It’s ‘Little Miss’

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

“For a moment there, time actually stopped,” said Greg Kinnear. Standing next to him, beneath a small orange spotlight, Steve Carell appeared dazed. The 13th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards were over and, backstage, the night’s final winners were soaking it in.

“I really am honestly surprised,” said Carell, who left with two trophies, both for ensemble work, one for “Sunshine” and another for “The Office.”

With young Abigail Breslin struggling to carry the 12-pound statue, the cast began the long circuit backstage with flashing cameras, backslaps from dear friends both new and old, real and fake. Behind Breslin, one of her handlers toted the girl’s good-luck totem, a stuffed and threadbare Curious George.

It was a big win for the little film that could, which was up against the heavily favored “Dreamgirls” in addition to “The Departed,” “Babel” and “Bobby.” It was also a night in which American color and British 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, who spoke backstage of the show capturing a cultural moment of magic for Latinos in the U.S. Some familiar British faces from recent awards shows -- Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons and Hugh Laurie -- all made spot-on acceptance speeches and were “so smooth with their stuff,” as Murphy said in a tone of envy.

The SAG Awards are different, 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 awards shows. In other words, the people they sat next to Sunday during the lamb tenderloin dinner are just as famous as they are.

Unlike the other Hollywood awards shows (of which there are roughly, oh, 75,000 or so) 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. (Well, maybe the audience was not 100% actors; “I saw some filthy writers,” Justin Kirk of “Weeds” cracked.)

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

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 that the show might be seen as an also-ran to the Oscars, Emmys, etc., but they will never say it aloud and instead tighten their jaws and smile thinly.

The show however is fairly relaxed. The stars are at banquet tables that are long and rectangular and skinny enough to encourage talk across the plates. There’s a steady din all night and plenty of cross-talk and cocktails. So the stars who win arrive backstage to greet the press with their tongues in cheek.

Helen Mirren was the first winner to come back. She lingered at the door for a moment so old pal Irons could join her, although he mostly watched with a Cheshire Cat grin. The first question: Helen, do you hope you win an Oscar? “I would never answer that question.” Off to a great start ...

The corridors of the Shrine are freezing but not if you’re under the lights. Backstage is a mix of temperatures and nonstop bustle. “Oh, dear, it is warm,” said Julie Andrews, who was honored with a lifetime achievement award. She was waving a small, battery-operated fan at her face at the time and whisking past a kiosk where winners were given free Sprint phones.

The relaxed insider-club ethos draws a particularly high percentage of its nominees each year -- last year 98% of the nominees attended -- so the red carpet is, per capita, the densest star cluster of the boldfaced-name universe. Sunday evening certainly seemed to bear that out.

Fans who bought bleacher seats via an auction that benefits selected SAG charities found themselves closer to their idols than seemed reasonable. Leonardo DiCaprio, Kiefer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, Warren Beatty and others sent the crowd into waves of applause and screeching.

But not everyone stops to talk. Some zip by with little more than a wave over their shoulders. No one walked faster than DiCaprio, who with his slicked-back hair and classic tuxedo looked as if he’d stepped straight out of the 1940s.

At the other extreme, Jennifer Hudson, the Cinderella story of “Dreamgirls,” walked the carpet to fan chants of “Oscar, Oscar.” She autographed books and magazines, handing them back to an assistant who carried them like a bouquet. Hudson then hitched up her dress as she walked, saying, “This is unbelievable.”

Perhaps no one can relate to that more than former child actor Jackie Earle Haley, who returned to the screen with much acclaim and accolades in “Little Children.” “These last few weeks have just been mind-boggling,” he said. “I get so excited. There’s been so much good news. I get so worked up, then I crash and burn and then I get excited again. It’s exhausting ... it’s unreal.”

But it’s old hat for others. As Kevin Bacon arrived, the press had a spasm of concern that he wasn’t going to speak with them. “Bacon! Bacon! Bacon!” they shouted ... and, for just a moment, the Shrine’s red carpet sounded much like a short-order diner.

ONE frequent topic of the night: the hardware itself. The trophy at the SAG Awards is called the Actor. The statuette is a 16-inch, 12-pound anatomically incorrect naked guy with no mouth, and if you hold him too long your hands turn a little green. But somehow it’s not as creepy as it sounds.

Kevin Nealon of “Weeds” was fascinated. “Has the award always looked like that? If I got one of those I’m not sure what I would do with it. But I want one.”

Rainn Wilson of NBC’s “The Office” said he had a closer relationship to the trophy. “I actually modeled for this a few years ago. I was the buttocks model.” Laurie, who isn’t a doctor but plays one on TV, said he worried that in photos his thumb would appear to be giving his trophy an exam of some sort.

The seating chart is a study in current pop-culture collage, too. The “Little Miss Sunshine” table was immediately next to seating for “The Office,” making life quite convenient for Carell. The cast of “The Sopranos” was seated next to that of “Desperate Housewives,” and the “Ugly Betty” folks were sandwiched between the “Dreamgirls” table and the three tables taken up by the all-hands-on-deck cast of “Bobby.” “Lots of faces to choose from,” said Jeff Margolis, the show’s executive producer and director. “Lots of emotion and lots of talent.”

geoff.boucher@latimes.com