Oppenheimer Continues Its Roll

Oppenheimer continued to steamroll through Hollywood's awards season on Saturday, winning the top prize, for outstanding cast, along with awards for Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., at the 30th Screen Actors Guild Awards. As the Academy Awards draw closer, Christopher Nolan's blockbuster biopic—already a winner at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs—has increasingly looked like the runaway favorite. The SAG Awards, one of the most telling Oscar predictors, will only add to the momentum for Oppenheimer, the lead Academy Awards nominee with 13 nods. A look at the evening, per the AP:

• Netflix and chill: The SAG Awards were streamed live on Netflix, a first for a major Hollywood award show. That made for some significant tweaks: There were no ads. Profanity was permitted. ("Don't say anything you wouldn't say in front of Oprah," said Idris Elba.)

• Tightest contest: The night's most thrilling win went to Lily Gladstone for female actor in a leading role in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. No category has been more hotly contested, with analysts evenly split between Gladstone and Emma Stone for Poor Things. But Gladstone won and the crowd erupted. Stone, too, stood and vigorously applauded. Gladstone's win would be a first for Native Americans.
• Second-tightest contest: Murphy and Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) have also been seen as in a neck-and-neck contest. But Murphy has now won at the SAGs, the BAFTAs, and Globes, suggesting he has the clear edge heading into the Academy Awards.
• Supporting roles: Downey Jr. and Da'Vine Joy Randolph each won for their supporting performances, likewise solidifying their status as Oscar favorites. "Unlike my fellow nominees, I will never grow tired from the sound of my own voice," said Downey Jr. Randolph's performance in Alexander Payne's The Holdovers has been a breakthrough for the 37-year-old. Now, she appears poised to win the Oscar. "To every actor out there still waiting in the wings for their chance, let me tell you: Your life can change in a day," Randolph said. "It's not a question of if but when. Keep going."

• TV: The TV awards went largely to the same shows that cleaned up at the Emmys and Golden Globes: The Bear (best comedy series ensemble, Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri ); Beef (Ali Wong, Steven Yeun); and the cast of Succession. One exception was Pedro Pascal, who won best male actor in a drama series for The Last of Us over a trio of Succession stars. "This is wrong for a number of reasons," said a visibly stunned Pascal. "I'm a little bit drunk. I thought I could get drunk."
• On a serious note: This year's SAG Awards follows a grueling months-long strike in which the SAG-AFTRA union fought a bitter battle over a number of issues. "Your solidarity ignited workers around the world, triggering what forever will be remember as 'the hot labor summer,'" said Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA. "This was a seminal moment in our union's history."

(More Oppenheimer stories.)