SAG Awards 2015: 'Birdman,' Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore win top honors

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Naomi Watts, from left, Emma Stone, Amy Ryan, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Keaton and Edward Norton accept the award for cast in a motion picture for Alejandro G. Inarritu’s dark comedy “Birdman.” Lead actor Michael Keaton called acting “the ultimate team sport -- so collaborative.”

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Michael Keaton and Emma Stone celebrate their win for cast in a motion picture for their film “Birdman.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Kevin Costner announces the nominees for the cast in a motion picture award. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Julianne Moore accepts the award for performance by a female actor in a leading role. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Matthew McConaughey announces the nominees for female actor in a leading role.

(Vince Bucci/Invision/AP)

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Amy Poehler, right, at dinner gets busy on her cellphone with a fellow attendee. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Eddie Redmayne of “The Theory of Everything” accepts the SAG Award for male actor in a leading role. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Julia Roberts announces the nominees for the male actor in a leading role award.

(Vince Bucci/Invision/AP)

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Part of the 20-actor ensemble from “Downton Abbey,” including, from left, Phyllis Logan, Laura Carmichael, Allen Leech, Joanne Froggatt and Sophie McShera, celebrates its second win in the ensemble in a drama series category. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg announce the nominees for the ensemble in a drama series award. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Michael Keaton and Naomi Watts of “Birdman” chat backstage. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

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Liev Schreiber presents an in memoriam tribute to the actors who died in 2014. (Vince Bucci/Invision/AP)

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Carrie Fisher, right, presents Debbie Reynolds with the Screen Actors Guild life achievement award. Reynolds reflected on her 60-year plus career in show business, recalling memories such as the funky hairstyle she wore in “Singin’ in the Rain.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Carrie Fisher delivers a heartfelt speech to introduce life achievement award recipient Debbie Reynolds. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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Eric Dane and Emmy Rossum announce the nominees for male actor in a drama series, and later accept the award on behalf of Kevin Spacey for his work in “House of Cards.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Viola Davis of “How to Get Away With Murder” accepts the SAG Award for female actor in a drama series. She spoke of the storytelling she offers her daughter at night, and how grateful she is to be a part of storytelling. This is Davis’ first win in this category. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Actors Laverne Cox and Matt McGorry announce the nominees for female actor in a drama series. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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Actors Ethan Hawke, left, Lorelei Linklater, Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane introduce the film “Boyhood,” a picture that took 12 years to make. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times )

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Actors Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne introduce “The Theory of Everything,” in which they starred.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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From left, actors Julianne Moore, Naomi Watts and Adrien Brody get chatty during the show. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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From left, Adrien Brody, Jeff Goldblum and Tony Revolori introduce their film “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Frances McDormand celebrates her first win in the category for female actor in a TV movie or miniseries for HBO’s “Olive Kitteridge.” She speaks of how she wishes actors could hang out in cozy slippers and watch the work of others. “If you haven’t seen ‘Olive Kitteridge’ you need to.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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J.K. Simmons and Viola Davis present the nominees for the female actor in a TV movie or miniseries award. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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From left, actors Matthew Beard, Keira Knightley and Allen Leech introduce their film, “The Imitation Game.” (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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Reese Witherspoon presents the male actor in a supporting role SAG Award to J.K. Simmons of “Whiplash.” (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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J.K. Simmons of “Whiplash” accepts the SAG Award for male actor in a supporting role. He expressed his gratitude to the 49 actors who appear in the intense drama for realizing director’s Damien Chazelle’s beautiful vision. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Patricia Arquette of Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” accepts the SAG Award for female actor in a supporting role. The six-time SAG nominee offered her thanks to her cast and crew. “I can’t tell you what this means to me,” Arquette said. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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Colin Farrell announces the nominees for the female actor in a supporting role award. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Lupita Nyng’o and Jared Leto announce nominees for the male actor in a TV movie or miniseries award, and later accept the award on behalf of Mark Ruffalo for his work in “The Normal Heart.” (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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Actors Robert Duvall, left, and Matthew McConaughey mingle backstage.

(Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)

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The 40-actor ensemble of Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” take the stage to accept the ensemble in a comedy series award. “Crazy Eyes” actress Uzo Aduba offers a “massive, massive thank you,” with a shout-out to the program’s creator, Jenji Kohan. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Musician Lenny Kravitz presents the nominees for the ensemble in a comedy series award. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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William H. Macy of “Shameless” accepts the SAG Award for male actor in a comedy series. The nine-time SAG nominee said he had “so many good acceptance speeches to make, but not tonight.” This is the first win for Macy in this category. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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In a moment backstage, SAG-AFTRA President Ken Howard, left, and Eddie Redmayne of “The Theory of Everything” are photographed amid the hustle and bustle that ensues. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Michael Keaton, from left, Emma Stone and Edward Norton introduce their dark comedy, “Birdman,” onstage. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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“Homeland’s” Claire Danes presents the nominees for the male actor in a comedy series award. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Uzo Aduba of Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black” accepts the SAG Award for female actor in a comedy series. “Oh my God. I really, truly do not know what to say,” the first-time SAG nominee and winner said. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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The “Orange Is the New Black” cast celebrates Uzo Aduba’s win for female actor in a comedy series. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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“Breaking Bad’s” Bryan Cranston takes the stage as the evening’s first presenter. He introduces the evening’s first award, the female actor in a comedy series.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus appears on screen, walking the red carpet, during the telecast’s opening. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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Jennifer Aniston speaks of being an actor as she appears on screen during the telecast’s opening. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

By Susan King

and Rene Lynch

Jan. 25, 2015 7:58 PM PT

“Birdman” soared this weekend, with the cast of the dark comedy taking home the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards’ top prize Sunday evening.

The film starring Michael Keaton as a washed-up movie superhero seeking redempting had been picking up honors throughout the awards season, though it has been overshadowed at times by critics darling “Boyhood.” But it gained the edge this weekend as it won the Producers Guild Award on Saturday night, followed by Sunday’s victory.

FULL COVERAGE: SAG Awards 2015

The momentum gives a lift to “Birdman” heading into the final stretch of the awards season, which culimates at the Academy Awards next month.

In fact, Sunday’s ceremony felt like an Oscars warm-up.

Over the past two decades, the SAG Awards have become a predictor of Oscar gold. If that holds true, then Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette should have their acceptance speeches ready for the Academy Awards on Feb. 22.

PHOTOS: SAG Awards 2015 top nominees and winners | Red carpet | Presenters | Show highlights | Quotes

Redmayne took the honor Sunday for male actor in a leading role for channeling theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and his battle with ALS in “The Theory of Everything.” Redmayne dedicated his award “to those who have lost their lives to this brutal disease.” Moore received the guild’s top acting honor for playing a professor with early-onset Alzheimer’s in “Still Alice.”

Simmons earned supporting honors as a ruthless music teacher in “Whiplash.” Arquette won a supporting award for playing a single mother raising two kids in “Boyhood,” which was shot over a 12-year period. All four actors also won two weeks ago at the Golden Globes.

The star-studded audience gave a rousing standing ovation for actress Debbie Reynolds as she received the guild’s life achievement award.

Reynolds, 82, who earned her first film contract after she won Miss Burbank honors at age 16, has starred in Hollywood classics such as 1952’s “Singin’ in the Rain.” “I had a good time in that picture wearing myself out,” she told the appreciative crowd.

The actress, who rambled a bit, noted that her favorite role was in the 1964 musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” Reynolds said one of the songs she performs in the film, “I Ain’t Down Yet,” has served her as a motto.

“Well, I ain’t,” she quipped with the crack comedic timing that has made her a star for over six decades.

FULL COVERAGE: SAG AWARDS 2015

On the TV side, the drama “Downton Abbey” and newcomer comedy “Orange Is the New Black” were the big winners, taking home the ensemble awards.

“Orange Is the New Black” also earned a trophy for female actor in a comedy series for Uzo Aduba, who plays the eccentric inmate Crazy Eyes and was at a loss for words as she took the stage to accept. William H. Macy nabbed actor in a comedy series for “Shameless.”

Viola Davis won female actor in a drama series for “How To Get Away With Murder” and said the win was a victory for defying stereotypes.

SAG AWARDS 2015: Complete list | Nominee reactions | Presenters | Video: Hollywood sessions

Davis praised the show’s creators and producers for casting a 49-year-old African American woman “who looks like me” to play the role of a “sexualized, messy, mysterious” legal powerhouse in the freshman hit drama on ABC.

Kevin Spacey won male actor in a drama series for “House of Cards.”

In other honors, Frances McDormand took female actor in a TV movie or miniseries for “Olive Kitteridge,” and Mark Ruffalo garnered male actor in a TV movie or miniseries for the AIDS drama “The Normal Heart.”

The SAG Awards aired live on TBS and TNT from the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles.

Twitter: @mymackie; @renelynch