Tom Cruise was honored for his nearly three decades of work as a producer, and “ Everything Everywhere All at Once “ solidified its status as the frontrunner for the best picture Oscar by taking the top prize at Saturday night’s Producers Guild of America Awards.
“We love you! We love you!” another Oscar favorite and one of the film’s stars, Ke Huy Quan, shouted gleefully from the stage as Jonathan Wang and the other producers of the multiversal dramedy accepted the award for best theatrical motion picture.
The award has proven to be perhaps the best indicator for what will win the top honor at the Oscars, with four of the past five and 11 of the past 14 PGA winners going on to win best picture.
PGA wins by “ CODA “ last year and “ Nomadland “ in 2021 set each apart as frontrunners before winning best picture. (Since its inception, the PGA has predicted 23 of the 33 winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture.)
The strong possibility of a big night at Sunday’s Screen Actors Guild Awards could further mark “Everything Everywhere” as the film to beat at the March 12 Academy Awards.
Cruise the actor caused a stir inside and outside with his presence at the show at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California, but his producing career beginning in 1996 with “Mission: Impossible” earned him the David O. Selznick Award at the PGAs, a life achievement honor previously bestowed on Steven Spielberg, Kevin Feige, Mary Parent and Brian Grazer.
“My whole life I wanted to make movies,” said Cruise, wearing a tuxedo with his hair grown out to the length he wore it in “Mission: Impossible 2.” “I wanted to travel the world, and have adventure.”
Cruise talked about making his film debut in 1981’s “Taps” at age 18 and how producer Stanley Jaffe let him in on every part of the process.
“I was certain this was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” he said.
Cruise thanked Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the original 1986 “Top Gun” and his producing partner on last year’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” which also was nominated for the top PGA award and is up for the best picture Oscar.
“You opened the door for me,” Cruise told Bruckheimer. “You welcomed me in and I will be grateful forever.”
Since the first “Mission: Impossible,” Cruise has regularly been a producer on the films in which he has starred, including “Vanilla Sky,” “The Last Samurai,” “Jack Reacher” and the other five films in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise.
He paid tribute in his acceptance to many other mentors and partners including Spielberg and former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing, who presented the award.
“You’ve all enabled me the adventurous life that I wanted,” he said.
Cruise gave a closing shout-out to “all the audiences, for whom I work first and foremost, thank you for letting me entertain you.”
Other movies honored by the PGA included “Navalny,” which won for best documentary feature, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” which took best animated film, and “Till,” which won the Stanley Kramer Award honoring a production or producer that illuminates and raises public awareness of important social issues.
In the PGA’s television categories, “The Bear” won for best comedy, “The White Lotus” won for best drama, “Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls” won for best reality or competition series, “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy” won for non-fiction series, “The Dropout” won best limited series and “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” won best TV movie.
Mindy Kaling received the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television for her work producing shows including “The Mindy Project,” “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” “Never Have I Ever,” “Velma” and “The Office.”
“I’m a child of immigrants and that unexpectedly became my secret weapon,” Kaling said.
B.J. Novak, her former “Office” co-writer and co-star, presented Kaling with the award, saying she “cared about characters other people hadn’t cared about enough to put on TV, and they cared about things that other people on TV hadn’t cared about.”
Here's a rundown of the evening's winners:
Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)
Producers: Jonathan Wang, p.g.a., Dan Kwan, p.g.a., Daniel Scheinert, p.g.a.
Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)
Producers: Guillermo Del Toro, p.g.a., Gary Ungar, p.g.a., Alex Bulkley, p.g.a.
Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Drama
The White Lotus (HBO)
Producers: Mike White, David Bernad, Mark Kamine, Heather Persons, John M. Valerio
Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television – Comedy
The Bear (FX)
Producers: Joanna Calo, Josh Senior, Christopher Storer, Hiro Murai, Rene Gube, Tyson Bidner
David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television
The Dropout (Hulu)
Producers: Elizabeth Meriwether, Katherine Pope, Michael Showalter, Jordana Mollick, Rebecca Jarvis, Taylor Dunn, Victoria Thompson, Liz Heldens, Liz Hannah, Hilton Smith, Dan LeFranc, Amanda Seyfried, Hilary Bettis, Megan Mascena
Award for Outstanding Producer of Televised or Streamed Motion Pictures
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Roku)
Producers: Whitney Hodack, p.g.a., Mike Farah, p.g.a., Joe Farrell, p.g.a., Lia Buman, p.g.a., Max Silva, p.g.a., Al Yankovic, p.g.a.
Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television
Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (CNN)
Producers: Tom Barry, Adam Hawkins, Eve Kay, Stanley Tucci, Francesco Ficarra, Shauna Minoprio, Robin O’Sullivan, Fiona Cleary
Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment, Variety, Sketch, Standup & Talk Television
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
Producers: John Oliver, Tim Carvell, Liz Stanton, Jon Thoday, James Taylor, Jeremy Tchaban, Catherine Owens, Whit Conway, Kaye Foley, Laura L. Griffin, Christopher McDaniel, Kate Mullaney, Matt Passet, Megan Peck Shub, Wynn Van Dusen, Marian Wang, Charles Wilson
Award for Outstanding Producer of Game & Competition Television
Lizzo’s Watch Out For The Big Grrrls (Prime Video)
Producers: Lizzo, Makiah Green, Kevin Beisler, Julie Pizzi, Farnaz Farjam, Myiea Coy, Kimberly Goodman, Glenda N. Cox, Alana Balden
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Picture
Navalny (CNN/Warner Bros.)
Producers: Odessa Rae, p.g.a., Diane Becker, p.g.a. & Melanie Miller, p.g.a., Shane Boris, p.g.a.
Previously announced award winners:
The Award for Outstanding Sports Program
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Come Off
The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program
Sesame Street
The Award for Outstanding Short-Form Program
Only Murders in the Building: One Killer Question
Innovation Award
Stay Alive, My Son
