The Directors Guild of America held their annual awards ceremony on February 2, with Ben Affleck winning the top prize of the night for directing "Argo."
Ben Affleck beat out Oscar nominees Ang Lee ("Life of Pi") , Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln"), and Tom Hooper ("Les Miserables") for the best director of the year. Kathryn Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty") was the final nominee in the category; she did not get nominated for the Best Director Oscar. While receiving his award, Affleck said "I don't believe this makes me a real director, but I think I am on my way." He added that "There was a point in my life where I was really down and really confused ... didn't know what was going to happen and I thought 'I could be a director'."
With the win Affleck became the seventh director to take home the DGA award without winning the corresponding Oscar. Affleck is not nominated for the director award at the Oscars and therefore will not compete on February 24th. The victory also boosted "Argo's" status as the front-runner for the Oscar as it won two major Guild awards last weekend (SAG and PGA) in addition to the Golden Globe and Critics' Choice.
Other DGA winners included Lena Dunham for her award winning HBO show "Girls" and Rian Johnson for "Breaking Bad." Jay Roach won for his Sarah Palin film "Game Change." The Best Documenatry front-runner "Searching for Sugarman" won best director for Malik Bendjelloul.
Complete list of winners:
Best Feature: Ben Affleck, Argo
Best Documentary Feature: Malik Bendjelloul, Searching for Sugarman
Televison Directors award winners, after the cut.
Best TV Miniseries: Jay Roach, Game Change
Best Drama Series: Rian Johnson, Breaking Bad
Best Comedy Series: Lena Dunham, Girls
Best Reality Series: Brian Smith, Master Chef
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