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'Conclave,' Chalamet Win at SAG Awards, Setting up Oscars Battle 

Timothee Chalamet poses in the press room with the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for "A Complete Unknown" during the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP)
Timothee Chalamet poses in the press room with the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for "A Complete Unknown" during the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP)
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'Conclave,' Chalamet Win at SAG Awards, Setting up Oscars Battle 

Timothee Chalamet poses in the press room with the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for "A Complete Unknown" during the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP)
Timothee Chalamet poses in the press room with the award for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role for "A Complete Unknown" during the 31st annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. (AP)

Papal thriller "Conclave" claimed the top prize on Sunday at Hollywood's Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Timothee Chalamet's portrayal of Bob Dylan made him the surprise best actor winner, at the last major honors ahead of next weekend's Oscars.

The "Conclave" cast of Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini won best movie ensemble at the SAG Awards, a red-carpet ceremony that streamed live on Netflix. The film tells the story of the secret maneuvering at the Vatican during the selection of a fictional pope.

Fiennes spoke on behalf of the cast about the need for supportive communities, in filmmaking and in life, as he accepted the SAG trophy on stage in downtown Los Angeles.

"We do recognize the supreme importance of (community) in our work and in the world," Fiennes said. "That's what we're celebrating tonight."

"Conclave" was feted as the real-life pope, 88-year-old Pope Francis, remained in critical condition with double pneumonia. Italian actress Rossellini wished him well during and after the ceremony.

"We are very, very worried for our pope," she told reporters after the SAG event. "We love this pope."

The "Conclave" win signaled the movie could take the prestigious best picture trophy at the Academy Awards on March 2. Members of the SAG-AFTRA actors union pick the SAG winners, and actors form the largest voting body for the Oscars.

But the race for best picture at the Oscars is unusually murky this year.

While "Conclave" also captured the top prize at the Britain's BAFTA awards, the big trophies from Hollywood producers and directors went to "Anora."

Chalamet scored the SAG award for best movie actor for playing a young Dylan as he arrives in New York to try to make it in music in "A Complete Unknown."

The outcome was an upset over Adrien Brody, who landed several acting trophies earlier in the season for playing an immigrant and architect in "The Brutalist."

The 29-year-old Chalamet said he "poured everything I had" into his portrayal of Dylan.

"The truth is, I'm really in pursuit of greatness," Chalamet said. "I want to be one of the greats."

Demi Moore was honored as best movie actress for her role as a fading celebrity seeking a fountain of youth in "The Substance."

The actress recalled getting her SAG union card in 1978 at age 15. "It changed my life because it gave me meaning, it gave me purpose and it gave me direction," she said. "I was a kid on my own who had no blueprint for life."

The supporting movie actor and actress trophies went to Kieran Culkin for "A Real Pain" and Zoe Saldana for "Emilia Perez."

In television honors, the cast of FX's "Shogun," a tale of political machinations in imperial Japan, was named best ensemble in a drama. "Only Murders in the Building" won best ensemble in a comedy series for stars including Selena Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin.

"Wait, we never win. This is so weird," a surprised Gomez said. "Marty and Steve aren't here because, you know, they don't really care," she added, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Actor and activist Jane Fonda was honored with a life achievement award and talked about the empathy that actors draw upon in their performances.

"Empathy is not weak or woke," she said, "and by the way, woke just means you give a damn about other people."

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‘Happy Face’ Looks at Ripple Effects of True Crime

Annaleigh Ashford, from left, Dennis Quaid and Melissa G. Moore attend a special screening of the Paramount+ television series "Happy Face" at Metrograph on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Annaleigh Ashford, from left, Dennis Quaid and Melissa G. Moore attend a special screening of the Paramount+ television series "Happy Face" at Metrograph on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
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‘Happy Face’ Looks at Ripple Effects of True Crime

Annaleigh Ashford, from left, Dennis Quaid and Melissa G. Moore attend a special screening of the Paramount+ television series "Happy Face" at Metrograph on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Annaleigh Ashford, from left, Dennis Quaid and Melissa G. Moore attend a special screening of the Paramount+ television series "Happy Face" at Metrograph on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

The new Paramount+ series "Happy Face" has all the elements of a gripping true-crime yarn: A serial killer, his estranged daughter, a race to get an innocent man off death row. But perhaps the most intriguing part? How it examines the warping nature of true crime itself.

