The almighty cast of Black Panther scored the top honour – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture – at tonight’s 25th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.
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The film beat out A Star Is Born, Crazy Rich Asians, BlacKkKlansman, and Bohemian Rhapsody to become the first-ever Marvel movie to win the award.
BLACK PANTHER DOES IT! They take home the Actor®#sagawards pic.twitter.com/zZncxS8M6d
— SAG Awards® (@SAGawards) January 28, 2019
The ensemble, which included Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, and Danai Guirara, all took to the stage to receive their awards.
Boseman, who stars as the titular character, spoke on behalf of the cast thanking SAG, their director Ryan Coogler, and Marvel. He then took a moment to acknowledge the significance of their win – a victory for representation in the Hollywood industry.
“This cast, this ensemble – when I think of going to work every day and the passion, the intelligence, the resolve, the discipline that everybody shows, I also think of two questions that we all have received during the course of multiple publicity rounds. And one is, did we know that this movie was going to receive this response, was it going to make a billion dollars, was it going to still be around during this awards season? And the second question is, has it changed the industry? Has it actually changed the way this industry works? How it sees us.
“And my answer to that is to be young, gifted, and black. All of us up here know and Andy [Serkis] we include you too – to be young, gifted, and black, we all know what it’s like to be told that there is not a place for you to be featured. Yet, you are young, gifted, and black. We know what it’s like to be told there’s not to be a screen for you to be featured on, a stage for you to be featured on. We know what it’s like to be the tail not the head. We know what it’s like to be beneath not above. And that is what we went to work with every day because we knew – not that we would be around during awards season and that it would make a million dollars – but we knew that we had something special that we wanted to give the world, that we could be full human beings in the roles that we were playing. That we could create a world that exemplified a world that we wanted to see. We knew that we had something that we wanted to give and to come to work every day and to solve problems with this group of people every day, with this directer, that’s something I wish all actors would get the opportunity to experience. If you get to experience that, you will be a fulfilled artist.”
And, despite the band signalling that his time on stage was coming to a close, Boseman went on.
“The question of if we’d be around during awards season, I just have to say, it’s a pleasure to be celebrated by you, to be loved by you, and one thing I do know – will it change the industry? I know that you can’t have a Black Panther now without a ‘two’ on it.”
WAKANDA FOREVER.
.@theblackpanther takes home the Actor® for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture! #sagawards 🎭
Great and moving speech from @chadwickboseman 💪 pic.twitter.com/Nw2UGbs712
— TNT Drama (@tntdrama) January 28, 2019
Black Panther also took home the gong for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.
Earlier in the night, Rami Malek‘s performance in Bohemian Rhapsody earned him the SAG award for best male lead. Glenn Close won the best female actor equivalent for her role in The Wife. Emily Blunt picked up best female actor in a supporting role for A Quiet Place, and Sandra Oh was honoured with best female actor in a drama series for Killing Eve.
The series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel also had a fabulous night at the awards ceremony, picking up three gongs.
For the full list of winners, click HERE.
