SAG Awards 2014: ‘Modern Family,’ ‘Breaking Bad’ casts react to wins

Backstage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday night, winners met media with comments and body language that expressed wine-fueled giddiness, exhausted delight, sheer surprise -- or all three at once.

After winning the SAG Award for ensemble in a TV comedy series, the cast of “Modern Family” walked backstage, arms weighted down with the heavy statuettes. Though many of the actors looked tired, they said such honors never get old.

“Ed was the only one who thought we were going to win today,” said Julie Bowen, referring to costar Ed O’Neill. “The eternal pessimist, who would’ve thought?”

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Upon exiting the stage after accepting her SAG award for female actor in a TV comedy series, Julia Louis-Dreyfus stopped at the L.A. Times’ backstage photo booth and answered a reporter’s question on how she felt with an amusingly honest answer: “Very good, I’m sweating.”

Ever conscious of the promotional value of Hollywood’s awards season, Louis-Dreyfus added that she was pleased that her show, “Veep,” was recognized leading up to its third season, which launches in April.

Michael Douglas, cradling his SAG statue like a baby, generated some laughs with comments about “Behind the Candelabra,” in which he played Liberace and co-starred with Matt Damon, who played his younger lover. Douglas, 69, fielding press questions like an auctioneer, revealed that the most boundary-pushing scene -- one that went beyond the infamous hot tub sequences in director Steven Soderbergh’s HBO film -- was done in just one take. After simulating a rather intimate act, Douglas said, “Steven Soderbergh put down the camera and said, ‘I have no notes.’ ”

SAG Awards 2014: Full coverage | Quotes | Highlights | Photo booth

Helen Mirren, took home a SAG Award for her performance in HBO’s telepic “Phil Spector,” said her main emotion was surprise. “I know they all say that, but in my case it’s true,” she said backstage. “I was convinced Elisabeth [Moss] was going to win. She won the Golden Globe and she deserved it, so I came in that lovely state of mind: I’m just going to drink and get dressed up. And then they called my name.”

The “Breaking Bad” cast made its way backstage after winning the SAG award for best ensemble in a TV drama, but series star Bryan Cranston, who played meth lord Walter White, got held up in the photo area. That left costar Aaron Paul to reveal that he is still very much in a “Breaking Bad” frame of mind. The actor said he started to rewatch the series, starting at the pilot, as the cast started to shoot the final eight episodes. “I’m on Season 2 now,” he said.

To which Dean Norris, who played Walter White’s DEA agent brother-in-law, quipped: “I hear it has a great ending.”

SAG Awards 2014: Full coverage | Red carpet | Winners | Complete list

Then there was Life Achievement Award winner Rita Moreno, who introduced herself backstage: “Hi, I’m the lady who said the bad word.”

What caused the 82-year-old actress to use foul language onstage (and get bleeped by TV censors)?
“Boy, I had one glass of wine and I’m a disaster,” she said giddily. “Two glasses of wine and I belong to anybody.”

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