The Oscar race continues to be a tight one, with Tom Hooper being awarded the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The King’s Speech at the 63rd annual Director Guild of America Awards, a prize considered to be an excellent prognosticator for who will win the Best Director Academy award.
Other winners included:
Drama Series: Martin Scorsese, Boardwalk Empire
Comedy Series: Michael Spiller, Modern Family
Documentary: Charles Ferguson, Inside Job
LOL!!! Nolan loses another one! Thanks jesus
Hilarious that Social network pr people on here trying to compare it to citizen kane. Its a mediocre film. Hopefully academy members can see that
Nolan directed Inception, you idiot. And Anthony, you’re also an idiot if you think Nolan had any chance after the Oscars ripped him off.
I agree with Holly – the Social Network is highly over rated. The King’s Speech should win the Oscar for Best Picture hands down!
I agree with Holly. Social Network p.r. people have been trying to relentlessly cram this movie down our collective throats for months. The DGA winner is voted by Directors. It is a vote by directors for one of their peers. Obviously they know something about directing and were not swayed by out of control p.r.
Yeah the Social Network really is a mediocre film. Particularly from a directorial point of view. The script saved that movie, barely, from being atrocious. Why people can’t see that I don’t know.
Ehh, I liked Social Network better. King’s Speech felt like a PBS movie
Social Network felt like a TV show about litigation.
I agree Toy Story 3 should win.
I don’t care if it reads pretentious, but The Social Network is easily one of the best films in the past decade. Those of you who think it is “overrated” or “mediocre” are victims of your own ineptitude.
I don’t believe that a person can admire say they have watched and admired Citizen Kane and not apprecitate The Social Network. Not because the movies are similar, but because I don’t think it is possible for recognize that both are excellent productions with intelligent screenplays. Face it, half of you haters don’t like much beyond superhero movies, horror flicks and Justin Beiber.
TSN was a great film. Haters are so eloquent with their critiques. MORE people would probably go watch TSN if the cover comments read like this:
“a mediocre film.” – Holly from internet message boards
“The script saved that movie, barely, from being atrocious. Why people can’t see that I don’t know.” Tom, …also from internet message boards.
Ant then if inception comments read:
“LOL!!! Nolan loses another one! Thanks jesus” Anthony G, from the internet message boards. Regarding the DGA awards.
Zach, while it would not be prudent to predict Nolan, the lack of an Academy nod may not have meant zero shot. Ron Howard won in 95 without the bd nod from ampas, so it did not mean zero chance necessarily.
All you lemmings are hilarious. “I agree with Holly..blah blah..blah.” No one cares what you think. You don’t have a vote.
No one cares what a tool who tries to deflect opinions thinks
Uhhh… Actually, I did vote for the DGA awards. And I didn’t vote for Fincher. Apparently there were many more like me. That’s why he lost.
The last thing I would call this Oscar race is a “Tight One” at this point. After the PGA, the DGA, and the leading 12 Oscar noms, The King’s Speech has it in the bag.
I am still not convinced that Tom Hooper will win the Best Director Oscar because David Fincher is a hot Director this could be similar to the 2000 Award season when Ang Lee won the DGA and Steven Soderbergh won the Oscar.
The difference between 2010 and 2000 is momentum. Social Network has lost all momentum. It’s been relentlessly hyped and it’s been out long enough for many people to see that although watchable, it is nothing great. King’s Speech currently feels fresher and hasn’t been over-hyped liked Social Network so people feel like they’ve found it on their own. When a movie doesn’t win the Producers Guild or the Directors Guild and doesn’t have an amazing acting performance… it doesn’t stand a chance of winning an Oscar for best director.
Sadly, you have a point. But you shouldn’t. Because the Social Network was atrociously directed. Zero pacing, the story dragged, the actor’s were confused. It’s one of David Fincher’s worst efforts. If he gets a Best Directing Oscar for that, it’s laughable and will destroy what little credibility that category has left.
It’s actually a tight race this year. King’s Speech has two big awards while Social Network as won about a dozen other smaller ones, except for the globes which is a pretty big one.
King will sweep the BAFTAS (duh), and I think Fighter will win the SAG.
