‘Birdman’ filmmaker honored by directors
LOS ANGELES – “Birdman” has cracked another awards ceremony.
After taking top honors from the acting and producing guilds, the film about a washed-up Hollywood actor played by Michael Keaton won the top prize at the Directors Guild Awards.
“Birdman” writer-director Alejandro Inarritu was honored at Saturday’s ceremony with the prize for outstanding directional achievement for a feature film, giving Inarritu and possibly “Birdman” an edge ahead of the Academy Awards.
“If this is considered a great film, it has nothing to do with me,” said Inarritu speaking about the difficulties of making movies as he accepted his award. “It is a miracle.”
The guild dispenses awards to directors in TV and movie categories in what’s customarily a final calling for the film that goes on to win the best director trophy and possibly best picture at the Oscars.
Inarritu flew past Richard Linklater (”Boyhood”), Wes Anderson (”The Grand Budapest Hotel”), Morten Tyldum (”The Imitation Game”) and Clint Eastwood (”American Sniper”) to win the film directing trophy. They’ll face off again Feb. 22 for the best director Oscar, except for Eastwood who was not nominated. Instead, “Foxcatcher” filmmaker Bennett Miller is up for that honor at the Academy Awards.
Several of the evening’s prizes went to female directors: Jill Soloway for the TV comedy “Transparent,” Lisa Cholodenko for the TV movie/miniseries “Olive Kitteridge,” Laura Poitras for the documentary “Citizenfour” and Lesli Linka Glatter for the TV drama “Homeland.”
“It’s been a good night for gals,” said Linka Glatter backstage. “I think when you see women get up to bat, they do pretty well.”
Other winners were Anthony Sacco for the reality series “The Chair,” Jonathan Judge for the children’s program “100 Things to Do Before High School,” Glenn Weiss for the 68th annual Tony Awards, Dave Diomedi for “The Tonight Show” and Nicolai Fuglsig for a Guinness commercial.
With nearly 16,000 members, including TV and commercial directors, the DGA nominees often reflect a more populist lineup when compared with picks from the nearly 400 members of the directors’ branch of the motion picture academy.
However, when it comes to the best director accolade, the ceremony is usually an accurate predictor. In the 66-year history of the awards, the winner has failed to also take home the best director Oscar just seven times.
Most recently, Ben Affleck won the guild award for “Argo” in 2013, but he was denied a best director nomination at the Oscars. Last year, Alfonso Cuarsn won both awards for “Gravity.”