Boardwalk Empire has scooped two prizes at the 18th annual Screen Actors Guild awards.

The cast of HBO’s Prohibition-era drama were rewarded with an ensemble award, while the show’s star Steve Buscemi was presented with the gong for ‘Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor in A Drama Series’ in recognition of his role as Nucky Thompson.

30 Rock star Alec Baldwin beat Ty Burrell and Eric Stonestreet of Modern Family, former Office star Steve Carell and Two and a Half Men‘s Jon Cryer to win the award for ‘Outstanding Performance By A Male Actor in A Comedy Series’.

He paid tribute to writers including Tina Fey and Robert Carlock in his speech, saying that the NBC sitcom has “the greatest writing”, and also mentioned the SAG Foundation’s literacy initiative Book Pals.

Kate Winslet was honored for her role in HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce, adding to the Primetime Emmy award and Golden Globe which she has already won for her performance.

The actress was not present on the night to pick up her trophy, which was accepted on her behalf by Damages star Glenn Close.

Betty White was recognized for her role in Hot in Cleveland, saying: “Oh my dears, my dears, my… I don’t think they can read. I think they made a terrible mistake.”

She went on to praise co-stars Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick, adding that her nomination was for all four of them.

“I’m not not gonna let them keep this, but I’ll let them see it,” she concluded.

American Horror Story‘s Jessica Lange, the cast of Modern Family and Paul Giamatti were also honored at Sunday’s (January 29) ceremony, while Mary Tyler Moore was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

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British actress Kate Winslet is to receive an honorary Cesar award at France’s equivalent of the Oscars next month, it has been announced.

Roman Polanski, who directed the 36-year-old in recent release Carnage, will present her with the prize.

French drama Poliss, written, directed by and starring Maiwenn lead the shortlist with 13 nods, including best film and director.

The Minister picked up 11 nods and silent film The Artist was up for 10.

The French silent film, which is one of the leading contenders at this year’s Academy Awards, was re-released in France on Wednesday.

“Don’t forget that the Cesar awards were created in homage to the Oscars,” French Film Academy president Alain Terzian told The Hollywood Reporter.

He added that the Cesars symbolically take place in the same weekend as the Oscars.

“It’s an homage I want to permanently pay,” said Mr Terzian.

He said they are expecting The Artist stars Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, both up for Cesar acting prizes, to attend the French ceremony, before flying to the US for the Oscars.

The Artist and Poliss will compete alongside The Minister, Declaration of War, Le Havre and Untouchable in the best film category.

Poliss, about a police child protection unit, was presented with the jury prize at last May’s Cannes Film Festival.

British film The King’s Speech received a nomination in the best foreign film category, and was joined by Black Swan, Drive, The Kid With The Bike, Melancholia and Iranian Oscar hopeful A Separation.

French actor-director Guillaume Canet will preside over the annual awards in Paris on 24 February.

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Since his 2008 debut Synecdoche, New York, writer/director Charlie Kaufman hasn’t gone behind the camera again, but now the filmmaker will be in the director’s chair very soon with the musical comedy Frank or Francis gearing up for production. Steve Carell, Jack Black, Nicolas Cage and Kevin Kline are already signed on for the story about a director (Carell) who becomes obsessed with the message board commenter (Black) disparaging his movies on a Hollywood website, but now some familiar female faces are joining the mix as Vulture reports Kate Winslet and Catherine Keener will star in the very meta film.

Both Winslet and Keener have worked with Kaufman before with the former starring in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the latter in Being John Malkovich. Kaufman only scripted those movies though, so this will be the first time he works with Winslet and Keener as a director. At this point it’s not clear what characters they’ll be playing, but with this cast and Kaufman behind the camera for a musical comedy, I’m already looking forward to this flick with great anticipation. It should be interesting to see how Kaufman presents a world that is familiar to those of us writing this news and those who read it everyday.

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