ABIGAIL BRESLIN: Hello. [laughter] I don’t know, who do you want to thank? [Arkin whispers in her ear] Thank you. [laughter]
GREG KINNEAR: I’d like to thank the engineers at Volkswagen for—[laughter]—making a beautiful vehicle back in 1969 that is so comfortable, [laughter] so safe. [laughter] I, honestly, just want to thank our amazing directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. [applause] I hope you all get a chance to work with them. They’re amazing people.
We had five – not three, not two, not four – five great producers on this movie. I want to thank all of them. Fox Searchlight and Peter Rice, of course, thank you, guys, for finding a way to get a small voice heard.
And to my beautiful wife, thank you. And now some of my beautiful cast will speak.
Transcript of Forest Whitaker
The Last King of Scotland
Thank you. Okay, I want to thank the… [chuckles] My mind is running in my head, like, telling me not to get carried away, you know. Everybody tells me not to get away ‘cause I get carried away sometimes. But, anyway, whatever.
I’m really happy, so… I’m really happy to receive this award. [laughter] You know, it means a lot, you know, to receive the Screen Actor Guild Award. To get an award from the people that you’re going to work across from and the people that you’re going to work with, and people that are going to like hopefully, like, get in the trenches with and do something, hopefully, special, or like get some magic between us – this is a big thing. So it means a lot to me.
And I want to thank you for allowing me to have a moment like this.
And, you know, there’s a lot of people that worked on the movie with me and I want to thank them. I want to thank 20th Century Fox, DNA, okay, and FilmFour. And the writer, Peter Morgan and Jeremy Brock, they wrote this amazing character any actor would love to play. And also I’d like to thank Kevin Macdonald, this amazing director who like pushed it forward. And the actors, James McAvoy and Kerry Washington, and Steve Wynn, Jay-Z and all the Ugandan crew, and actors, and all the people working with me, trying to help me move forward in my life, to help me to be able to express myself as an artist.
And I thank you for giving me this moment to help me be able to continue to express myself as an artist. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I thank my wife Keisha. I want to thank God. I want to thank all of you. Really seriously. Peace. God bless. [applause]
Oh Lord… Be still my beating heart. Be still. Thank you. Thank you very much Screen Actors Guild. What an incredible night for me personally. Thank you to Stephen Frears, the director. To Peter Morgan, the writer. Without those amazing words none of us can do what we do. And we all know that, us actors.
But, you know, when I did my costume fitting for “The Queen,” I walked in and I saw all those sensible shoes, and those tweed skirts, laid out in a row, and I cried. I thought, “I can’t play anyone who chooses to wear those clothes, I just can’t do it.” [laughter] But I learned to love the person who chooses to wear those clothes because I learned to love a person without vanity, but with a great sense of discipline that I understand. With a great sense of duty that I understand. And with a great deal of courage, and that I understand.
Thank you very much, this is a great night for me. Thank you. [applause]
Thank you. What a tremendous honor to be recognized by one’s peers. [with slight British accent] I’ve been acting for some 25 years now and this is a tremendous honor to me… no, I’m sorry. [laughter] It’s just when the British people come and get the awards, it’s so smooth with their stuff. And I feel goofy up here ‘cause I don’t be winning stuff.
But thank you so much, this is a huge honor. And thank you Bill Condon for directing and putting me in your wonderful movie. Thank you. [applause] Thank you to the cast and crew of “Dreamgirls” and thank you to DreamWorks, and Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and David Geffen, and Brad Grey, and Stacey Snider and everyone there that was involved with this picture. I’m just so happy to be part of it.
And thank all of you and thank you, Tracey, for fixing everything. Bye-bye you all. [applause]
Whoo! Thank you so much. What a welcome, oh my God! Wow. Well first… I’d like to thank God, just for this moment. Also I really want to take out the time to thank my cast. Because of you I was able to work and learn from the best. [applause] Yes, you are the best. Everybody in this room is the best.
I’d also like to thank my producers, Larry and Patty, and Bill Condon, and my director, thank you so much for believing in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. [applause] You all changed the way I think as an artist.
And I also would like to thank the Screen Actors Guild. You are the heart of this industry.
And just thank you for noticing little ol’ me, and for accepting me. And thank you for making me feel so welcome. And thank you for this honor. [applause] Thank you so much. [applause]
