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Women ruled at the DGA tonight for top honors in both film and TV drama direction. The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the Industry’s most accurate barometers for the Best Director Academy Award. Only 6 times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the Feature Film winner not gone on to win the Oscar. But tonight’s honor for The Hurt Locker‘s helmer Kathryn Bigelow is the first DGA win not just for her but the first for any female film director. 
Her team on the 2009 Summit Entertainment consisted of Unit Production Manager Tony Mark, First Assistant Director David Ticotin, and First Assistant Director (Canadian Unit) Lee Cleary. Bigelow beat out Precious‘ Lee Daniels, Up In The Air‘s Jason Reitman, Inglourious Basterds‘ Quentin Tarantino, and, most surprising of all, her ex, Avatar‘s James Cameron. Bigelow, who was only the 7th female to be nominated for the DGA award, was quoted as saying, “This is the most incredible moment of my life.”
Norman Jewison reeceived the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award, while Disney’s Bob Iger and Warner Bros’ Barry Meyer were given the 2010 Honorary Life Membership Awards.
Other DGA winners were:
Documentary: Louie Psihoyos for The Cove (Oceanic Preservation Society
and Roadside Attractions)
TV drama series: Lesli Linka Glatter for “Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency” episode of Mad Men (AMC). Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Dwayne Shattuck, First Assistant Director Adam Ben Frank, Second Assistant Director Jessica L. Lowrey, Second Second Assistant Director Elion S. Olson.
TV movie: Ross Katz for Taking Chance (HBO). Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Lori Keith Douglas, First Assistant Director Robert C. Albertell, Second Assistant Director Vanessa Hoffman, Assistant Unit Production Manager Carla Raij, Second Second Assistant Director Brendan Walsh
TV comedy series: Jason Winer for the pilot of Modern Family (ABC). Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Howard Griffith, First Assistant Director Lisa Statman, Second Assistant Director Helena Lamb, Second Second Assistant Director Shannon Speaker.
Musical variety: Don Mischer for We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial (HBO). Directorial Team: Associate Directors Gregg M. Gelfand, Lori Margules; Stage Managers Arthur E. Lewis, Dency L. Nelson, Douglas P. Smith, Tammy Raab, Douglas M. Fogel, Jeffrey Pearl, Lauren Schneider, Karen T. Weiss, Chris Hines, Elise Reaves
Daytime serials: Christopher Goutman for the now cancelled As The World Turns (CBS). Directorial Team: Associate Directors Michael Kerner, Carol Sedwick; Stage Managers Nancy Barron, Jennifer Blood; Production Associates Brett Hellman, Alexandra Von Roalsvig, Jared Lynch
Reality TV: Craig Borders for Build It Bigger Season 3: Hong Kong Bridge (Discovery Science)
Children’s programming: Allison Liddi-Brown for Princess Protection Program (Disney Channel). Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Carlos Anibal Vázquez; First Assistant Director José Gilberto Molinari-Rosaly; Second Assistant Director Colleen Comer
Commercials: Tom Kuntz of MJZ UK
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Bigelow wins for directing like a man, that is a win for no one. Funny how Jane Campion can’t win or any of our other great women directors for directing like 50% of our planet. This was the best year for women directors possibly ever and has anyone seen a spate of journalists exploring that this year? From Lone Sherfig’s “An Education” to Campions “Bright Star” to Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank”, Ellen Kuras’ Nerakhoon, Agnes Varda’s “The Beaches of Agnes” among so many others yet only the girls who act like boys get to be nominated or win. How boring and how predictable.
And the Oscar for best picture goes to… Ellen Kuras for Nerakhoon a documentary film about an immigrant from Laos living in New York.
“directing like a man”?
If you can’t back up that statement then don’t bother posting. If you knew her body of work you might change your mind. Her sensibilities are different- is that allowed for females? BTW, this chick loves her flicks, from the very beginning. I wanna be Jamie Lee Curtis in Blue Steel. The woman is an artist and a visual poet. Cameron is not. He’s a tech geek and sometimes tells good stories.
“directing like a man”?
you are ridiculously bassackwards. it’s called directing and there is no gender assigned to it. But you have managed to make the implication. Should KB only be relegated to directing films about poets and coming of age dramas and costume dramas? I’m pretty sure that I have seen 1 or 5000 men directing those as well as action, blood & guts, war films, etc. I think that once you and quite a few of the other posters get over yourselves or take your head out of your butt you will maybe realize that it is about the skill and talent, not the subject matter.
oh who am i kidding?
carry on..
The finest film about Men & War made by a woman. It’s right up there with FMJ, Platoon, & Band of Brothers.
You’re kidding, right? Talk to a vet. The only thing the Hurt Locker gets right is the look of the setting and the uniforms. The rest is typical Hollywood distortion, although it does seem to have sucked in many less informed viewers.
I served four tours in Iraq. You are full of shit. Yeah Hollywood gets stuff wrong but let me tell you “The Hurt Locker” is as close to combat as a lot of you will ever get. I nearly had to leave, it was so intense and brought back memories of Fallujah.
With all due respect, sir, the majority seem to disagree:
“Guy Marot, a former bomb-disposal officer who also served in southern Iraq, points out in the Guardian, the film is full of “numerous glaring inaccuracies,” not the least of which is Jeremy Renner’s character, an impulsive, thrill-seeking team leader who endangers himself and everyone else on his team several times throughout the story:
Staff Sgt. William James … is basically insane. He’s supposed to have dealt with some 870 devices, which is completely unbelievable — it would mean dealing with three improvised explosive devices a day — and he just rocks up near a device and puts on a bomb suit.
If a bomb-disposal officer started behaving like this, he or she would be shipped home in minutes. James makes us look like hot-headed, irrational adrenaline junkies with no self-discipline. It’s immensely disrespectful to the many officers who have lost their lives.”
