This awards season has been completely unpredictable, and it’s building up to an exciting, if jam-packed finish. Last weekend were the BAFTAs. I generally expect there to be surprise wins at the BAFTAs, usually because they (slightly) favor British films. So for Mikey Madison to pull out a Best Actress win for Anora shocked me, as opposed to the upset being Marianne Jean-Baptiste. But being wrong won’t stop me from making a bold prediction! Which is that I think whatever happens at the SAG awards, so will go the Oscars. At least we don’t have to wait long to find out, as the SAGs are this weekend, and the Oscars the week after. Kristen Bell is returning to host this year’s 31st annual SAG awards, which stream live on Netflix Sunday at 8pm ET / 5pm PT. Kristen recently spoke with People Mag to hype the upcoming show, where she explained how vital it is to the LA economy that the show must go on, even as the region is still reeling from the devastating wildfires.
Like many of her contemporaries, when the deadly wildfires tore through Southern California in early January, Kristen Bell’s first instinct was to call off awards season as a whole.
“It felt very superfluous to have an awards show,” she tells PEOPLE, in an exclusive interview over Zoom. “I felt, ‘We should cancel all of the awards this year and donate all of the money!’”
It was a logical thought. The fires — which began on Jan. 7 in the Pacific Palisades region of Los Angeles and sparked several other blazes over the following days including the Eaton Fire across Pasadena and Altadena — devastated entire communities, with 50,293 acres burned, more than 18,000 structures destroyed, at least 29 people killed and over 200,000 people forced to flee their homes.
Many of those people were stars like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Joshua Jackson, Anna Faris, Ricki Lake, Cary Elwes, Cameron Mathison, Spencer Pratt, and Heidi Montag — all of whom lost their homes. Bell’s Nobody Wants This costar Adam Brody and his wife, Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester, were also affected, their house completely destroyed.
So Bell’s instincts were judicious, even if that meant that Sunday’s 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards (which Bell is both hosting and among the nominees) was canceled.
But then, she recalls to PEOPLE, she learned a little bit more about the financial impact of awards season in California.
“I realized, ‘Wait a minute. If you cancel the awards shows, you are canceling, hundreds of hundreds if not thousands of jobs for people in Los Angeles who need them.’” Bell says. “Gig workers, musicians, hairstylists, makeup artists, drivers, caterers, tech workers — it’s actually imperative to the economy of rebuilding that we have these awards shows.”
Preliminary estimates of the total economic loss from the fires are staggering. According to a study by the University of California, property and capital losses could range between $95 billion and $164 billion, while loss of wages of local businesses and employees could total $297 million.
To compare, the Los Angeles Economic Development Council told The Hollywood Reporter in 2013 that the Oscars alone injected $130 million into the economy every year.
I know Kristen can be divisive (usually as the result of her oversharing), but I remember her hosting the SAGs in 2018, the first time the show had ever appointed a host, and thinking she did a great job. You know how the SAGs begin every year with three or four actors who look directly at the camera, briefly summarize their road to working actorhood, and end with “I’m so-and-so, and I’m an actor!” Well Kristen did her bit along the lines of wanting to be the center of attention, and then said, “I’m Kristen Bell, and I’m a narcissist!” She landed the quip.
On the sincere side, I thought Kristen highlighted well in this interview how important the awards show ecosystem is to LA. I mean, $130 million into the economy from one show alone, back in 2013?! This year the Grammys raised more than $24 million for relief efforts, but now I’m wondering what the corresponding figure is for money paid to all the people who worked the event. And speaking of, most actors and stylists already do an Instagram post crediting the whole glam team, but this definitely feels like the year to amp it up. To really drive home the point that one actor = maybe a dozen paychecks to local talent. In the spirit of the SAGs opener, film an Insta video for each team member, like “I’m so-and-so, and I’m a makeup artist!”
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
I admire Kristen’s celebration of LA’s firefighters. She probably took all the photos that she’s not in. That’s truly humbling thyself!!!
Have to agree with her, people need their jobs and, most of all, the income, especially if they lost everything.
The fires and the aftermath have completely vanished from the papers over here, and been replaced by the threat to our inter-European security that is Felon47’s maladministration.
Additionally I know many people who could do with a distraction from everything that is so awful right now, so watching a few hours of award shows serves two things: help provide people with an income, and help take our minds off the general awfulness.
An important reminder. The same happened during Covid and I remember people saying oh it’s just rich celebrities who cares, but just like the movies, there’s 100x the number of rich celebrities of just normal working people who need the job and the paycheque.
I like Bell’s acting just fine, but I can hardly stomach watching the face she now has. In the final days of civilization, why does everyone have to look so weirdly plastic?
She looks the same to me, at least in those photos?
Bell is being rewarded for starring in an antisemitic show. It has been discussed over and over again how the show she’s currently in portrayed Jewish women as antisemitic stereotypes. And as always, she bears no responsibility for it. Instead, some Netflix executive with a hard-on for this perky blond, decided to reward her with another job and renew her show.
But let’s face it. Who cares if people are antisemitic, right? If some perky, white, blond lady who smiles a lot does it, it’s OK. She and the writers didn’t really mean any of it, right? I, mean, learn to take a joke, right? These microaggressions by white women are exhausting. Is it any wonder white women aren’t trusted as allies?
You all know, I detest this woman. She is a grifter and a liar. And there’s no way she was ever turning down a job like hosting the SAGs. Another lie. Gross.
Award shows are superfluous but they do so much for the economy. It’s silly that celebs fly all over the world for them but they do bring money to the local economies
Kristen Bell…I find her annoying most of the time but I can still watch her work. I do think her good acting makes up for the fact that I felt like she had no chemistry w/William Jackson Harper or Adam Brody