Vatican thriller "Conclave" won top prize at an unpredictable Screen Actors Guild Awards gala Sunday, throwing a potential late curveball into the Oscars race just a week before the Academy Awards.

The movie about the mysterious, behind-closed-doors selection process for choosing a new pope won the prize for best cast — the SAG equivalent to best picture — for a stellar ensemble including Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.

Collecting the award, Fiennes said the win was a celebration of "community," and "the supreme importance of it in our work and in the world."