The Birdcage Rose at the 1997 SAG Awards – The Hollywood Reporter

In 1997, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture was expected to go to a “serious” nominee such as The English Patient (which would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture), Sling blade or Marvin’s room (Features an ensemble cast including Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio). but birdcage They pounced for a surprise victory.

Producer-director Mike Nichols and writer Elaine May adapted the film from the French stage farce La Cage aux Folies, transferring the story of a gay couple who own a nightclub in Saint-Tropez to Miami, where Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, as Armand and Albert Goldman, become increasingly nervous when Armand’s son, Val (Dan Futterman), comes to visit with his fiancée (Calista Flockhart) and her conservative parents. Extremely. The cast is rounded out by Hank Azaria as Goldman’s housekeeper, Christine Baranski as Val’s mother, and Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest as Republican Senator Kevin Kelly and his wife Louise.

The United Artists film, one of the first films from a major studio to focus on LGBT characters, soared to first place on the domestic box office chart after its opening weekend in March 1996 and was met with positive reviews. THR He said he “delivers great performances… with many crowd-pleasing moments of fun”, and praised Lane in particular as “a triumph in the plum role of Albert, Arnold’s paranoid, effeminate colleague and star performer on the stage”. “Birdcage.” At the SAG Awards, Lane and Azaria were nominated individually for Supporting, and Lane accepted the ensemble honor on behalf of the cast. In his speech, he thanked Robin Williams (who was not in attendance) for his generosity and support: “I’ve made a true friend, “And this (trophy) is more his than anyone else’s.” Later, Lin admitted that the win surprised him. “It was the year of independent films, and I didn’t think we had a chance,” he said. THR on time. “I was so happy to finally achieve commercial success!”

This story first appeared in the December stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.