"I was less interested in the specific psychology of a serial killer or glorifying the murders or seeing violence against women on screen," says Jennifer Cacicio, executive producer and showrunner. "I just feel like we’ve seen that. I was very interested in making a true crime show told through a different lens."

"Happy Face," which begins airing Thursday, is inspired by the true story of Melissa Moore, whose father was a prolific serial killer infamous for drawing smiley faces on letters to the media and prosecutors. She was just 15 when he was captured.

Decades later, as an adult with her own children, she finds herself drawn back into his orbit as she sets out to save an innocent man for a crime her father committed. She also has to tell her daughter the truth about her grandfather.

Starring Annaleigh Ashford and Dennis Quaid, "Happy Face" is told from a female point of view and looks at how a shameful secret can echo through generations. It's also about the push and pull of infamy, with horrendous crimes somehow remaining an alluring draw.

"There’s a lot of crime dramas out there that I think are very male-centric. It’s either about the cops are the cool guys or the criminals are the cool guys, and it’s all about kicking in doors. I’ve written on those shows and they’re fun and they serve a purpose. And I think that I really wanted to try something different," Cacicio says.

"What is it like for the rest of the family when there’s this shameful secret and this series of crimes and these acts of violence and what are the ripple effects on everybody involved?"

Ashford, who earned a Tony Award nomination playing a serial killer on Broadway in "Sweeney Todd," plays Moore with tenderness and anger, saying she was interested in exploring generational trauma.

"It’s one of the worst nightmares," she says. "The worst nightmare of all is having a family member be a victim. And then the second worst nightmare is having a family member be the perpetrator. So what would you do if you’re a parent or your sibling or your spouse or your child committed an atrocity?"

Moore previously shared her story in the bestselling memoir, "Shattered Silence" and the 2018 "Happy Face" podcast, reaching out to her father's victims and advocating for other family members of killers. Cacicio was one of a number of writers interested in telling her story for TV.

Cacicio approached Moore with this pitch: "If you want someone who’s a straight-up journalist, who’s just going to tell exactly the story of the podcast, you should let someone else do it," she told her. "There’s also an opportunity for it to be a bigger story that’s asking some questions about true crime."

Cacicio and Moore, it turned out had plenty in common. They were the same age, and both the oldest of three kids. Both had close relationships with their fathers, who hid other lives — Moore's was a killer and Cacicio served time in prison for drug dealing.

"Obviously, the crimes are different, the circumstances are different. But I think, in my family, it was something we didn’t talk about and it was something I didn’t want my friends to know," says Cacicio.

"A lot of it was really personal to me. And I think that’s what made her trust me — that I really understood the feelings, even if I didn’t necessarily understand the specific circumstances."

Quaid plays Moore's father, but unlike other roles he's taken that involve a living person, he had no intention of meeting the prisoner. He didn't want to glorify the killer but also "Happy Face" isn't that kind of show.

"This is told from Melissa’s point of view, and I think it’s actually truer than his point of view, because I think she knows him much better than he knows himself," he says. "I think he shows emotions like a little boy who’s trying to talk himself out of a whipping."

Cacicio says it's time we took a look at the explosion in popularity of true crime, in which women are often the victims but women are also the chief consumers.

"Are we obsessed with these stories because we’re trying to protect ourselves in case the worst happens?" she asks. "I read somewhere that it’s an act of normalizing your own experiences, because usually it’s whatever you’re watching is worse than what’s happened to you. So it kind of like makes you feel better about your own traumas."