Looks like The King’s Speech will get Best Picture, but I still think David Fincher will get the Oscar for Best Director.
That’s exactly what I’m putting on my ballot in the Oscar pool.
Liz Lemon knows her stuff.
While the race is certainly tight, I’m still predicting The Social Network for Best Picture and Best Director.
Predict all you want. Social Network won’t win a thing.
It’ll win Best Adapted Screenplay at least.
Best adapted screenplay from a book by a guy who sued Mark Zuckerberg. At any second rate college if you used one source to explore any topic for a term paper you’d be given a “C”. Best adapted screenplay that also made up two key scenes in the movie which never really happened in real life: The girl breaking up with Zuckerberg in the beginning of the movie is a fictional character who never existed and therefore couldn’t be “friended” in the movie’s final scene. The first and last scenes of the movie never happened, the movie’s premise and it’s final statement were totally fiction. The script is what is worst about Social Network. But I don’t disagree with you… it does have a chance to win best adapted screenplay. Too bad, though, because it is adapted script writing at its worst.
Erica Albright fictional? She is a real person, look her up.
Any movie based on real events has made up scenes, dialouge, and even characters. This goes for Social Network, King’s Speech, and Fighter.
I have looked her up. She is not a real person. Google “Erica Albright” and you will see that I am right. After Social Network was released, websites such as ericaalbright.com/ were set up… but if you do any real reading about “Erica Albright” you will see that there is no such person who ever dated Mark Zuckerberg. Since before Facebook, Mark has been dating Prescilla Chan. You could google her as well.
It is true that many movies based on real events make up events and characters… but Social Network’s made-up character supposedly drives Zuckerberg to create Facebook. That’s the thrust of the whole movie and yet it is fictional. The filmmakers never really explored the true beginnings of Facebook. For that reason alone the movie misses an opportunity to be great or snapshot.
…or a snapshot of our current times.
I wish I could post videos on here cause she has been on talk shows. Either way, not worth debating or whatever.
Mike, I wish you could post a video of Erica Albright because I’d love to see what an imaginary character looks like. To everyone else who is reading don’t take my word for it, try googling the name Erica Albright and you will see she does not exist.
That was funny!
interesting. i thought everyone had been saying that Fincher had this category locked up.
Finch does not campaign for these things and does not follow the rules–he hates interviews, so he may not be awarded, even if he deserves it.
Ugh. Seriously? Say what you want about The King’s Speech as a movie, but Hooper did not deserve that award.
THANK YOU. I hope the Academy has more sense, but this is shaping up to be like Citizen Kane and the movie that beat it…
Oh please. Social Network is no Citizen Kane.
The Social Network = Citizen Kane?
Please.
The Social Network is NOT Citizen Kane. Come on. If anything it’s far, far overpraised for what it was.
The people who gave Tom Hooper the award are the same people who vote for the Academy Awards, fyi.
no, they’re not the same. the dga is just a small subsection of who votes for the best director oscar
Opposite, sal. A small subsection of the DGA votes for the Oscar.
I think the comparisons to Citizen Kane are mostly about the storyline about one man’s rise to power or whatever. I don’t think they mean it’s the best thing ever made. That said I think King’s Speech was good, but is really being overrated. Social Network was much better, but the real directing achievement was Nolan’s “Inception”. It’s nice when the academy knows the difference between what’s a well produced film vs. a well acted or directed one. We’ll see what happens.
The DGA is NOT a small subsection of Oscar voters. It is a much larger organization that includes the exclusive group that votes for the director Oscar. The former has over 13,000 members, and the latter only dozens (I can’t find the exact number).
Social Network as Citizen Kane? Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. The DGA is made up of directors, many of whom are in the academy which is mostly made up of actors… that is why great acting movies always win the Academy Awards. The great actor films of 2010 are King’s Speech, The Fighter, Black Swan, True Grit. Social Network is the least interesting film acting wise of this year’s movies and that is why actors who make up the bulk of academy voters will not select Fincher as the best director. Add to the fact that he just doesn’t deserve it. Even he has made better films than Social Network.
