PGAs and SAGs: Is ‘Boyhood’ Still Taking Best Picture?

By MATT GILBERT

Less than a month ago, there was no doubt about what was winning the much sought-after Academy Award for Best Picture of the year. Director Richard Linklater’s ambitious 12-year saga, Boyhood, was the clear favorite ever since the Golden Globe Awards this past January. Competition was steep before the Oscar nominees were revealed and several weeks of campaigning and publicizing has certainly paid off for the team behind the film.

But Jan. 25 revealed that Boyhood‘s win may not be as written-in-stone as some might think. At the Producers Guild of America Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards, respectively, the top prize was instead claimed by Alejandro González-Iñárritu’s widely popular independent film, Birdman. The annual race for Best Picture never ends without a fight, and it would appear that among the eight nominees, the biggest award of the year ultimately comes down to these two indie hits. 

“I think that they are both fantastic films. And they both deserve to win,” junior Tom Mannion of Rockaway said. “I really think Boyhood is gonna take it home. It is such a unique film something that has never been done before and it was brilliantly done.”

Much like any other awards ceremony, the PGA and SAG winners are chosen from a pool of preselected nominees to determine the best-produced film and best ensemble cast of the year. The difference between the guild awards and the Oscars is that the winners are selected by vote from their peers within the guild instead of the five thousand ominous strangers in the Academy.

So what’s the big deal? Very little is certain in Awards season, and the frontrunner today could be completely different tomorrow. Kicking off officially with the Golden Globes, the various award ceremonies and guilds serve as significant indicators for Oscar Night. Film enthusiasts pay close attention to these events to judge which way the wind is blowing and hedge their bets.

What’s interesting this year is that if Boyhood wins on Feb 22, it will mark the first time in eight years a film wins Best Picture without previously winning Best Theatrical Motion Picture (PGAs) and Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture (SAGs). The two guilds have been fairly consistent indicators for decades, and once Birdman, a surreal story about a washed-up superhero actor’s attempt to revitalize his career by mounting a play on Broadway, took home the big prizes on Jan. 24 and 25, a lot of journalists and film buffs started checking their Oscar predictions again.

Boyhood, a 12 year journey of a young boy’s journey through adolescence and into college, was still considered a slim favorite to win Best Picture, but Birdman started changing a lot of minds quick. “Honestly I’ve never seen a movie like it,” junior Edward Guillen of Cranford said. “It’s a strange and beautiful piece of art that’s really kind of brilliant.”

The next indicator before the big night was the Director’s Guild of America awards this past Saturday. Iñárritu took home the biggest honor of the night for Birdman, which was the first major directing award he won against Linklater. Then on Sunday, Linklater and Boyhood claimed top honors at the BAFTAs.  Many are calling Birdman the new front runner, while others are sticking by Boyhood. Regardless, it’ll be a stiff competition going into February 22nd, and any bets will be far from a sure thing.