LOS ANGELES (AP) - January 30, 2010
The directors of these films - Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron, Lee Daniels, Quentin Tarantino and Jason Reitman - compete Saturday for the top prize from the Directors Guild of America, an award that almost always predicts the Oscar winner for best director.
Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" has already won directing and best-picture honors from the National Society of Film Critics, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and at the Critics' Choice Awards, where both competed against the same four DGA nominees. "The Hurt Locker" was also the Producers Guild's best picture winner.
Cameron, who is Bigelow's ex-husband, was best director and "Avatar" best picture at the Golden Globes. "Precious" has won half a dozen awards for supporting actress Mo'Nique. "Basterds" won acting ensemble honors from Critics' Choice and the Screen Actors Guild. "Up in the Air" was the National Board of Review's pick for best picture.
The DGA Web site boasts that its winner has gone on to win the Academy Award for directing all but six times since 1948, and typically, the film that wins the Oscar for best director goes on to win for best picture.
The guild will also present awards in documentary, television and commercial categories. Norman Jewison will receive the guild's Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Motion Picture Direction at the ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel.