Ehh, it’s a stretch to compare this situation to Citizen Kane. The combination of William Randolph Hurst speaking out against the film, with people who felt it went against the Hollywood norm made it lose Best Picture and director. Still, it’s not like “How Green Was My Valley” was a bad film either (the movie that beat Citizen Kane.) Personally I like The Social Network more than The King’s Speech, I’m just personally upset because I thought the direction in The King’s Speech was not as impressive as the other nominees.
I agree. Good movie, but not deserving of an award for Directing.
I disagree. Hooper took a period, buddy dramedy and shot it like a British crime drama (extreme wide-close ups, prolonged siliences, weird angles and shot composition) and managed to make the two things work together. Fincher’s actual DIRECTING (not the topic of the film, which people seem to keep confusing) was actually pretty straight-forward and conventional.
That’s exactly what I think. There’s no great Achievement in The King’s Speech, talking about Direction, at least.
Anyway, I didn’t like the movie as a whole as much as Black Swan, but I guess it’s a matter of tastes.
Has anybody else noticed the Academy acts like the Ministry of Magic??? If King’s Speech wins 12 Oscars I’m gonna quit witchcraft and go on welfare.
What does that even mean?
Lol. I’m the biggest HP fan in the world, but I didn’t get that metaphor.
Wow.
As much as I loved The King’s Speech, I don’t think Hooper deserved the award. While I still think Fincher will win the Oscar, it looks like the Best Picture race is pulling out of The Social Network’s reach. You know The King’s Speech is going to clean up at the BAFTAs, and I think The Fighter will win the SAG.
I’m genuinely surprised at the DGA though.
Yea, Hooper beating out Fincher is a huge upset. I’m glad though as every other director seemed to be more deserving. In my opinion, Social Network was actually the least interesting film of all those up for the award.
No one cares what you think, little Billy.
Apparently you do. That’s why you’ve resorted to name calling instead of presenting your opinion. And it also may be why you’ve chosen to post comments under a just registered screen name using my name. So who do you work for?
Whoa, I wasn’t expecting this. I still think Fincher will win the Oscar, but I think ‘The King’s Speech’ just took a huge step forward in the Best Picture race. I think a split in those 2 categories is coming.
I’m really disappointed that Fincher didn’t win this. This is THE movie of the year and is an all around beautifully done film. This is a movie that perfectly captures a moment in current history. The King’s Speech, while wonderful, is the type of film that generally wins because it’s safe and classy.
Well, you can argue that The King’s Speech perfectly captures a moment in history as well. And given that everyone involved with TSN has said it’s extremely fictionalized, I think you should probably leave history out of it.
Another example of the morons who hand out these awards going with the tried and true award skewing formula and overlooking far more innovative films. I’m not saying The King’s Speech is a bad film, but haven’t enough of these traditional man/woman triumphs over
adversity stories gotten a bit cliche? The last time something truly innovative one Best Picture was American Beauty, and that was twelve F***ing years ago!
I actually beg to differ. If anything, the 1990s were extremely “safe” in their Best Picture winners while the 2000s were a little edger or keen on off-kilter films.
While none of them may be truly “innovative” (I don’t see anything that innovative about TSN, but for the sake of the argument …), I don’t think you’d have winners like The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, Return of the King or even The Departed if they’d been released in the 1990s. Probably the two most standard BP winners of the past decade were Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, and they have more in common with movies from the late ’90s anyway.
The 1990s had better films. The 2000s have been really bad so far. But James is right the awarded choices were hardly controversial. Forrest Gump winning, for both director and picture, over Pulp Fiction and the Shawshank Redemption was fairly normal for the 90s awards and indicative of how the Oscars played it safe throughout the decade. You can go down the list, Philadelphia, etc. There’s a reason why Tom Hanks won 2 Best Actor Oscars for some of his safest roles in the 90s.
I know we’re all curious, so here it goes:
Since 2000, eight of the 10 DGA winners went on to win the Best Director Oscar. In one of the misses (Rob Marshall for Chicago; Roman Polanski won the Oscar), the film still went on to win Best Picture. The other miss was Ang Lee winning the DGA and Steven Soderbergh winning the Oscar.
