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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With B.J. Sigesmund

Aired March 09, 2003 - 09:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It's Hollywood's big night, a lot of glamorous gowns, Botox beauties, all shimmery and shiny, strutting down the red carpet, hoping to get some face time with Marty Hart of Pat O'Brien, even. That's right, it is another Hollywood awards show. No, it's not the Oscars, not yet, and not the Golden Globes. That already happened. It's the SAG Awards. How many of these things are there, I've got to ask?
Let's get a preview. B.J. Sigesmund is standing by. He's the entertainment correspondent for "Newsweek" magazine.

So, B.J., SAG Awards, huh?

B.J. SIGESMUND, ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT, "NEWSWEEK": Right.

COOPER: Why does anyone care about the SAG Awards?

SIGESMUND: Well, the SAG Awards, you should know right away, honor actors only. There's no costume design, no best song, no director, none of that. Actors only. Like the Oscars, they have prizes for best actor, best actress, supporting actor, supporting actress. But one of the really interesting prizes that they give out and one of the most popular ones is for ensemble acting. Imagine the Oscars doing that, ensemble acting. It's a way of honoring a movie like "The Hours" or "Chicago" without having to give awards to each and every one of those people in the actual movie.

COOPER: I don't think you're going to see that at the Oscars, there's too many big heads to get them all on the little TV screen all at once. Let's talk about some of the people who are up for SAG Awards tonight. I guess the big race, Jack Nicholson versus Daniel Day-Lewis.

SIGESMUND: Absolutely, Anderson. That is the race to watch. Now, winning a SAG Award the last couple of years has not translated to winning an Oscar. Last year, they gave best actor to Russell Crowe for "A Beautiful Mind." He didn't get the Oscar. They gave the SAG Award to Helen Mirren for "Gosford Park" and to Ian McKellen for "The Lord of the Rings," none of those people won. But Halle Berry did win for "Monster's Ball," which came out of nowhere. That led to a sea change in Academy thinking. She went on to win the Oscar.

The reason that's relevant is tonight the best actor race is between Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis. Now, at this point, it looks like the Oscar is in the bag for Jack Nicholson, but if Daniel Day-Lewis should come ahead and win the SAG Award tonight, and his performance in "Gangs of New York" is the sort of gut-wrenching, no- holds-barred type performance that actors like to award, you could see this become a much more tighter race, and you could even see -- predict -- a lot of people might predict Daniel Day-Lewis actually winning the Oscar two weeks from tonight.

COOPER: Yes, it's not just gut-wrenching. It's like guts pulling out of a carcass of a dead animal performance. It's really quite startling.

SIGESMUND: Exactly.

COOPER: Best movie, who's up for -- what's up for that?

SIGESMUND: Remember, they don't have a best movie prize. They have a best ensemble acting prize. That's some of the usual suspects, like "The Hours," Chicago." But you know what, interestingly "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is in that race, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which didn't get a lot of Oscar nominations. So there could be a couple of surprises tonight.

COOPER: You know, I can't even remember that this was this year. Seems like that was two or three years ago. I don't know why I feel that way. Talking about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," there's this new TV show "My Big Fat Greek Life," I guess it's called, on TV, but TV shows are also up for SAG Awards.

SIGESMUND: That's right. That's another interesting thing. Like the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards spend some time on television also. And believe it or not, they cram all this into two hours. So it's a very starry two hours. And then you can watch the whole thing again, because it's TNT, and they end up repeating it right afterward.

But they give awards for best ensemble comedy. The nominees are "Everybody Loves Raymond, "Friends," "Sex and the City," "Frasier" and "Will and Grace." And then, if I have time, I'll do the ensemble drama category, which is "24," "CSI," "Six Feet Under," "The Sopranos," and of course, "The West Wing."

