16th Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards (2010) Winners Sure Look Familiar

As indicators for who might just be the frontrunners for Oscars at this year's Academy Awards ceremony, the Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards winners seem to be the two best. And if that holds true in 2010, then there might be only two reasons to watch the Oscars -- to see which movie ultimately wins best picture (because occasionally it is a surprise (ask Steven Spielberg about "Saving Private Ryan") and to see what everybody wore. There were three major differences between the 16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards and the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards -- held just one week apart -- this year. It didn't rain at the SAG Awards, Tina Fey won the Best Actress award (in a television comedy) instead of Toni Collette, and the Lifetime Achievement Award went to Betty White instead of Martin Scorsese.

The 16th Annual SAG Awards (2010) honored the motion picture industry's acting standouts for the year of 2009 Saturday evening in Hollywood. Unlike the Golden Globe Awards, which are chosen by film critics, the SAG Awards are chosen and voted on by actors themselves. Combining the two awards ceremonies presents one with the likely major players for the Academy Awards. If the two are in general agreement, it usually makes for a pretty boring awards season in Hollywood because it usually implies that there will be little deviation in the winners when the Oscars are handed out.

And it looks like it is moving in that direction. The SAG Awards winners mirrored the Golden Globe Awards.

At least they didn't honor the same person for Lifetime Achievement. Martin Scorsese was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globe ceremony. Betty White, best known for her role as Rose on "The Golden Girls," was honored with the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award, an award that has been presented since 1962 (with only two presentations skipped: 1964, 1981).

Sandra Bullock, who won the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture award for her role in "The Blind Side," presented Betty White the award. She ribbed the 88-year-old, "She starred in four different television shows called 'The Betty White Show.' Four. Most people would have stopped naming a show after themselves after the third one." Not to be outdone, when she got to the podium, the ever-sharp White thanked her friend, then said cattily, "Isn't it heartening to see how far a girl as plain as she is can go?"

George Clooney even got in on the Betty White gag. Although he lost out the Best Performance by an Actor award to Jeff Bridges, during his presentation of Best Performance for a Cast in a Motion Picture, he said: "I think it was 1987, I did an episode of "The Golden Girls," and I would like to thank Betty White for her discretion."

The award Clooney presented went to the cast of Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." "Avatar," which won Best Picture at the Golden Globe Awards, was not nominated for a SAG Award, possibly due to the fact that much of the movie is computer-driven and digitally enhanced and not acted.

As for the difference in the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series at the SAG Awards (won by Tina Fey from "30 Rock") and the Best Performance By An Actress In A Television Series -- Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globe Awards (won by Toni Collette from "The United States of Tara")? As an indicator for the Oscars, they do not matter. Academy Awards aren't presented for small screen.

Still, with the winners at the 2010 SAG Awards mirroring the Golden Globes, don't be surprised in March if those same winners win again.

List of SAG Awards Winners for 2010:

Lifetime Achievement Award -- Betty White

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture -- "Inglourious Basterds"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role -- Jeff Bridges, for "Crazy Heart"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role -- Sandra Bullock, for "The Blind Side"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role -- Mo'Nique, for "Precious"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role -- Christoph Waltz, for "Inglourious Basterds

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series -- Julianna Margulies, for "The Good Wife"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series -- Michael C. Hall, for "Dexter"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries -- Drew Barrymore, for "Grey Gardens"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries -- Kevin Bacon, for "Taking Chance"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series -- Alec Baldwin, for "30 Rock"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series -- Tina Fey, for "30 Rock"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a comedy -- "Glee"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama -- "Mad Men"

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Sources:

"16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards," TNT Television
Popwatch.ew.com
GoldenGlobes.org