"Sun" Screen

The 13th annual SAG Awards, honoring actors in both film and TV, took place last night in Los Angeles...

Forest Whitaker wins as best actor for his role in 'Last King of Scotland.'

Dave McNary of Variety filed this report on who won in the cinema categories:

...Fox Searchlight's offbeat family comedy won SAG's top trophy Sunday night, beating "Babel," "Bobby," "The Departed" and "Dreamgirls" for the ensemble prize at the 13th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at the Shrine Auditorium.

Victory places "Little Miss Sunshine" at the forefront of the best picture Oscar race, adding to the pic's momentum following its Jan. 20 Producers Guild of America win.

SAG has matched the Oscar best picture five times in 11 years, including last year, when "Crash" took both awards. With actors repping a quarter of voters at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the SAG Awards are a closely watched indicator of Oscar sentiment.

"I'd like to thank the engineers at Volkswagen for making a beautiful vehicle back in 1969 that was comfortable and so safe," said an elated Greg Kinnear in his acceptance speech, referring to the pic's trademark yellow minibus.

Helen Mirren took two trophies for playing British monarchs, winning the lead actress awards for Miramax's feature "The Queen" and HBO's telepic "Elizabeth I."

"Oh Lord, be still my beating heart," Mirren said in her acceptance for "The Queen."

She told the audience she wept on first seeing the sensible shoes and tweed skirts for the role, but added, "I learned to love the person who chooses to wear those clothes, because I learned to love a person without vanity but with a great sense of discipline that I understand. With a great sense of duty that I understand and with a great deal of courage that I understand."

SAG members also feted Forest Whitaker as feature actor for his portrayal of dictator Idi Amin in Fox Searchlight's "The Last King of Scotland."

Mirren and Whitaker both won Golden Globes and are widely regarded as front-runners for the Oscar.

The "Sunshine" victory underlined the wisdom of studio spending on screeners. Searchlight sent "Sunshine" screeners to all 110,000 SAG members -- at a cost of $5 per disc -- following the successful "Crash" strategy last year. SAG members also received screeners of Warner Bros.' "The Departed" and Miramax's "Venus." ...

..."Sunshine" won only the single trophy Sunday. In the supporting categories, Alan Arkin and Abigail Breslin -- who portrayed the grandfather-granddaughter combo in "Sunshine" -- lost out to the "Dreamgirls" duo of Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson, who also won the Golden Globes earlier this month.

... Murphy began his acceptance speech in a British accent, then dropped it and explained he admired how smoothly English thesps handle such situations, adding, "And I feel goofy up here because I don't be winning stuff."

Newcomer Hudson gave an emotional acceptance speech, stressing the support of castmates, producer Laurence Mark and director Bill Condon -- "for believing in me when I didn't believe in myself. ... Thank you for noticing little old me." ...

...Julie Andrews received a lifetime achievement award at the ceremonies and singled out "main squeeze" and spouse Blake Edwards. She evoked big laughs by saying, "I guess I have one tiny complaint: When he directs me in a love scene, he's quite likely to say, 'Well, that was fine, darling, but I know you can do better.'

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Congrats to the cast of Little Miss Sunshine on their big win against some pretty stiff competition...The best part of the evening though for me --the tribute given to Julie Andrews and her acceptance speech. What a class act.

Here are last night's winners and a few Backstage Notes. from the event...