Posts Tagged ‘Lee Daniels’

Kathryn Bigelow accepting the DGA's award for Best Director for "The Hurt Locker"

Kathryn Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker, won the Director’s Guild of America’s award for Best Director, beating out ex-husband James Cameron (Avatar), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), and Lee Daniels (Precious).

She is the first woman to ever receive the award.

The DGA’s decision is seldom challenged by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as the winner of the first has won the second with only 6 exceptions since 1948 (the most recent being the DGA awarding Rob Marshall for Chicago and the Oscars awarding Roman Polanski for The Pianist).

Bigelow’s win continues The Hurt Locker‘s momentum, as it also won the Producer’s Guild of America award for Best Producing, and the National Society of Film Critic’s award for Best Picture. Mark Boal, the film’s screenwriter, is also nominated for the WGA’s Screenwriting Award (the winners will be announced Feb. 20th). The American Film Institute also listed the film among its Top 10 films of the year.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Quick Opinion: Kathryn Bigelow deserves a loud congratulations from the filming community indeed, as with any woman who breaks down a barrier in Hollywood. But even though the DGA’s pick is usually a reliable bet for the Academy Awards, I don’t think her winning the Best Director Oscar is a sure thing. James Cameron’s Avatar will surely be nominated for Best Picture, and his technical innovation for the film still makes him the front runner for the award in my opinion. Bigelow broke down social barriers, and Cameron broke down artistic and technological ones. It all depends on what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences believes is more impressive.

Joel and Ethan Coen handle directing/producing duties arguably better than anyone

In an article for Variety.com, feature writer Anthony Kaufman sheds light on the world of filmmakers who decide/are able to both direct and produce their movies. People like Peter Jackson, Clint Eastwood, and the Coen brothers are members of an elite group that has won Oscars for both directing and producing, and accomplishing such a feat is even harder than one might think.

The two different, and arguably opposing functions of directors and producers is perhaps the number one reason for the high level of difficulty in doing both. It’s the job of the director to make sure the artistic quality of a film is the highest it can be, and the producer’s job is to manage and organize all aspects connected to a film’s financing. Being that art can be very costly, directors and producers naturally clash every so often during the making of a movie. And aside from this, the simple fact that one person is doing two jobs makes the endeavor daunting.

A positive way of looking at the added responsibility is to say that having to keep both art and practicality in mind while making all decisions is a very useful skill to have because it keeps either from getting out of hand. If a film’s artistic side is met with too few limitations it can make it appealing to too narrow an audience, while if the budget hampers the art’s ability to express itself sufficiently the overall quality of the product suffers.

Director Lee Daniels (Precious) sums up the job of director/producer like this: It’s “powerful, but a powerful curse.” Read more about the job of being a director/producer by clicking on the link below.

Source: Variety

In Other News…

Blake Lively

Gossip Girl and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star Blake Lively has been cast in Warner Brothers’ Green Lantern. She will reportedly be the romantic interest opposite star Ryan Reynolds, who is playing the supernatural superhero.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Short Take: Uncomprimisingly harsh, which helps make it so inspirational

Director: Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer)

Screenwriters: Geoffrey Fletcher

Cast: Gabourey Sidibe (début), Mo’Nique (Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins; Phat Girlz)

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Synopsis: Clareece “Precious” Jones is a 16-year-old girl living in 1980′s Harlem.  Still in the eighth grade and pregnant with her second child by her father, she is sent to a special school where she finally learns to read and write and is given the support and confidence she needs to finally escape her physically and emotionally abusive mother.

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