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Danny Boyle Wins the 2009 Directors Guild Award

by Alex Billington
February 1, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire and Danny Boyle triumphed yet again at the Directors Guild of America Awards held last night in Beverly Hills. Boyle won the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2008 over his fellow nominees which included Christopher Nolan for The Dark Knight, David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon and Gus Van Sant for Milk. Ari Folman also won the documentary award for Waltz with Bashir. With this win, it's pretty much certain that Slumdog Millionaire is going to take both the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars on February 22nd.

"If I can get here, you can get here," Boyle said after receiving his award. "Dream hard." Only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has this winner not gone on to win the corresponding Oscar. Back when the ballots were being given to Academy members, I starting hearing early buzz in favor of Slumdog Millionaire, but at the time I wasn't sure if it could win. Now I'm pretty damn sure. I have an enormous amount of respect for all of the other Best Director nominees both here and in the Oscars, but I'm fairly certain Slumdog Millionaire and Danny Boyle will win yet again. Congrats to Boyle on yet another win!

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Related categories: Awards News, Movie News

Movie Fan

Boyle is from the same area as me! Bury, Manchester, England! And look where he is now! Totally amazing achievement and I hope he goes all of the way. Congrats, Danny, good show.
dave13

Incredible movie, he deserves every win he receives for this movie.
max

Yey, the slumdog millionaire will go far o/ great movie!
rags

Dear Danny, Hats off to you, what a movie heart touching, breath taking. U discovered Dev patel.
sumonesumtime

I thought it was mediocre at best and I think all this acclaim is undeserved. Rarely does the best picture of the year win best picture of the year. Just ask martin Scorsese or Speilberg or P.T. Anderson.
Matt

Couldn't agree more, sumonesumtime. After seeing all the praise this movie has received, I eagerly went out to see it. I'm sorry, but it was a huge disappoint. I was told I was in for something magical, what I got was something overly predictable, completely contrived, and emotionally manipulative. I want a movie to make me think, and to make me feel - but I want it to be genuine, and I want it to be legitimate. I found neither of those things in this film. The praise its getting is undeserved, but totally expected. It's "Crash" in 2004 all over again, which is a real shame - because this movie is trite. If this is what we have to turn to for "inspiration" and "feeling" in our films, then I give up. Ugh. You can bring on the hate now.
Matt

Quick Edit: This isn't to say I'm not happy for Boyle - who I think is a great filmmaker - just not a fan of this particular film.
Aequitas

I agree with Matt and sumonesumtime on certain points. The movie was good but not whats its made out to be. I personally believe it should be recognized for Cinematography and score. Since i have personally soon quite a few bollywood movies the story itself was not original. The last quarter of the movie was a serious letdown. Personally for me, two years in a row, two amazing movies have been snubbed by the awards. 2007 it was Jesse James and in 2008 its clearly Hunger.
Michelle

The right man won. Danny Boyle is probably the nicest person I've ever met, and then he makes these gorgeous films. He's an amazing guy. Alex, you guys should talk about what he did for the small child actors from Slumdog - it's another example of how great he is.
Matt

I'll agree that most of the technical aspects of the film were nice - but I'm story man myself, and if the story that's in place isn't working for me, everything else is null. And I'm going to have to say the biggest snub of 2007 was The Diving Bell & The Butterfly (I won't get started about Giamatti in Sideways or the complete lack of recognition Children Of Men received...)
Matt

Not in 2007 of course, but you know (sorry about the overposting, I'm just retarded).
billy singerle

The accolades are long overdue for Danny Boyle. I still don't understand why all this didn't happen with Millions and Sunshine, or all the way back to Trainspotting. Boyle is the new Kubrick without the 10 year wait between films.
LFJ

HA! The new Kubrick?! Come on, I mean the guys good, but - I mean are you f'ing serious?! You can't possibly be serious?! Sweet lord!
feohatestheworld

Milk will still beat it out, I mean C'mon! It's Hollywood!
Matt

It's because it is Hollywood that I promise you Slumdog will win Best Picture.
darrin

is it true that trailer will show during the oscars
viral

i hate this movie... its hype that is carrying this movie through... its got no story.. nothing real about mumbai (where i live and which i love) its just a terrible movie... comparable to some of the typical bollywood movies... i am hopeful that it wont go on to win the oscars... let this be the year for number 7!