SAG Awards: Happy birthday, Christian Bale

 
Sunday was a double celebration for Christian Bale, who not only won the supporting actor SAG Award, but also marked his 37th birthday. The intense actor, who took the award for his riveting portrayal of drug-addicted former boxer Dicky Eklund in "The Fighter," said he had celebrated earlier with his family.

 So, "this is gravy," he said holding up his award. "Fantastic!"

The much-lauded Bale also stressed that he had no formal training. "I took no drama classes. So every time I take a role, I say, 'I have no bloody idea how to do this.' "

 And what was most interesting to him about his role in "The Fighter"?

 "That element of empathy and getting to walk in someone else's shoes, which from a psychological perspective I just find fascinating."

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Christian Bale onstage is surprised by the character he played in "The Fighter," Dicky Eklund, whom he played in the film and won for male actor in a supporting role. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times.

SAG Awards: A quiet moment with Colin Firth

 
In a brief quiet moment just after stepping off the stage holding his second award, Colin Firth took a  breath and pulled out his cellphone. In the dark corridor, the glow from the screen lighted up his smile from below. "My wife," he explained as he tapped out a text message. "She'll be asleep, she didn't make the trip. But she'll see it when she wakes up."

Firth thought for a moment when asked what the biggest challenge of the role had been. "To make sure it was respectful and real and true to what people go through. It needed to be because nothing would matter if it wasn't."

 

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Photo: Colin Firth poses with his two SAG Awards for "The King's Speech" at the 17th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Credit: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters.

SAG Awards: Natalie Portman endures some awkward moments backstage

Backstage after accepting her SAG Award for actress in a leading role for "Black Swan," Natalie Portman faced a throng of especially vocal photographers in the photo pool room.  She remained  composed, steely even. One by one they yelled out to her.

"Natalie! Mazel tov!" said one photographer.

 "Golden Globes! SAG! Way to go!" said another, referring to her Golden Globes win two weeks ago.

 "Natalie, go out with me!" yelled another, sticking out his tongue -- a bit odd, considering she recently announced her engagement to her "Black Swan" choreographer Benjamin Millepied and is pregnant.

"Hopefully the baby can't hear any of this!" she said to an assistant, apparently forgetting she had just used an expletive during her acceptance speech.

As she attempted to make her getaway, she was cornered by a TV crew from Extra, who seemingly were trying to engage in some product placement for T-Mobile phones. [For the record: An earlier version of this post said they were Apple iPhones.]

First they asked Portman if her fiancee was nearby. When she answered in the negative, the talking head waved a phone at her, and asked, "Do you want to call him? We have phones here!"

 Portman giggled uncomfortably, and then a woman from Extra whipped out a cellphone and proceeded to pull up old pictures of Portman as a kid.

"What's this one? I've never seen you look like this," the woman said.

"Yeah, I think that's from high school," said Portman politely, but obviously eager to get away.

 -- Deborah Vankin and Jessica Gelt

Photo: Natalie Portman accepts the female actress in a leading role award from presenter Jeff Bridges at the Screen Actors Guild awards. Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni

 

SAG Awards: Colin Firth hopes 'King's Speech' makes a difference to people

"The King's Speech" is about royal public life getting sabotaged by private matters — and when the cast of the film won the ensemble award as the climax of the Screen Actors Guild Awards, there was an appropriate bit of stutter and flutter amid the pageantry.

Colin Firth didn't know the trophy had been won — he was backstage after winning the previous award for lead actor in a film — and Helena Bonham Carter almost stayed in her seat. "I thought 'The Fighter' was going to win it," she said backstage as the applause still echoed in the Shrine Auditorium.

After receiving the trophy, the cast left the stage in the wrong direction and, once off, they had to pause for a few moments so Geoffrey Rush could make a stop. But really, where it mattered most, the cast of elite British actors sparkled — on screen and on the SAG stage.

Firth said he has also been having meaningful encounters on the streets these days as people "talk about themselves, their sons, their daughters, the person in their life who has a problem with speech," the actor said. "I never knew there were so many people in that place out there. You hope as an actor that something you do will make a difference, you know? A lot of it is fun or escapism or light, but I think deep in all of us we hope something we do will really matter to people in a deep way."

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— Geoff Boucher 

Photo: Colin Firth accepts the award for outstanding male actor in a leading role for "The King's Speech" at the 17th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Credit: Mario Anzuoni / Reuters.

SAG Awards: Ernest Borgnine keeps on going

At 94, Ernest Borgnine is still a ham. Together with his wife, Tova Borgnine, Tim Conway and Morgan Freeman, he made his way through the maze of post-lifetime-achievement-award press awaiting him just outside the backstage exit -- TV crews, roaming reporters, stray photographers. A few minutes later, in the photo pool room, which was electric with the constant flash of cameras, he swayed right and left, smiling, thumbs hooked into the waistline of his pants, then inside his jacket. Conway, Freeman and Tova filed out into the lobby but Borgnine stayed onstage, addressing the throng of photographers, reveling in his moment.

