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Directors Guild names winners
27/01/2008 12:08 - (SA)
Los Angeles - The Directors Guild of America on Saturday chose Ethan and Joel Coen as best feature film directors for 2007 for their gritty crime drama No Country for Old Men, an award known for signaling which filmmakers will win
top Oscars.
Under the specter of a screenwriters strike that has
brought Hollywood to a standstill for nearly three months, the
Coen brothers beat four other candidates, including Paul Thomas
Anderson for There Will Be Blood about the rise to wealth of a California oil prospector, and Sean Penn with his wildernes adventure Into the Wild.
The field was rounded out by Tony Gilroy for his
directorial debut with legal thriller Michael Clayton and
painter-turned-director Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, who won the Golden Globe for best director a few
weeks ago.
"It's nice to get the acknowledgment of critics and even
audiences, but there is something about being acknowledged by
people who do the same thing you do," said Joel Coen, who has
made signature films like Fargo and Blood Simple with his
brother over the last two decades.
No Country for Old Men has been nominated for eight Oscars
including best picture, best director and best supporting actor
for Javier Bardem's role as a sinister killer.
The DGA represents the directors of movies and television
programs and since it began giving awards for film director in
1949, only six winners have failed to claim the Oscar in the
same year. The Academy also has a history of giving their top
honor, best picture, to the winner of the best director Oscar.
Last year, this link proved true when Martin Scorsese won
the DGA and Oscar best director awards for The Departed,
which also took the Oscar for best film.
But the 2007 movie year has given way to one of the most
unpredictable Hollywood awards seasons in recent years as
Atonement and Sweeney Todd took top Globe honours, but fell
behind No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood, in
Oscar nominations.
On Sunday night, the Screen Actors Guild will hold its
annual awards and writers will not picket the event since
actors have been loyal supporters in the conflict.
No such deal has been reached with organizers of the Oscar
ceremony on Feb. 24, casting doubt on whether the movie industry's
biggest showcase will go ahead in its usual form.
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South Africa
