Mary Tyler Moore to receive SAG Life Achievement Award

Mary Tyler Moore has turned the world on with her smile and talent for the last half-century, first as Laura Petrie in the 1961-66 CBS classic sitcom "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and then as Mary Richards, a single woman working as a producer in a Minneapolis TV station, in the award-winning 1970-77 CBS comedy "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Along the way, she earned seven Emmy Awards, an Academy Award nomination for her dramatic turn in the 1980 best picture Oscar winner "Ordinary People" and a Tony for her role on Broadway in "Whose Life Is It, Anyway?"

Moore, 74, added another accolade Thursday when the Screen Actors Guild announced that she would be the recipient of its 2011 Life Achievement Award. The honor will be handed out the during 18th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Jan. 29 airing on TBS and TNT.

Besides being an actress in countless feature films such as "Flirting With Disaster" and "Six Weeks," TV movies such "Heartsounds and "Stolen Babies," she is also a noted producer. In 1970, she and her then-husband Grant Tinker formed the production company MTM, which not only produced her own series but also such classics as "The Bob Newhart Show," "Rhoda," "Hill Street Blues" and "St. Elsewhere."

A diabetic, she has been the international chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation since 1984. In May, Moore went through a successful surgery to have a benign brain tumor removed.

Previous recipients of the Life Achievement Award include Charles Durning, Ernest Borgnine and Betty White.

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-- Susan King

Photo: Mary Tyler Moore in 2001. Credit: Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times

BAFTA Los Angeles to honor Helena Bonham Carter

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles will honor actress Helena Bonham Carter with the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year at the 2011 BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Awards on Nov. 30 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The BAFTA L.A. accolade tops off an award-winning year for the British actress, currently in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2." Earlier this year she was nominated for a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award and an Oscar for supporting actress in the Academy Award winner for best film, "The King's Speech."

The actress joins the previously announced John Lasseter, who will receive the Britannia Award for Worldwide Contributions to Filmed Entertainment and "Harry Potter" director David Yates, the winner of the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing.

-- Susan King

Photo: Helena Bonham Carter. Credit: Ian Gavan / Getty Images 

Poll: Get real -- Can Lindsay Lohan ever win an Oscar?

When she appeared on the "Tonight Show" this week, Lindsay Lohan, age 24, was asked by Jay Leno where she sees herself at age 30.

"Hopefully, sitting here after I've won an Oscar," she replied. "That would be ideal."

Before Lohan became enmeshed in ridiculous tabloid scandals, she actually displayed real promise as an actress. She won Teen Choice and MTV Movie Awards for "Mean Girls" and a Kids' Choice Award for "Herbie Fully Loaded." She was among those nominated at the SAG Awards for best ensemble for "Bobby," which was nominated for best drama picture at the Golden Globes. There was even serious scuttlebutt that she might nab an Oscar nom for "Bobby."

However, LiLo eventually ended up getting such lousy film offers that she won three Razzies for "I Know Who Killed Me," a horror film so horrible that it set a new record for most Razzies in a year (eight).

Next up: She's been cast as the wife of John Gotti Jr. in "Gotti: Three Generations," but it's unclear if she'll be prohibited from appearing in the film due to jail time and her sentence to community service.

-- Tom O'Neil

Photo: Lindsay Lohan and Elijah Wood in "Bobby." Credit: Weinstein Co.

Oscars mystery: Why isn't Natalie Portman considered a shoo-in to win?

"Why isn't Natalie Portman considered a lock?" asks our forums moderator David "Guru" Schnelwar about her Oscar chances to win lead actress. He dug up research about past award patterns that suggests the odds are overwhelmingly in her favor.

Portman ("Black Swan") and Colin Firth ("The King's Speech") have won all of these awards this derby season: Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Critics' Choice and BAFTA. With only one exception, all actors who have pulled off that feat in the past went on to bag the Oscar next. However, some notable gurus, such as our Buzzmeter pundits Anne Thompson and Peter Travers, are nonetheless betting on Annette Bening ("The Kids Are All Right") to prevail.

