Over the weekend, two more awards ceremonies were held in honor of the best films released during the past year. The first of these was the 31st Producers Guild of America Awards, which honored the producers of the best films in 2019. The ceremony was held on Saturday at the Hollywood Palladium. Notably, Sam Mendes received the top honor for his World War I epic, 1917, a movie that has become a frontrunner this awards season.
Then the following day, it was the Screen Actors Guild’s turn to honor the best actors and acting ensembles during its 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards. The winners include the usual suspects, namely Joaquin Phoenix, Renée Zellweger, Brad Pitt and Laura Dern for their roles in Joker, Judy, Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood and Marriage Story respectively. But the biggest news out of the event was Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite winning the award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the ceremony’s equivalent of a Best Picture award, becoming the first foreign language film to do so.
Both guilds are noted for having a major influence on the outcome of the Academy Awards, since their members are also part of that ceremony’s voting committee. In particular, the PGA Awards’ Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures has served as a very accurate measure of what is expected to win Best Picture at the Oscars, with both ceremonies having only diverged 9 times in the last 30 years. But with the SAG Awards giving its top honor to Parasite, it raises the possibility of the Academy voters swaying towards that direction as well.
The Oscars are just a little over two weeks away, so there isn’t much waiting to do till we find out how the voting goes. What movie do you think would take home Best Picture? Are you leaning towards Parasite or 1917, or one of the other seven Best Picture nominees? Let us know in the comments section below.