Directors Guild Awards 2007

2007 Directors Guild Awards
2007 Directors Guild of America nominations: feature film nominees on January 9, 2007; made-for-TV movies on January 10, 2007; other television nominees on January 11; and documentary and commercials nominees on January 16, 2007
2007 DGA Award winners: Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on February 3, 2007
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Steven Spielberg, DGA winner Martin Scorsese, and Leonardo DiCaprio © DGA
 

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film:
BILL CONDON – Dreamgirls (Paramount Pictures)
Bill Condon’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Patricia Whitcher
First Assistant Director: Richard Graves
Second Assistant Director: Eric Sherman
Second Second Assistant Director: Renee Hill-Sweet
JONATHAN DAYTON & VALERIE FARIS – Little Miss Sunshine (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Michael Beugg
First Assistant [...]

DGA Awards 2007: Nominations

Helen Mirren in The Queen (top); Brad Pitt in Babel (middle); Jennifer Hudson, Beyoncé Knowles, Anika Noni Rose in Dreamgirls (bottom)

The Directors Guild of America has announced the five features nominated for the 2007 DGA Award.
The biggest surprise was the absence of the much-revered Clint Eastwood — for either Flags of Our Fathers or Letters from Iwo Jima, or both — winner of last year’s DGA Lifetime Achievement Award. (In The Envelope, Tom O’Neil states that DGA members, who weren’t able to receive screeners this year, didn’t get a chance to check out Letters from Iwo Jima, which opened late in December.)
Also missing from the DGA list were Paul Greengrass, whose United 93 has been chosen best film of [...]

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE – Awards and Nominations

Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine

Unless otherwise stated, all Little Miss Sunshine awards/nominations are for the year 2006.

Academy Awards: 4 nominations (best film; best supporting actor, Alan Arkin; best supporting actress, Abigail Breslin; best original screenplay, Michael Arndt)
American Cinema Editors: 1 nomination (best edited feature film, comedy or musical, Pamela Martin)
British Academy Awards: 2 wins (best supporting actor, Alan Arkin; best original screenplay, Michael Arndt)

4 additional nominations (best film; best directors, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; best supporting actress, Abigail Breslin; best supporting actress, Toni Collette)

Broadcast Film Critics Association: 4 wins (best acting ensemble; best writing, Michael Arndt; best young actor, Paul Dano; best young actress, Abigail Breslin)

3 additional [...]

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE d: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Direction: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
Screenplay: Michael Arndt
Cast: Greg Kinnear, Toni Collette, Steve Carell, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, Paul Dano
 

More often than not, the term "independent film" merely indicates that an American production has received its financing from sources outside — or somewhere in the outskirts of — the Hollywood studio system. Only sporadically does the label "independent film" refer to edgy, challenging, and/or unconventional filmmaking.
Instead, "independent filmmakers" usually concoct storylines as conventional as those being churned out by the studios, probably in the hopes of selling their screenplays (or finished films) to a major distributor. Considering the amount of money involved, who can blame them? All they need is to wrap their films’ cliché-ridden core [...]