SAG Awards 2022

►Historic. The 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were handed out Sunday night, with CODA taking home the award for best film ensemble, becoming the first film with a predominantly deaf cast to receive the award. Ted Lasso and Succession were named best comedy and drama series ensemble, respectively.

Will Smith, Jessica Chastain, Troy Kotsur, Ariana DeBose, Jason Sudeikis, Jean Smart, Michael Keaton and Kate Winslet also won, while Squid Game picked up a pair of acting awards for Jung Ho-yeon and Lee Jung-jae. The full winners list. 

—"We deaf actors have come a long way." Some of the most significant acceptance speeches at the SAG Awards on Sunday night were delivered in languages other than English. THR's diversity and inclusion editor Rebecca Sun looks at how big wins for CODA and Squid Game marked historic milestones for diversity at the event. The story. 

—Snubs and shut outs. House of Gucci and The Power of the Dog went into the show with the most film nominations: three apiece. Yet neither film won a single award for which it was nominated. On the TV side, four-time nominee The Morning Show finished the show without winning a single award. The snubs. 

—Memorable moments. CODA making history, Michael Keaton getting emotional, Brian Cox’s impassioned speech about the Russia-Ukraine conflict stood out on a night filled with highlights at Sunday's SAG Awards. The moments. 

—Advantage Will Smith? Jessica Chastain in the mix? THR's awards columnist Scott Feinberg dissects the results of Sunday night's SAG Awards and the implications for the rapidly approaching Academy Awards. The analysis. 

Comedian Turned President Zelensky Rises to the Moment

►"We’re watching Shecky Greene transform into Churchill." THR's Europe bureau chief Scott Roxborough looks at the stunning transformation of Volodymyr Zelensky from an entertainer who appeared (and won) Ukraine’s version of Dancing with the Stars in 2006 and was the voice of Paddington Bear in the country to becoming president, a national figurehead during a moment of crisis and wartime leader. The story. 

—Deft international diplomacy from Applebee's. John Oliver blasted CNN on Last Week Tonight for its on-air gaffe last week in cutting from coverage of the invasion to an Applebee’s commercial featuring a country song and a man in blue jeans and boots shaking his derriere. Oliver also slammed George W. Bush's input into the international crisis. The story. 

—"The culture of the aggressor state." The Ukrainian Film Academy has called for an international boycott of Russian cinema and the Russian film industry following the invasion of Ukraine. The Academy called on producers to stop licensing their movies and series for Russia, for international festivals to ban Russian films from their line-ups and for international producers to terminate any business dealings with Russian companies. The story.

—"They will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war and to sow division in our Union." In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union on Sunday took the unprecedented move of banning Russian state-backed television channels Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik. The story.

—Too little too late. YouTube is pausing Russian affiliated channels’ ability to monetize on the video platform. The company said it would be suspending several channels’ ability to collect ad revenue, including the state-funded media outlet RT. The story.

—Hollywood backs Ukraine. Angelina Jolie, Mark Ruffalo, Ryan Reynolds, David Lynch and Hayden Panettiere are among those in entertainment who have vocalized their support since the crisis began on Thursday. The reaction. 

—"In light of current events." Green Day canceled an upcoming stadium concert in Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the band announced Sunday. The story. 

NAACP Image Awards 2022

►"This is the one place where they can’t stop Black people from voting." Netflix's Black western The Harder They Fall took best film and Jennifer Hudson was named Entertainer of the Year at the 53rd NAACP Image Awards. Will Smith, Issa Rae and Sterling K. Brown were among the winners in the performance categories of Saturday's event hosted by Anthony Anderson — who won for Black-ish. The full winners list. 

—"A healthy society does not ban ideas, and attacks on books are an attack on democracy." Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the 1619 project, was honored with the Social Justice Impact Award at the NAACP Image Awards. Speaking at the event, Hannah-Jones condemned the recent news that "36 states" are whitewashing the study of American history. The story. 

—"We can put our legs, our bodies, and our voices to work to make sure people do get out and vote."  Samuel L. Jackson was honored with the Chairman’s Award at the NAACP Image Awards, presented by chairman Leon W. Russell. The longtime activist and advocate used the platform to urge people to continue the fight to protect voting rights. The story. 

—"This is the era of the digital justice movement." The Duke and Duchess of Sussex accepted the President’s Award at Saturday's NAACP Image Awards, in recognition for their achievements in public service. In their acceptance speech, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle touched on Ukraine, the threats to voting as well as the continuing fight for social justice. The story.

