BRADLEY COOPER: Wow, thank you so much. We have so much gratitude from our Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA to be a part of this night, and to be also acknowledged alongside of the other incredible ensembles that are here in this room tonight. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of it. [applause] And throughout all this year in film; what a strong year in film.
We couldn’t have made this movie without the support of Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton, Sony, and Annapurna, Megan Ellison, Matt Budman, all the producers, Jon Gordon, Chuck Roven and Richard Suckle.
But, I just want to say one thing, so often we’re lucky enough to even get a job. And, often our anticipation, our excitement, supersedes the experience. Because you walk on the set and you’re excited, you have one day, and you’re lucky if the director talks to you, when they tell you to hit your mark. And then you’re gone and it’s over and you thought, “Wow, I was kind of better in my mind.” But not with David O. Russell. Not with David O. Russell. Even if you get a chance to audition for him – and everybody who has, knows it – he’ll spend 45 minutes on a Skype session with you. He makes you feel like you are part of the family, whether you’re Robert De Niro or you’re Patty Meck, you are part of the family.
He is an actors’ director. That notion is tossed around; he is the embodiment of it. He’s the reason why all of us wanted to become actors when we were children, because he loves it. It’s not out of any sort of charity, it’s because he demands. Much is asked of us, [applause] and if we deliver, much is returned. Thank you, David, this award is for you. Thank you. [applause]
Transcript of MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY
Dallas Buyers Club
MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY: Yeah! Oh, this feels good. Thank you. Thank you!
I mean, coming from SAG-AFTRA members. I mean, I’ve been, you know, been doing this 22 years. We know what this thing is we get to do. And when it works and when it doesn’t work so well. Thank you.
To the nominees, not just in this category, but so many – there were so many fierce performances this year! [applause] I mean, the choices and the characters that so many people have made, it really shines a great light on this – this – this bull ride that we take called “acting.”
I mean, I’ve been able to recently find some characters that I could humble myself to their humanities, and then get feverishly drunk on their obsessions. And that’s really been fun for me.
“Dallas Buyers Club,” Ron Woodroof. We got an important story about an important time in America and the world, people who had HIV, how were they dealt with, how is it dealt with now. It’s still very relevant.
You’ve got Ron Woodroof, a guy had the clearest obsession of all! “I’m obsessed to stay alive.” He was. Given 30 days to live, he goes on and lives seven more years.
There’s a magic spot – we all know it is – there’s a magic place that we, as actors, can get or at least strive to get to. And you know we always don’t get there. But, boy, when we touch it, it’s magic. When you’re seeing the character from the inside out, when you’re walking out every day and everything you see, smell and touch and observe is coming through that character into you, and it’s making sense, and you’re the subject, you’re the “I,” you’re first-person seeing it through that character’s eyes. That doesn’t always happen.
But, boy, when it does, and it feels like they could put a blindfold you on you and put you in a spaceship and take you to Neptune, and you could hop off on the planet. And they’d better have the sprockets rolling when you get off that spaceship, because you are going to behave as your man. THAT is a glorious feeling! [applause]
There’s a man I met 20 years ago. He escaped Russia, and was not even a carpenter: built a 17-foot boat and sailed across the Atlantic. For decades, he held the world record for smallest-vessel-single-man-sailed across the Atlantic. He told me this. He said: “A genius can be anybody he wants to, but the genius is always one person at a time.”
