January 31, 2009
LOS ANGELES, CA: The winners of the 2008 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards and the recipients of the Guild's 2009 Career Achievement Awards were announced tonight during the 61st Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. Danny Boyle won the DGA's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Slumdog Millionaire.
Following the welcome by DGA President Michael Apted to an audience of more than 1,500 guests, actor/comedian Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men) hosted the ceremony.
Presenters included: Amy Adams* and Viola Davis* (Doubt), Christian Bale (The Dark Knight), Josh Brolin* and Sean Penn* (Milk), DGA Secretary/Treasurer Gil Cates, Claire Danes (Stardust), Lisa Edelstein (House), Jodie Foster (Panic Room), Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters), Richard Jenkins* (The Visitor), Taraji P. Henson* (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Frank Langella* and Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon), Melissa Leo* (Frozen River), Michelle Monaghan (Eagle Eye), Dev Patel and Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), DGA National Vice President Steven Soderbergh, Marisa Tomei* (The Wrestler), Blair Underwood (In Treatment), and 2007 DGA Feature Film Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men).
*2009 Academy Award Nominee
The DGA's Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally served as a near-perfect barometer for the Academy Award for Best Director. Only six times since the DGA Award's inception in 1948 has the winner not gone on to receive the Academy Award for Best Director. (See list at the end of this release.)
The winners of the 2008 Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and the recipients of the Guild's 2009 Career Achievement Awards are:
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film
DANNY BOYLE
Slumdog Millionaire
(Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Boyle's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Sanjay Kumar
- First Assistant Director: Raj Acharya
- Second Assistant Director: Avani Batra
- Second Second Assistant Director: Sonia Nemawarkar
This is Mr. Boyle's first DGA Feature Film Award.
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Mini-Series
JAY ROACH
Recount
HBO
Mr. Roach's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Scott Ferguson
- First Assistant Director: Michael Hausman
- First Assistant Director/Second Assistant Director: Peter Thorell
- Second Assistant Director: Tudor Jones
- Second Second Assistant Director: Rob Dickerson Jr.
This is Mr. Roach's first DGA Award.
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series Night
DAN ATTIAS
The Wire - "Transitions"
HBO
Mr. Attias' Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Nina Noble
- First Assistant Director: Eric Henriquez
- Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
- Second Second Assistant Director: Tim Blockburger
This is Mr. Attias' first DGA Award. He was previously nominated in this category for Six Feet Under ("Back to the Garden") in 2002, and for The Sopranos ("46 Long") in 1999.
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series
PAUL FEIG
The Office - "Dinner Party"
NBC
Mr. Feig's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Robert Rothbard
- First Assistant Director: Kelly Cantley
- Second Assistant Director: Jennie O'Keefe
- Second Second Assistant Director: Jasmine Alhambra
- DGA Trainee: Alicia Cho
This is Mr. Feig's first DGA Award.
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety
BRENT (BUCKY) GUNTS
Opening Ceremony Beijing 2008 Olympic Summer Games
NBC
Mr. Gunts' Directorial Team:
- Associate Directors: Carol Larson, Brian Orentreich
- Stage Manager: Steve Hollander
This is Mr. Gunts' first DGA Award.
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs
TONY CROLL
America's Next Top Model - "1002"
CW
Mr. Croll's Directorial Team:
- Associate Director: John Downer
This is Mr. Croll's second DGA Award. He was previously nominated in this category for Shooting Sizemore ("Episode 101") in 2007; and won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement Reality Programs Award for Three Wishes ("Episode #1, Pilot") in 2005. (The award was a tie with J. Rupert Thompson who won for Fear Factor ("Heist Fear Factor, Season 6 Premiere").
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Daytime Serials
LARRY CARPENTER
One Life to Live - "So You Think You Can Be Shane Morasco's Father?" (Episode #10,281)
ABC
Mr. Carpenter's Directorial Team:
- Associate Directors: Teresa Anne Cicala, Paul Glass, Tracy Casper Lang
- Stage Managers: Alan Needleman, Keith Greer, Brendan Higgins
- Production Associates: Kevin Brush, Beth Kravitz
This is Mr. Carpenter's third DGA Award and sixth nomination. He won the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Daytime Serials Award for One Life to Live ("Episode #9947") in 2007 and for One Life to Live ("Episode #8849") in 2003. He was previously nominated for that series' "Episode #9686" in 2006, "Episode #9385" in 2005 and "Episode #8655" in 2002.
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
ARI FOLMAN
Waltz with Bashir
Les Films D'ici, Razor Films/Sony Pictures Classics
This is Mr. Folman's first DGA Award.
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials
PETER THWAITES
Production Company: Gorgeous Enterprises
Waterslide, Barclaycard -BBH
Light Show, Guinness - Irish International BBDO
This is Mr. Thwaites' first DGA Award.
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs
AMY SCHATZ
Classical Baby (I'm Grown Up Now) "The Poetry Show"
HBO
This is Ms. Schatz's third DGA Award. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs in 2001 for 'Twas The Night, and in 1999 for Goodnight Moon & Other Sleepy Time Tales. She was also nominated in this category for Through A Child's Eyes: September 11, 2001 in 2002.
Service and Achievement Award Recipients
DGA Honorary Life Member Award
Roger Ebert, Film Critic/Author
DGA Honorary Life Member Award in recognition of outstanding creative achievement, contribution to the Directors Guild of America or the profession of directing.
Robert B. Aldrich Award
William M. Brady, DGA Second Vice-President, Director
Robert B. Aldrich Award for extraordinary service to the Directors Guild of America and to its membership.
Frank Capra Achievement Award
Kim Kurumada, DGA Board Member, Unit Production Manager
Frank Capra Achievement Award, which is given to an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.
Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award
Scott Berger, DGA Assistant Secretary/Treasurer, Associate Director
Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award for an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.
The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the industry's most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award.
Only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the Feature Film winner not gone on to win the corresponding Academy Award.
The six exceptions are as follows:
- 1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!
- 1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA's nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.
- 1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.
- 1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.
- 2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.
- 2002: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago at the 55th Annual DGA Awards while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.
The 62nd Annual DGA Awards will be held on Saturday, January 30, 2010.