Since 1990 (first PGA awards), however, three films have won both the DGA and the PGA but not won the Best Picture Oscar. They are: Brokeback Mountain, Saving Private Ryan and Apollo 13. In at least two of those cases, though, the BP winner was a pretty shocking upset.
The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, Return of the King, Chicago, American Beauty, Titanic, The English Patient, Forrest Gump, Schindler’s List, The Silence of the Lambs and Dances With Wolves all won the PGA and the DGA, and went on to win Best Picture.
just because a movie is based on “facebook” cant help overlook the fact that u cant connect to any of it’s characters,emotionally or otherwise…im sorry but it was a ver well deserved win…(just my own opinion though with total respect for the social network and its fanbase)
p.s:i hope the fighter wins the SAG
I could connect to the characters quite easily. The actors played them so well.
@amy the actors were mediocre IMO
L, I agree with you. The characters just didn’t matter to me. They came off as just a bunch of rich kids suing each other. Boring! I see this as a problem of the movie not the personalities involved. There is a good movie somewhere in this story… but the writer and director didn’t find it… and the actors really didn’t get a chance to play anything interesting.
@Billy doolan
Agree with you. The writing was really good in TSN but Sorkin gave meno way to care about any of the main characters.
Was there anyone who saw The King’s Speech that wanted him to fail at the end?
Yay for Tom Hooper and The King’s Speech! I’m seriously hoping this is a harbinger of Oscar gold for Best Picture. I looooooved The King’s Speech, so I’m pulling for it to win over The Social Network, which I really didn’t like.
See, am I the only person who thought The King’s Speech wasn’t necessarily ‘safe’? I think people are quick to assume that because it’s a historical drama that it’s safe, boring, cliche, quiet, and the like, when in all actuality, it wasn’t. I think it being ‘safe and classy’ is a weak argument for it NOT to win Best Picture.
You know, I kind of agree with you. It was definitely NOT a sweeping biographic epic. If anything, it was very intimate and small-scale. For a film to be that affecting with such a simple premise — guy has a speech impediment and gets help with it — is pretty impressive.
I think ultimately it’s that emotional connection that will push it over the hump.
Abbey, I completely agree with you. Since when was such a small-budget, intimate, independent movie about such an obscure subject, and with no box office draws, no sex, no sports, no violence, no musical show-stoppers, and no spectacle, garner such love – and stellar receipts? Yes, there have been British films that have won acclaim, but they were admired rather than loved, eg. Howard’s End and The Queen. If you had told me that a British king getting through a speech without a major stutter would make American audiences applause in theaters all around the country, I would have said you were crazy. This is no Crash or Chicago. There is something going on here that is unprecedented. Critics have been so distracted by their lazy and superficial “oscar bait” critique of TKS and their praise of the good but overrated TSN that they have completely missed this phenomenon. With its clever, hip and “ain’t I with-it” sheen, and its glib, cynical and ironic message, it may be TSN that was the “critic Oscar bait.” Apparently, the heart is winning over cynicism with the votes that REALLY count.
THANK YOU! Cinematographers have been debating about whether they liked it or not because of how it was shot. He broke a lot of rules and did some very different things visually, but everyone keeps focusing on the fact that it’s a period film. If he had shot a thriller or suspense movie the way he shot TKS, he’d be getting more credit from the masses. It keeps getting dimissed because it’s a feel good story featuring the royal family. I think, to people that really like film and study film, it is going to be looked back on one day as a great example of how you can make simple scenes with just dialogue look as dynamic as scenes with special effects.
i have to say, the cinematography is amazing in this movie, the shots, the angles,the look of it!
i kept marvelling at logue office minimalist look!
The Social Network is totally overrated. I’m glad people are finally getting it.
Fincher apparently ran out of the DGA awards the moment he lost. Sore loser much?
I’m shocked. Kind of. I guess The King’s Speech is the movie of the moment right now. If anyone was going to beat Fincher, I was sure it would be Aronofsky – his direction was what elevated Black Swan from simple lurid, horror/thriller territory. If anyone was robbed, it was him.
Agree, the takes where Nina is dancing are beautiful. Tom Hooper just narrate a pretty emotive story with good performances.