So, that, I say, that’s what we get to do, isn’t it? Be one man, one woman, one human at a time. When we do it well, let’s keep doing that, just keep living. [applause]
Outstanding Performance by a
MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Cast of FOREST WHITAKER
Lee Daniels' The Butler
Transcript of FOREST WHITAKER
Lee Daniels' The Butler
CATE BLANCHETT: Bob De Niro, I didn’t recognize you. Thank you so much. I was in such a state down there, kissed by Rita Moreno and Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts – this is extraordinary, thank you. I’ve been away from the film industry for a long time making theater – 29 seconds? Matthew McConaughey spoke about Neptune and I think… [laughter] I think five seconds…
Making theater work in Australia, a work of which I’ve been extremely proud. But I haven’t made a film for a long time. So thank you so much to SAG-AFTRA for welcoming me back in this way, I appreciate. For those who voted for me, I thank you. And for those who didn’t, better luck next year. [laughter]
It’s impossible for an actor to cobble together a performance without other actors to work with, without words, without someone to help you modulate your performance, without the costumes, without the lights. So I have to thank Javier and for Will who kept the thing in focus. For Suzy Benzinger who made the – please wrap up, yes, okay, I’m on Mars at the moment. [laughter]
For getting the costumes together on a dollar ninety-nine. For Santo, for the extraordinary spaces in which we worked. And for Woody, for writing role after role after role for women, and then giving them the space to create them. And thank you so much, Woody. [applause]
And to the remarkable cast, theater animals to a man. I’m so grateful to have worked with such an incredible supporting – supportive, generous ensemble. And Sally [Hawkins], I’m very lonely up here without her, this is half yours, the penis part. [laughter]
And, finally – I am going to wrap up – but I have been married for 17 years. I have been with my agent for 17 years, and I’ve been with my publicist for 17 years. And, perhaps, Hilda, Andrew, my darling, I wouldn’t be up here without you. And to Lisa Castella. Perhaps, in a way, those relationships are my biggest achievement.
JARED LETO: Oh my God, thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, thank you so much to this wonderful tribe of dreamers. SAG/AFTRA, I’m so honored by you today.
I’d like to dedicate this very special, special, special honor to all of the people who have lost their lives as a result of this dreadful disease. To the people out there around the world who are living with HIV/AIDS.
I’d like to share it with the “Rayons” of the world, the people who have made a choice to live their lives not as others would have them live it, but as they have chosen to dream it. I’m so proud that I’ve been able to glimpse the world through your eyes.
To my fellow and far more talented nominees, I’m so honored to share this adventure with you, especially to the late and great James Gandolfini. [applause]
And last but not least, to my mother who is here, the hottest date in town. [laughter] I just want to say thank you for giving me such a shining and wonderful example of the possibilities of life. For showing me the power of dreams and for being the best mother in the entire world. I love you.
And, to Focus and CAA and Untitled and Slate, you guys are amazing. Matthew, “All right, all right, all right, baby.” [laughter]
LUPITA NYONG’O: [laughs] Yay! Being recognized by fellow actors is an honor of the highest order. And I want to thank all of you so much. I’m… [laughs] first of all, I want to thank the man without whom this would not have been possible at all, Solomon Northup, thank you so much for a life well lived and a story hard to tell, but told so well.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Steve McQueen. [applause] Thank you for taking a flashlight and shining it underneath the floorboards of this nation and reminding us a what it is we stand on. You are love personified. I want to thank Fox Searchlight, New Regency, Plan B, River Road, for making this film possible. I also want to thank my fellow actors, the ones in the film, of course, who embraced me from the very beginning, and I can now call my friends.
I also want to thank my alma mater, Yale School of Drama, for the amazing training. [applause] I want to thank John Ridley for the indelible words. Patty Norris, thank you for literally making me walk in someone else’s shoes. And Kalaadevi, thank you for making Patsey’s scars so, so real to me. And I want to thank Michael Buster and Beth McGuire for helping me find Patsey’s voice. And Faith Simpson for helping me find her heart.
And I also want to thank my family who have kept it real. My dad, I called him, he was the first person I called when I got this role. And I said to him, “Daddy, do you know Brad Pitt? I’m going to be in a movie with him.” [laughter] And he said, “I don’t know him personally, but I’m glad you got a job.” [laughter] So am I! So am I. Thank you. [applause]
Outstanding Performance by a
FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cast of JENNIFER LAWRENCE
American Hustle
Transcript of JENNIFER LAWRENCE
American Hustle
Outstanding Performance by a
FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cast of JULIA ROBERTS
August: Osage County
Transcript of JULIA ROBERTS
August: Osage County
Outstanding Performance by a
FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cast of JUNE SQUIBB
Nebraska
Transcript of JUNE SQUIBB
Nebraska
Outstanding Performance by a
FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Cast of OPRAH WINFREY
Lee Daniels' The Butler
Transcript of OPRAH WINFREY
Lee Daniels' The Butler
