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PGA and SAG Bow to Peer Pressure, Name Slumdog Millionaire Best Picture

A still from Push.

In news that will change absolutely nothing about the Academy Awards race, Slumdog Millionaire took top honors over the weekend at both Saturday’s Producers Guild Awards and last night’s Screen Actors Guild Awards, winning Best Picture and Outstanding Performance by a Cast respectively. Many predicted a starrier ensemble like Milk’s or Doubt’s would win SAG’s big prize, so if anyone was still betting against Slumdog’s imminent Oscar victory, this should probably serve as a wake-up call.

Other completely predictable SAG winners included Heath Ledger (whose award was accepted by Gary Oldman this time) and Kate Winslet (for The Reader) in the supporting categories. Meanwhile, Sean Penn stole back momentum from Mickey Rourke with a victory for Best Actor, and Meryl Streep won for Best Actress, presumably because she was only really competing against Winslet’s Oscar-snubbed Revolutionary Road performance. The cast of Mad Men earned statues for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series, and Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin won for Outstanding Actor and Actress in a TV comedy, even though they both ran out of people to thank several months ago.

Thankfully, though, Slumdog-related acceptance speeches have managed to stay entertaining. Winning the award for Outstanding Cast, Anil Kapoor (who played the movie’s overbearing game-show host) hilariously shoved his higher-billed castmates Dev Patel and Freida Pinto out of the way to make a long speech during which he neglected to thank either of his movie’s two writers, indicating that he may still be in character.

PGA and SAG Bow to Peer Pressure, Name Slumdog Millionaire Best Picture