"Best Ensemble" is the Screen Actors Guild equivalent of "Best Picture" and that award went to "Slumdog Millionaire" tonight. Watching some of the SAG Awards, "Slumdog's" achievements seem more remarkable because there's not a single "name" attached to it. It's a great ensemble filled with fantastic performances but it has no stars, no name above the marquee. The most recognized it can be is to let people know it's from the director of "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later" even though it's nothing like those two films. I just think it's very cool that it's the front-runner and I hope that it takes home Best Picture on February 22nd.
The SAG awards also showed us that in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories, there's just no telling who's going to win. I would say that right now, Sean Penn, who won tonight for "Milk", has a small advantage over Mickey Rourke and that Kate Winslet, who won in the Best Supporting Actress category for "The Reader", has an even smaller advantage over Meryl Streep or any of the other Best Actress nominees.
But the guy you can count on to win is Ledger. SAG awarded him "Best Supporting Actor" and there's just no one that can touch him or really, who would want to. Who wants to be seen as taking an award away from a dead guy? That's not very nice.
And as they have at all the 2008 Awards Ceremonies, "Mad Men", "30 Rock", and "John Adams" took home most of the television honors.
Check out the full list of winners below:
BEST ENSEMBLE
"Doubt"
"Frost/Nixon"
"Milk"
"Slumdog Millionaire"
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
BEST ACTOR (MOTION PICTURE)
Richard Jenkins - "The Visitor"
Frank Langella - "Frost/Nixon"
Sean Penn - "Milk"
Brad Pitt - "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Mickey Rourke - "The Wrestler"
BEST ACTRESS (MOTION PICTURE)
Anne Hathaway - "Rachel Getting Married"
Angelina Jolie - "Changeling"
Melissa Leo - "Frozen River"
Meryl Streep - "Doubt"
Kate Winslet - "Revolutionary Road"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (MOTION PICTURE)
Josh Brolin - "Milk"
Robert Downey, Jr. - "Tropic Thunder"
Philip Seymour Hoffman - "Doubt"
Heath Ledger - "The Dark Knight"
Dev Patel - "Slumdog Millionaire"
BEST SUPPORING ACTRESS (MOTION PICTURE)
Amy Adams - "Doubt"
Penelope Cruz - "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
Viola Davis - "Doubt"
Taraji P. Henson - "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
Kate Winslet - "The Reader"
BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE
"The Dark Knight"
"Hellboy II: The Golden Army"
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
"Iron Man"
"Wanted"
PRIMETIME TELEVISION
BEST ACTOR (Television Movie or Mini-Series)
Ralph Fiennes - "Bernard and Doris"
Paul Giamatti - "John Adams"
Kevin Spacey - "Recount"
Kiefer Sutherland - "24: Redemption"
Tom Wilkinson - "John Adams"
BEST ACTRESS (Television Movie or Mini-Series)
Laura Dern - "Recount"
Laura Linney - "John Adams"
Shirley Maclaine - "Coco Chanel"
Phylicia Rashad - "A Raisin in the Sun"
Susan Sarandon - "Bernard And Doris"
BEST ACTOR (Drama Series)
Michael C. Hall - "Dexter"
Jon Hamm - "Mad Men"
Hugh Laurie - "House"
William Shatner - "Boston Legal"
James Spader - "Boston Legal"
BEST ACTRESS (Drama Series)
Sally Field - "Brothers & Sisters"
Mariska Hargitay - "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit"
Holly Hunter - "Saving Grace"
Elisabeth Moss - "Mad Men"
Kyra Sedgwick - "The Closer"

BEST ACTOR (Comedy Series)
Alec Baldwin - "30 Rock"
Steve Carell - "The Office"
David Duchovny - "Californication"
Jeremy Piven - "Entourage"
Tony Shalhoub - "Monk"
BEST ACTRESS (Comedy Series)
Christina Applegate - "Samantha Who?"
America Ferrera - "Ugly Betty"
Tina Fey - "30 Rock"
Mary-Louise Parker - "Weeds"
Tracey Ullman - "Tracey Ullman’s State of the Union"
BEST ENSEMBLE (Drama Series)
"Boston Legal"
"Dexter"
"House"
"Mad Men"
"The Closer"
BEST ENSEMBLE (Comedy Series)
"30 Rock"
"Desperate Housewives"
"Entourage"
"The Office"
"Weeds"
BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE
"Friday Night Lights"
"Heroes"
"Prison Break"
"The Unit"
"The Closer"
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
James Earl Jones