A different kind of show

They peeled back the curtain and climbed down the side stairs of the stage, away from the spotlight. The cast of "Little Miss Sunshine" blinked and stared at one another like crash survivors.

"I think for a moment there, time actually stopped," said Greg Kinnear. Steve Carrell, standing beneath orange spotlights, appeared dazed. The 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards was over and, backstage, the night's final winners were soaking it in.

"I really am honestly surprised," said Carrell, who left with two trophies, one for the ensemble work in "Sunshine" and one for "The Office."

With young Abigail Breslin struggling to carry the 12-pound statue, the cast began the long circuit backstage with press, flashing lights, backslaps and a battery of questions. A constant refrain in their answers: this award is different because it's from peers.

It was a big win for the little film that could, which was up against the heavily favored "Dreamgirls" in addition to strong contenders in "The Departed" and "Babel." It was also a night in which color and continental charm played big.

African American actors Forest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson and Chandra Wilson were among the evening's winners as was "Ugly Betty's" America Ferrera. Familiar British faces from recent awards shows - Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons and Hugh Laurie - all made acceptance speeches and were "so smooth with their stuff," as Murphy later joked about their poise.

The SAG Awards are different, it's true, especially to the people who walk the red carpet. It's the only all-inclusive resort for celebrities in the long, stressful envelope season of award shows. In other words, the people they sit next to during the lamb tenderloin dinner are just as famous (or maybe more famous) than they are.

Unlike other Hollywood awards shows, the SAG Awards reserve their seats just for film and television actors. That means no world-weary producers in extravagant eyewear and no screenwriters who still manage to look scruffy even in a tux. And it certainly means no journalists who, honestly, are just salaried eavesdroppers in shiny rented shoes.

Still, a show that goes on television does need some publicity. So this year, the SAG Awards bent their rules a bit and allowed a reporter for The Times a bit more access to the show than in years past.

This led to several vital insights:

1) The SAG Awards are shorter than any other Hollywood awards show, and shorter is better.

2) Movie stars and TV stars don't automatically know each other and watching them meet is oddly fascinating.

3) Everybody at the SAG Awards is sensitive about the perception that the show is an also-ran to the Oscars, Emmys, etc., but they will never say it aloud and instead tighten their jaws and smile thinly.

Other random observations from outside, inside and alongside the show:

--The banquet hall at the Shrine, decorated with strange chandeliers that seem to pay homage to the disco era's "Solid Gold," seems to be on another planet (and a warmer one) than the press room set off in a far corner. The tables inside are long and rectangular and skinny enough to encourage talk across the plates.