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Directors Guild Latest To Honor 'Slumdog'

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 2, 2009

"Slumdog Millionaire" continued its rags-to-riches march through Hollywood's awards season as its filmmaker, Danny Boyle, won the top honor Saturday from the Directors Guild of America.

The win puts Boyle on the inside track for the same prize at the Academy Awards on Feb. 22, since the guild recipient almost always goes on to win the directing Oscar.

Although "Slumdog Millionaire" started as an underdog that nearly went straight to DVD, it has emerged as the Oscar favorite. Audiences have embraced Boyle's tale of a poor boy rising to fame and fortune from the streets of Mumbai, and the film triumphed at the Golden Globes and Producers Guild of America Awards, while taking the prize for best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild.

Backstage, Boyle joked about the fact that his award was presented by Joel and Ethan Coen, who won the prize a year ago for "No Country for Old Men."

"To step into the shoes of people like the Coen brothers, I mean, it's phenomenal, because I have, as I admitted in the earlier speech, I've stolen from them all my career," he said. "I mean in a naked and appalling way."

"The Office" won the top honor for television comedy, "The Wire" took the award for TV drama, and "Recount" won for TV movie.

Paul Feig received the award for an installment of "The Office," whose competition included two episodes of "30 Rock," the series that has dominated at recent Hollywood honors such as the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

"We're in a real golden age of TV comedy, and I'm just happy to be part of it," Feig said backstage.

"Austin Powers" and "Meet the Parents" director Jay Roach was the recipient for the election drama "Recount."

Ari Folman's "Waltz With Bashir" won the documentary award. The film, which is nominated in the foreign-language category at the Academy Awards, is director Folman's animated study of an Israeli soldier struggling to recall suppressed memories of his involvement in the war with Lebanon.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert was honored with an honorary life membership in the guild.

Michael Apted, the guild's president, noted that Ebert no longer can speak because of complications from thyroid cancer, but he told Ebert, "We're happy that it didn't stop you from writing about our work."

The ceremony featured recorded testimonials to Ebert from directors including Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone.

"The motion picture is the art form I love above all others," Ebert said in a statement recorded via a synthetic computer voice with a British accent. "It is the symphony, and you are the conductors."

Today's Birthdays

Rock singer-guitarist Graham Nash is 67. Country singer Howard Bellamy (The Bellamy Brothers) is 63. Actress Farrah Fawcett is 62. Actor Brent Spiner is 60. Rock musician Ross Valory (Journey) is 60. Model Christie Brinkley is 55. Actor Michael Talbott is 54. Singer Shakira is 32.

Source: The Associated Press

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