The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2011, and the recipients of the Guild's 2012 Career Achievement Awards were announced tonight during the 64th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles. Michel Hazanavicius won the DGA's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Artist.
Following the welcome by DGA President Taylor Hackford to an audience of more than 1,600 guests, director/producer/actor Kelsey Grammer hosted the ceremony.
Presenters included (in alphabetical order): DGA Secretary-Treasurer Michael Apted; Bérénice Bejo (The Artist); George Clooney (The Descendants); Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad); Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men); Laura Dern (Enlightened); Jean Dujardin (The Artist); DGA President Taylor Hackford; 2010 DGA Feature Film Award winner Tom Hooper (The King's Speech); Stana Katic (Castle); Ben Kingsley (Hugo); Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy); Kathleen Robertson (Boss); Octavia Spencer (The Help); DGA Third Vice President Betty Thomas; Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn); and Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood).
- Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist (The Weinstein Company)
- Jon Cassar, The Kennedys (Reelz Channel)
- Patty Jenkins, The Killing - Pilot (AMC)
- Robert B. Weide, Curb Your Enthusiasm - Palestinian Chicken (HBO)
- Neil DeGroot, The Biggest Loser - Episode #1115 (NBC)
- William Ludel, General Hospital - "Intervention" (ABC)
- Amy Schatz, A Child's Garden of Poetry (HBO)
- Noam Murro (Biscuit Filmworks)
Special Awards
The recipients of the Directors Guild of America Service and Achievement Awards for 2012 are:
- Edwin Sherin, Given in recognition of outstanding creative achievement, contribution to the DGA or to the profession of directing.
- Katy Garretson, Given to an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager in recognition of their career and service to the industry and the DGA.
- Dennis W. Mazzocco, Given to an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of their service to the industry and DGA.
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 while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.