The Big Short took the top prize at the Producers Guild of America Awards on Saturday night. By taking home the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, the film added further momentum to its late-breaking awards run and was the latest surprise development in a topsy-turvy awards season that brought an end to an especially hectic week in Hollywood.
The first major guild award of the season, the PGA winner has matched the best picture winner at the Oscars since 2009. Seven of the 10 nominees for the award are also nominated for Best Picture, with Ex Machina, Sicario and Straight Outta Compton being left out by the Academy.
Only Room is nominated for Best Picture and not likewise nominated by the producer’s Guild.
Also nominated in the category were Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant and Spotlight.
The issues of diversity that have been a part of the Hollywood conversation since the Academy Award nominations were a running theme of the night, addressed right from the start of the show.
Awards co-chair Michael De Luca acknowledged Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who was in the audience, and said, “We’re all lucky to have her as an industry leader and no one is working harder to make our world a fairer and just plain better place.”
PGA co-presidents Gary Lucchesi and Lori McCreary also spoke of industry diversity, with McCreary saying “producers have always served the industry as leaders and we are tonight asking all of you to pledge to make a conscious decision to challenge the status quo until our casts, our crews and our own companies are as diverse as the audiences for which we make this entertainment”.
Inside Out took the award for animated theatrical motion picture, with the prize going to Jonas Rivera. Also nominated were Anomalisa, The Good Dinosaur, Minions and The Peanuts Movie.
Amy took the award for documentary motion picture, with the prize going to producer James Gay-Rees. Also nominated in the category were The Hunting Ground, The Look of Silence, Meru and Something Better to Come.
On the TV Side, the drama award went to Game of Thrones, with Transparent winning for comedy. Fargo won for long-form television, which recognises movies of the week and miniseries.
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst won for non-fiction television. Last Week Tonight With John Oliver won for live entertainment and talk television. The Voice won for Competition television.
Outstanding sports programme went to Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. The award for outstanding digital series went to Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. The award for outstanding Children’s Programme went to Sesame Street.
Special tributes were given to Shonda Rhimes, who received the Norman Lear Achievement Award, Jim Gianopulos, who received the Milestone Award, David Heyman, who received the David O. Selznick Award, and Industrial Light and Magic, who received the Visionary Vanguard Award. The documentary The Hunting Ground received the Stanley Kramer Award and Lady Gaga performed the song Til It Happens to You from the film.
