Gary Oldman Cries Accepting SAG Award: ‘There Are Giants of Acting in This Room Tonight’
And the Screen Actors Guild Award goes to …
Gary Oldman took home the statue for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role at Sunday night’s award show for his role in Darkest Hour.
In his acceptance speech, Oldman, 59, praised his fellow actors, saying, “I am honestly and truly thrilled and overjoyed to be in this room tonight.”
“There are giants of acting in this room tonight. Two of them share my table: Geoffrey Rush and Richard Jenkins,” he said. “Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman and of course the extraordinary, my old sparring partner, Denzel Washington.”
He ended his address with a quote from Winston Churchill, who he portrays in the film.
“Churchill reminds us that we make a living by what we get and we make a life by what we give,” he said. “And you have given enormously tonight.”
Be sure to check out PEOPLE’s full SAG Awards coverage to get the latest news on Hollywood’s big night.
Oldman was up against Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), James Franco (The Disaster Artist), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) and Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq).
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The actor received his second SAG Award nomination — and first win — for his performance as the late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the acclaimed period drama. He had previously gotten a nod for his role in the 2001 film The Contender.
Oldman also took home the 2018 Golden Globe Award for best actor in a motion picture, drama, for his performance in The Darkest Hour.
Speaking to ABC, Oldman previously revealed that it took him “three hours and fifteen minutes” to get into costume and makeup and that he had initially been worried about having “the stamina to get me through it.”
“But I loved every minute of it,” he added.
The 24th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are broadcast live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan 21.
