Oscars favourites get the silent treatment

THE big names in movies were largely ignored at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The Help

WHEN the Academy Award nominations were announced last week, most of the punditry centred on two films: The Artist and Hugo.

But with The Help cleaning up at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, some of the more firmly held Oscar favourites may be in for a rude shock come February 26.

The Help, a drama focusing on race relations in America, picked up the top prizes for best actress, best supporting actress and best ensemble at the SAGs ceremony in Los Angeles. The SAGs are seen as one of the key preludes to the Oscars ceremony, the culmination of the Hollywood awards season.

The Help, which tells the story of an aspiring journalist who decides to write a book exposing the racism faced by domestic help in the 1960s, beat the fancied black-and-white silent movie The Artist, Bridesmaids and The Descendants, films that had been expected to win top honours. "It has been such a labour of love," said Viola Davis, the winner of the best actress award as she reminisced about her work in The Help.

"I just want to say that (the movie) is not just about coloured people or women, it's about all of us. We all can inspire change, every single one of us."

Octavia Spencer, who won the prize for best supporting actress, said the movie, which opened in Australia in September, was "a light for women who haven't been given a voice in American history".

Spencer outdid Argentine-born French actress Berenice Bejo, who starred in the silent film The Artist. The two will meet and compete again in the same category at the Oscars.

French actor Jean Dujardin's odds for an Oscar shortened even further following his win in the best leading actor category for his role in The Artist, itself seen by critics as a favourite to win an Oscar this month.

"It's a love story, a simple story, but it's not just a black-and-white and silent movie," said the Frenchman. "It's a new visual and emotional experience for the audience."

Dujardin competed for the top actor's prize against some of the biggest Hollywood names, including George Clooney (The Descendants), Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar) and Brad Pitt (Moneyball). Veteran Canadian actor Christopher Plummer won the award for best supporting actor. Plummer, 82, starred in Beginners, where he played a man who comes to terms with his homosexuality late in life.

French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius won the top honour from the Directors Guild of America for The Artist, an award that has traditionally been a strong indicator of Oscar glory.

The Artist also won the top prize from the Producers Guild of America last month -- another key pre-Oscar bellwether -- and picked up three Golden Globes including best picture.

The film, in which a non-speaking star battles to save his career after it is torpedoed by the arrival of the "talkies", is up for 10 Oscars, including best picture and best director.

AFP