Tova Borgnine said the couple had a long evening of festivities planned: They'd head to the SAG after-gala; then they'd continue partying with close friends who'd flown into L.A. for Borgnine's award. Of her husband, she said:

"Life to him is always possible. In that way, he's a ham. But a good one."

Ernest Borgnine wasn't as sure as his wife about the plans to continue partying -- he said he just wanted to go home and relax. But one thing he will continue with, he hopes, is acting. He says he's nowhere near finished with that. "Of course, I plan to keep going!" he said. Then he nudged his wife: "We need the money, right?"

 

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— Deborah Vankin

Photo: Ernest Borgnine onstage at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Credit: Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times.

SAG Awards: Claire Danes forced to be a party pooper

There won’t be any partying for Claire Danes, who won a SAG statuette for her portrayal of autistic animal-husbandry hero Temple Grandin. She says she’s taking a red-eye after the awards tonight to shoot her new Showtime series, “Homeland.”

“We’ll see how good my work will be tomorrow,” she said.

Soon after that, she fielded questions in the press room and managed to be witty despite her fatigue. When asked about acting as a child, she said, “My first job was when I was 12 years old. I did a pilot with Dudley Moore that was more ‘dud’ than ‘Dudley,’ but he was great!”

 

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-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Claire Danes after picking up her award for female actor in a TV movie or miniseries. Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times.

SAG Awards: Claire Danes eyes Sofia Vergara's prime real estate

After winning a SAG award for her portrayal of Temple Grandin in the HBO movie of the same name, an extremely composed but tired-looking Claire Danes emerged from a photo tent and was asked to autograph the four Screen Actors Guild posters that all winners are requested to sign. The posters -- which feature a large image of the green award statue -- are then auctioned off for charity. Proceeds go to the SAG Foundation for actors in need.

While signing the poster with a Sharpie, Danes remarked, "Somebody got prime real estate."

"That was Sofia Vergara," replied a member of the awards staff, referring to the "Modern Family" actress.

Where did Vergara sign? On the oft-remarked upon bulging crotch of the statue.

"She did it on all four posters!" said another staff member.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Claire Danes at the 17th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

SAG Awards: Colin Firth crowned the winner for 'The King's Speech'

Colin Firth won the Screen Actors Guild award on Sunday for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading film role for "The King's Speech."

He has been on a roll this awards season — winning the Golden Globe and several critics honors — and positions him as the one to beat at the Oscars next month. He was competing against Jeff Bridges for "True Grit," Robert Duvall for "Get Low," Jesse Eisenberg for "The Social Network" and James Franco for "127 Hours."  

The awards — which dole out honors in both TV and film — are being held at the Shrine Exhibition Hall and telecast live simultaneously on TNT and TBS. A win in the feature film categories is especially coveted: It can be a precurser to Oscar gold. We'll carry all the breaking news and headlines here on Awards Tracker.

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Photo: Colin Firth. Credit: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times.

SAG Awards: Sofia Vergara's statue goes missing

After emerging from the photo tent without a drop of sweat on her brow, Sofia Vergara answered questions from TV crews alongside the cast of “Modern Family” after the sitcom's win for comedy show ensemble. Somewhere along the way she handed off her statue and then lost track of the person she handed it to. As she was being hastily ushered into a photo suite, she looked around a bit frantically.

“Where’s my award?” she asked. No one seemed to know.

“Hey, the award!” she said again, leaning out of the photo suite. Suddenly a handler raced up to her with the statue.

“I need the award,” she said, smiling with relief.

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Photo: Sofia Vergara holds her award for comedy series ensemble for "Modern Family." Credit: Reuters / Lucy Nicholson  

SAG Awards: Natalie Portman wins for 'Black Swan'

Natalie Portman won the Screen Actors Guild award on Sunday for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading film role for "Black Swan."

The win solidifies her front-runner status heading into the Oscars. She also won the Golden Globe for the role as well playing a prima ballerina decending into madness. Portman, who is expecting her first child after meeting her fiance on the set of "Black Swan," was competing against Annette Bening for "The Kids Are All Right," Nicole Kidman for "Rabbit Hole," Jennifer Lawrence for "Winter's Bone" and Hilary Swank for "Conviction." 

The awards — which dole out honors in both TV and film — are being held at the Shrine Exhibition Hall and telecast live simultaneously on TNT and TBS. A win in the feature film categories is especially coveted: It can be a precurser to Oscar gold. We'll carry all the breaking news and headlines here on Awards Tracker.

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— Susan King

Photo: Natalie Portman at the Shrine Auditorium. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times.