The only star who didn't win the Oscar after sweeping those precursor prizes: Russell Crowe ("A Beautiful Mind"). He probably would've won the Academy Award too, but he lost the sympathy of voters when he lost his temper and attacked a BAFTA producer, thus throwing the lead actor race to Denzel Washington ("Training Day").

Portman has behaved most graciously throughout this awards season, of course, but there are several good reasons why she could be tripped up by Bening, who is: 1) a three-time past loser overdue to win; 2) a member of the academy's Board of Governors; 3) a heterosexual star who plays gay, which earned Oscar gold for Sean Penn ("Milk") and Tom Hanks ("Philadelphia").

Below: The actors who swept their awards season by winning the Oscar, Golden Globe, Critics' Choice, SAG and BAFTA Awards.

BEST ACTOR
1996 - Geoffrey Rush, "Shine"
2004 - Jamie Foxx, "Ray"
2005 - Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote"
2006 - Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"
2007 - Daniel Day Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
2007 - Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
2008 - Heath Ledger, "The Dark Knight"
2009 - Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"

BEST ACTRESS
2000 - Julia Roberts, "Erin Brockovich"
2005 - Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line"
2006 - Helen Mirren, "The Queen"
2008 - Kate Winslet, "The Reader"

How did 'The King's Speech' suddenly become heir to the Oscar throne?

Only two weeks ago it looked like "The King's Speech" had no hope of reigning at the Oscars. It hadn't won a single major award for best picture, and "The Social Network" hadn't lost one.

Now virtually all Oscarologists believe "The King's Speech" can't lose the Oscar crown. The reason: We've seen hints of what actual academy voters think.

"The King's Speech's" recent romp through the guild awards is extremely revealing. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences also belong to the producers', directors' and actors' guilds, where the film just won the top awards. There are only 1,200 actors in the academy compared to 120,000 who belong to the Screen Actors Guild, but that's a fairly large representational sample, statistically speaking. It's fair to say that SAG results reflect what the academy's actors think. Same can be said about parallels between the producers' and directors' guilds and those branches within the academy. Since all of them are embracing "The King's Speech" enthusiastically, it's logical to believe that other branches will probably agree.

After all, they're all film industry insiders, who are — we are learning now — very different in character makeup than film journalists.

Nearly all of the awards won by "The Social Network" this season were bestowed by journalists. Most were film critics; others were members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. (Golden Globes).  That they all without exception picked the same film is probably because it looks like a superb journalistic snapshot of our time and place in history.

Quiz: Which Oscar winner wasn't even nominated at the SAG Awards?

Only once during the 16 years of the existence of the Screen Actors Guild Awards did that group fail to nominate a star who went on to win the Oscar. Who was it? To see the answer, click the "Continue Reading" link under the photos below.

 

 

Will the SAG Award winners repeat at the Oscars?

The odds are excellent that the four stars who just won Screen Actors Guild Awards in the lead and supporting categories will repeat at the Oscars next. The four champs lined up exactly last year and have agreed 67% of the time in the past.

Comparing the prizes is tricky because contenders can be out of sync. For example, Kate Winslet won lead actress at the Oscars for "The Reader" two years ago after winning in the supporting slot at SAG. The opposite happened to Benicio del Toro in 2000, prevailing in supporting at the Oscars and lead at SAG for "Traffic."

Comparing the awards exactly, category per category, here's how they stack up: 43 SAG champs repeated at the Oscars in the same 64 races.

The award for best ensemble performanace has been bestowed 15 times. It's agreed with best picture at the Oscars on seven occasions.

— Tom O'Neil

Photo: Kate Winslet at the 2008 SAG Awards. Credit: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press.

 

SAG Awards: John Hawkes isn't 'comfortable' talking about himself [Video]

John Hawkes just got back from the Sundance Film Festival -- an event where a year ago, a small independent film called "Winter's Bone" was just starting to get some buzz. On Sunday, Hawkes was walking the red carpet to talk about his best supporting actor nod for his part in that film, and he said he felt much more at home in snowy Park City, Utah.

