serena Williams, played by Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton, respectively. The movie follows Richard's extreme yet loving drive to see his daughters become the superstars of the future while also trying to protect them from the pressures of the world they are stepping into.
Smith also scored a Best Actor nomination for his role. The rest of the nominated cast includes Aunjanue Ellis as the girl's equally supportive mother, Oracene Williams, and Jon Bernthal as their coach, Rick Macci. With Smith getting most of the attention for his performance, it could account for why GoldDerby ranks the movie as the least likely to win. The fact that he is also the only big name in the cast might be another factor.
Another real-life story to emerge during the awards season is Ridley Scott's operatic saga House of Gucci. The movie stars Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani who falls for aspiring lawyer Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) and encourages him to pursue the family fashion business. Throughout the years, various conflicts and personal battles within the family see relationships crumble until it eventually turns deadly.
Lady Gaga received a nomination as Best Actress along with Jared Leto's Best Supporting Actor nomination for his scene-stealing role as the family's most embarrassing member, Paolo. Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons also appear as the Gucci family's two opposing patriarchs, Aldo and Rodolfo. Despite the individual acting nominations and the impressive cast, House of Gucci was not received very warmly by critics and audiences which is unlikely to lead to a win for the ensemble.
Likely the most star-studded ensemble of the year is Adam McKay's outrageous satire Don't Look Up. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play two scientists who discover a world-ending comet is heading for Earth and set out to convince the world to respond to the crisis. However, from the ignorant President of the United States (Meryl Streep) and her obnoxious son (Jonah Hill) to a pair of overly positive morning show hosts (Cate Blanchette and Tyler Perry), they find that a harder task to accomplish than they thought.
Other big names in the cast include Mark Rylance as a socially awkward tech mogul and Ariana Grande as a pop singer. The movie was another polarizing one from 2021 with critics quite split on the overall product. But despite no individual acting nominations, GoldDerby seems to think Don't Look Up still has a reasonable chance to win the ensemble award, perhaps based largely on the star-studded cast.
After being a huge hit at the Sundance Film Festival, the indie movie CODA continues to surprise a lot of people by remaining a big contender in this year's award season. The movie follows a working-class family in the fishing industry all of whom are deaf except the teenage daughter. As she deals with helping keep the family business afloat and being something of an outcast at school, she also begins to realize her dream of being a singer. As her passion for singing grows, she must face what pursuing her dream would mean for her family.
One of the movie's supporting actors, Tony Kotsur, was also nominated for his individual performance, making him the first deaf male actor to receive the nomination. While there are no big names attached to the project, it seems like CODA is being given strong odds to become the underdog winner at the SAG Awards which is easy to see given the charm the ensemble brings to the touching family drama.
While Kenneth Branagh's Death on the Nile is currently in theaters, he is being recognized this awards season for a much smaller and intimate story based on his own childhood. Belfast stars newcomer Jody Hill as Buddy, a young boy living in Northern Ireland with his working-class parents (Jamie Dornan and Caitriona Balfe) while also spending time with his loving grandparents (Judi Dench and Ciaran Hinds). Through his eyes, the movie explores the violent Troubles of the 1960s and the way it shapes Buddy and his family.
Balfe scored her own Best Supporting Actress nomination for playing Buddy's caring yet stern mother. the rest of the cast helps bring this story to life which is clearly very personal to writer-director Kenneth Branagh. With the small yet likable cast with a mix of veteran actors, modern stars, and new talents, Belfast is GoldDerby's top pick to win big at the SAG Awards.