The remarks from others who were there are overwhelmingly equally negative.
Is there some note in the credits that asserts that this film is based on facts? Poetry is about the essence of things.
Moreover, anonymous was talking about the experience of combat, not about bomb disposal.
Why am I guessing you haven’t even seen the film.
lol @ the Susie Come Latelys who are rallying behind Bigelow as a poster child for advancing female equality when they never knew anything about her life or career before the 2009 movie award season. I hate to break it to you, but Bigelow isn’t onboard with your cause of extolling the most banal virtues of femininity imaginable, as evidenced by her work – which has always eschewed viewing everything through a simplistic gender prism of “men evil, women perfect.” I’d like to think that she would be disheartened by the women out there who will now come out of the woodwork to use this as an easy opportunity to flex their superiority muscles over men and talk about this “breakthrough” as if it’s the 1950s and insurmountable hurdles in society are still prevalent for them. Please.
Wow! Well done KB
Oscar prediction: Avatar Best Picture Bigelow Best Director
And won’t that be interesting for the former Mr & Mrs James Cameron. I Like It!
I saw THE HURT LOCKER last night. It was a great movie, beautifully directed and incredibly intense. A real wild ride. Now, it’s only made $12.6 million at the Box Office, but that is not reflective of the qualitly of the filmmaking as it is it’s subject matter. I can’t think of another movie about our current war that there has been any real audience going out and see it. Generally it takes a number of years when some of these good movies are rediscovered and an audience will realize the impact it was going for, if they are really worth their salt. THE HURT LOCKER very well could be one of these, even if it wins the Oscar and adds 20 to 30 mil to the till, it could be remembered as something like ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT over time.
Now, not to take away from Ms. Bigelow’s increadible effort espcially considering her constraints over budget, shooting and location problems, but to be fair we must consider what Cameron went thorugh. Three years or more in prep and shooting, inventing the technology and equipment to actually shoot the movie and using post production half way around the world. Hundreds of hours of rendering before you see the actual finished scene. Orchestrating hundreds of people over several years, well you got to hand it to him. How many other directors can do what he did? He pushed the envelope of movie making that no one has done before and will become a standard of the future. And it was a hit too.
With all resepect to Kathryn Bigelow, HL is the best of the Iraq films, but is not in the same category as Platoon, Apocalypse Now, FML, etc…
It’s a very very observed character study of soldiers in war with a couple of small actions sequences. A very containable film and very well directed, but I can think of ten other directors would could have turned in a similar film. Imagine if you weren’t told who directed it and asked to make a list of ten directors who may have directed it? We could all come up with ten, including two or three women. If someone told you it was Alfonso Cuaron or Soderberh, we would believe them. But, the script is just not that great.
Avatar is without question hamfisted at times, but I simply do not believe anyone but James Cameron could have made it, including Spielberg, Zemeckis, etc…Like the calendar, there is “B.C.” and “A.D.” and now there is “Before Avatar” and “After Avatar”. If Cameron loses the Oscar, he wuz truly robbed.
After all the gushing over HURT LOCKER on this site and other sites I finally saw it On Demand last week and I have to say: the final sequence is haunting and has stayed with me the same way I can never forget the visual of the sniper turning around to reveal a young girl in Full Metal Jacket.
BUT…other than the final sequence, I don’t really get what so great about this movie. I’m not saying it was bad, it was fine. But was it really “the Best Picture of the Year???” Really?! I just don’t see it…
It is such a great thing that the talented Bigelow won, but why so so so long for a woman? disgusting. so many other greats many years prior? and sadly bigelow is winning for a dude movie. if she had directed a female driven or romcom she would not have won but woody or any other guy would have. shame for them but happy for the women.
judi, summit has nothing to do with making the hurt locker. they only released the film in the US. film was financed by voltage pictures, they took the risk. summit bought it in toronto after watching it.
Very happy for Kathryn Bigelow, and well deserved, but I think we all need to congratulate another female director this year; Lesli Linka Glatter for her amazing work on MAD MEN and many other great TV shows that she’s directed this past year!! Congrats to both amazingly talented directors!!!
So glad Bigelow won. It’s long overdue.
I did not care for some of the comments from other directors like:
“Oh and great legs too”
“And she’s so pretty”
I’m sure these same comments would have been said if a guy had one… (sarcasm)
Apples and oranges. Bigelow directed a film live, with actors, on a practical set. And achieved greatness. Cameron created an entire universe in a motion capture space, mixed with some practical locations, but he still directed actors. The strength of one cancels out the strength of another. Award should go to Cameron for overall creative achievement as a director. But Bigelow excelled at the old-school format. Still, the acad votes with sentiment, and Cameron already won one. Nod goes to Bigelow, it was an outstanding film and had me gripping the arm rests.
Drew Barrymore’s Whip It was the best woman-directed film of the year.
*dodges molatav cocktails*
Hurt Locker is far too overrated. Bigelow pretends to be Paul Greengrass. Only PG does it better. Hell she even stole PG’s DP: Barry Ackroyd. Nevertheless it is a great movie, but not Oscar-worthy. United 93 was. And so is AVATAR.
The Producers Guild started this reversal of fortune for Avatar, and the directors simply followed in lockstep with them. Avatar is a victim of its own success, and both director and picture Oscar hopes took a fatal hit Saturday night. Simply because of the enormous envy Hollywood has for Cameron. Whether we Avatar fans like it or not, the Academy will settle for less than the best. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Well deserved for Bigelow. Hurt Locker was a great film.
Just glad they didn’t give to Daniels. He makes my skin crawl.
Lee Daniels is amazing anonymous. Stop drinking the hatorade!