"It's an unusual part of the work," said the actor. "I think I'm a lot more comfortable playing parts than talking about myself or parts. But you know something, it's such a gratifying thing to be thought of and certainly, if it draws more people to this movie, 'Winter's Bone,' then I couldn't be happier."

That's the main reason he's looking forward to the Oscars, too.

"Yeah, it's pretty wild," he said of "Winter's Bone" being included in the best picture category at the Academy Awards. "Again, I just hope that more people see the film. I'm very proud to be part of it."

--Amy Kaufman

twitter.com/AmyKinLA

Can 'The Social Network' still pull out a win?

 
Things aren't looking too hot for "The Social Network." Considering the SAG ensemble award for "The King's Speech," Saturday night's director's prize for Tom Hooper, and the Producers Guild top prize last weekend, the momentum has changed in a big way toward the British drama about the stuttering king. The DGA award is particularly significant given that only six times in the award's 60-plus-year history has it differed with how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted for best director.

The SAG Award, in particular, has likely derailed "Social Network's" cause since the largest branch in the academy is the actors, and if they went the way of "The King's Speech" for SAG, it's likely they'll go that way for Oscars too. (The ensemble award has matched the best picture Oscar seven times in the last 15 years.)

However, as the website In Contention points out, it is worth noting the last time the DGA and the academy differed. Back in 2002, the DGA chose then-42-year-old Rob Marshall for "Chicago." Marshall, a newbie to the feature world with only TV credits to his name at the time, did not maintain his momentum into the Oscars. While his film won best picture, the academy went a different route for director by choosing Roman Polanski for his work on "The Pianist."

Hooper, 38, is also a newcomer to the feature film world, with only television credits to his name. His work in "The King's Speech" is certainly award-worthy, but it will be interesting to see if there is a chance the academy chooses the veteran helmer, in this case David Fincher, the director behind "The Social Network" who has been nominated once before for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and has made eight films in his career.

Unfortunately, momentum is not on his side, and it doesn't help that the film about the founding of Facebook isn't winning any acting prizes either. (Jesse Eisenberg is the only actor from the film nominated for an Oscar in contrast to "The King's Speech," which has three acting noms.) "Social Network's" screenwriter Aaron Sorkin still has the best shot for the win in the adapted category, but the rest of his collaborators have shifted to underdog status quickly.

 

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Photo: Actors Armie Hammer, left, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Jesse Eisenberg introduce a clip from "The Social Network" at the 17th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday. Credit: Reuters.

— Nicole Sperling

SAG Awards: 'SNL' host Jesse Eisenberg is feeling slightly overwhelmed [Video]

It was only this morning that Jesse Eisenberg was in New York City, still on a high from hosting “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend — where he finally came face to face with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whom he plays in “The Social Network.”

At the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angleles on Sunday afternoon, Eisenberg said he’d met Zuckerberg for the first time a day prior, during “SNL” rehearsals.

“I always imagined that it would be a very overwhelming experience,” he said of the interaction with the terse tech-whiz. “I didn’t ever suspect that it would be in the context of something even more overwhelming — live television. And so in a way it was probably the perfect place to do that.”

Also overwhelming? The pace of Eisenberg’s schedule over the past few weeks, while he’s hopped from one award show to the next on the way to the Oscars, where he’s received a best actor nod.

“It’s like, if I just had to go to the Screen Actors Guild Awards this year, that would be so overwhelming, and I’d spend, like, the rest of the year thinking about it and writing in my diary,” he said, speaking at warp speed. “But, like, I also hosted ‘SNL’ last [night] and went to Japan a few weeks ago to do publicity for the movie. So, anyway, this is to say everything is happening at once and I wish God — or my publicist, rather — would have spread out all of these events.”

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SAG Awards: Complete coverage

Colin Firth and 'King's Speech' gain SAG recognition

Red carpet photos

— Amy Kaufman

Twitter.com/AmyKinLA