COOPER: That is definitely a tough category. My prediction by the way, the most often heard phrase on the red carpet tonight is going to be, this award is so important because it's from my peers. That's just my prediction. Call me crazy. All right. B.J., appreciate you joining us, thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired March 9, 2003 - 09:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It's Hollywood's big night, a lot of glamorous gowns, Botox beauties, all shimmery and shiny, strutting down the red carpet, hoping to get some face time with Marty Hart of Pat O'Brien, even. That's right, it is another Hollywood awards show. No, it's not the Oscars, not yet, and not the Golden Globes. That already happened. It's the SAG Awards. How many of these things are there, I've got to ask?
Let's get a preview. B.J. Sigesmund is standing by. He's the entertainment correspondent for "Newsweek" magazine.

So, B.J., SAG Awards, huh?

B.J. SIGESMUND, ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT, "NEWSWEEK": Right.

COOPER: Why does anyone care about the SAG Awards?

SIGESMUND: Well, the SAG Awards, you should know right away, honor actors only. There's no costume design, no best song, no director, none of that. Actors only. Like the Oscars, they have prizes for best actor, best actress, supporting actor, supporting actress. But one of the really interesting prizes that they give out and one of the most popular ones is for ensemble acting. Imagine the Oscars doing that, ensemble acting. It's a way of honoring a movie like "The Hours" or "Chicago" without having to give awards to each and every one of those people in the actual movie.

COOPER: I don't think you're going to see that at the Oscars, there's too many big heads to get them all on the little TV screen all at once. Let's talk about some of the people who are up for SAG Awards tonight. I guess the big race, Jack Nicholson versus Daniel Day-Lewis.

SIGESMUND: Absolutely, Anderson. That is the race to watch. Now, winning a SAG Award the last couple of years has not translated to winning an Oscar. Last year, they gave best actor to Russell Crowe for "A Beautiful Mind." He didn't get the Oscar. They gave the SAG Award to Helen Mirren for "Gosford Park" and to Ian McKellen for "The Lord of the Rings," none of those people won. But Halle Berry did win for "Monster's Ball," which came out of nowhere. That led to a sea change in Academy thinking. She went on to win the Oscar.

The reason that's relevant is tonight the best actor race is between Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis. Now, at this point, it looks like the Oscar is in the bag for Jack Nicholson, but if Daniel Day-Lewis should come ahead and win the SAG Award tonight, and his performance in "Gangs of New York" is the sort of gut-wrenching, no- holds-barred type performance that actors like to award, you could see this become a much more tighter race, and you could even see -- predict -- a lot of people might predict Daniel Day-Lewis actually winning the Oscar two weeks from tonight.

COOPER: Yes, it's not just gut-wrenching. It's like guts pulling out of a carcass of a dead animal performance. It's really quite startling.

SIGESMUND: Exactly.

COOPER: Best movie, who's up for -- what's up for that?

SIGESMUND: Remember, they don't have a best movie prize. They have a best ensemble acting prize. That's some of the usual suspects, like "The Hours," Chicago." But you know what, interestingly "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is in that race, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which didn't get a lot of Oscar nominations. So there could be a couple of surprises tonight.

COOPER: You know, I can't even remember that this was this year. Seems like that was two or three years ago. I don't know why I feel that way. Talking about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," there's this new TV show "My Big Fat Greek Life," I guess it's called, on TV, but TV shows are also up for SAG Awards.

SIGESMUND: That's right. That's another interesting thing. Like the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards spend some time on television also. And believe it or not, they cram all this into two hours. So it's a very starry two hours. And then you can watch the whole thing again, because it's TNT, and they end up repeating it right afterward.

But they give awards for best ensemble comedy. The nominees are "Everybody Loves Raymond, "Friends," "Sex and the City," "Frasier" and "Will and Grace." And then, if I have time, I'll do the ensemble drama category, which is "24," "CSI," "Six Feet Under," "The Sopranos," and of course, "The West Wing."

COOPER: That is definitely a tough category. My prediction by the way, the most often heard phrase on the red carpet tonight is going to be, this award is so important because it's from my peers. That's just my prediction. Call me crazy. All right. B.J., appreciate you joining us, thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com