Box Office: 'Uncharted,' 'Dog' Lead Quiet Weekend 

►Mr. Tom Holland's opus. Sony’s Uncharted and United Artists’ Dog led a quiet weekend at the North American box office as the only new nationwide offering, the Foo Fighters' Studio 666, flopped. Uncharted earned an estimated $23.3 million from 4,275 theaters in its second weekend for an enviable domestic tally of $83.4 million. Channing Tatum starrer Dog also held well in its second outing, grossing $10.1 million from 3,827 locations for a 10-day domestic total of $30.9 million.

Elsewhere, Studio 666 only managed to come in No. 8 in its debut for Open Road and Briarcliff, grossing an estimated $1.6 million from 2,306 theaters. The Foo Fighters star in Studio 666, a haunted-house comedy where band members Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee fend off supernatural forces to record their 10th album. The box office report. 

—Zucker's replacement. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is expected to name Chris Licht head of news for Warner Bros. The new role will include oversight of CNN, as well as the company’s other international news assets. Licht will join from CBS’ Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where he has been the exec producer since 2016. He is also an executive vp at CBS in charge of special programming. The story. 

—The adventures of young Jamie Fraser? Starz and producer Sony Pictures TV are developing a prequel series to Outlander. Showrunner Matthew B. Roberts is set to write and exec produce the project, although details so far are scant. Outlander has already been renewed for a seventh season. The story.

—Bullitt time. Steven Spielberg is developing a film based on the Steve McQueen character Frank Bullitt. The Warner Bros. film would not be a remake of the 1968 film Bullitt, but rather an original take on the character. No deals are yet in place for the project, yet, but Spielberg would produce with Kristie Macosko Krieger with Josh Singer writing the script. The story. 

—Reunited. THR's Aaron Couch has the scoop on The Dark Knight star David Dastmalchian becoming the latest actor to join the sprawling cast of Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s upcoming historical film centering on J. Robert Oppenheimer. The story. 

—ICYMI. Fellow five-time hosts Paul Rudd, Tina Fey, Steve Martin, Elliot Gould and Candice Bergen, as well as Conan O’Brien, inducted John Mulaney into Saturday Night Live‘s Five-Timers Club during Saturday's episode. The story.

TV review: 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty'

►"Basketball fans will be obsessed." THR's chief TV critic Dan Fienberg reviews HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. With John C. Reilly as Jerry Buss, Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson, Solomon Hughes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Adam McKay behind the camera, the new drama series examines the origins of the 1980s Showtime Lakers. The review. 

—"Bloody good performances." Dan reviews Hulu’s The Dropout. Adapted by Elizabeth Meriwether from the hit ABC Audio podcast, Amanda Seyfried plays Theranos founder and convicted fraudster Elizabeth Holmes in this limited series costarring Naveen Andrews. The review. 

—"Intermittently interesting but ultimately superficial." THR TV critic Angie Han reviews Showtime's Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as disgraced Uber cofounder Travis Kalanick in the first season of Brian Koppelman and David Levien's anthology drama about true-life stories from the business world. The review. 

—"A fun but familiar ride to the finish." Angie reviews BBC America's fourth season of Killing Eve. The final season of the thriller drama sees Eve (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer) in surprising new places, while Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) continues her hunt for the Twelve. The review.
 
In other news...

—Film review: Damien Power's No Exit

—Activision shareholders sue to block $69b sale to Microsoft

—CBS, Al Jazeera criticized for “explicit bias” in reporting on Ukraine invasion

—Patti LuPone tests positive for COVID-19, will miss shows of Company

—Police investigating death of performer Donny Davis in Las Vegas

—How an L.A. real estate agent used Google SEO to sell celebrity homes

What else we're reading...

—Interview with Somebody Somewhere star Bridget Everett who talks about the “semi-autobiographical” HBO series [Guardian]

—How Zelensky and Putin are using online media in the war for Ukraine [WSJ]

—Ukraine urges Apple to halt Russian product sales, app store [Bloomberg]

—Where are they now? All of the people from the biggest mix-up in Oscars history [The Ringer]

—Why Joel Wachs let his life as a closeted gay politician be fictionalized in Licorice Pizza [LAT]

Today... 

Today's birthdays: Ali Larter (46), John Turturro (65), Bernadette Peters (74), Robert Sean Leonard (53), Rae Dawn Chong (61), Amanda Abbington (48), Kelly Bishop (78), Mercedes Ruehl (74), Gilbert Gottfried (67), Geoffrey Arend (44), Stephanie Beacham (75), Angelababy (33), Tommy Tune (83)