SAG Awards 2025 shake up Oscar race and Wicked is totally shut out

Award season may be very long, but Sunday night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards were mercifully short.Two quick hours, in and out.Other interminable Hollywood events, please take note.The ceremony honoring performers at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles is the last major step on the road to the Oscars, and a pitstop on the cul-de-sac to the Emmys.The SAGs, an embarrassingly glitchy broadcast on Netflix, are a useful bellwether for the Academy Awards.

A significant number of Oscar voters are actors.So, a couple March 2 contests were pretty much sewn up Sunday night.Kieran Culkin, who won best supporting actor for his tender and funny turn in “A Real Pain,” can start practicing his Oscar speech.

But he’s not the preparation type, as evidenced by his wacky improv set on Sunday.You can bet that Culkin will definitely get to do his stand-up routine again at the Dolby Theater next week.And, despite the controversy surrounding “Emilia Perez” lead Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldana took home another best supporting actress trophy for her emotional performance in the weird Spanish-language musical.That’s all wrapped up.But SAG said, “Thank you, next” to Ariana Grande, who has yet to win so much as a sticker for playing Glinda in “Wicked.” Her second chance will come next year for the second part of the “Wizard of Oz” riff.“Wicked” got an awakening as rude as having a house dropped on you — it went home totally empty-handed.

Not so popular, it turns out.But several races were turbo-charged.“Conclave,” the drama about a scandalous election of a new pope (talk about unfortunate timing) unexpectedly won best ensemble, SAG’s best picture equivalent.That’s fresh off a victory at the BAFTAs in London.The Comeback Catholic beat “Anora,” the New York-set stripper Cinderella story that had momentum after taking the Producers Guild, Directors Guild, Writers Guild and Critics Choice Awards.I think the five-boroughs comedy still com...