Alfonso Cuaron, Bo Burnham take home prizes at Directors Guild Awards

February 4th 2019, 9:43am

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

We’re in the final month of awards season now, with the Oscars bringing everything to a conclusion on February 24. Things are looking better and better for Alfonso Cuaron’s ROMA, as the director has once again picked up another award from the Directors Guild of America for his masterful work. Winning the award all but secures his victory at the Oscars at the end of the month, which also bodes well for the movie’s chances for Best Picture.

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This is Cuaron’s second DGA win for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, winning back in 2014 for GRAVITY, for which he would also go on to win Best Director at the Oscars. Given that the DGA and Oscars rarely split on their directing choice, the odds are incredibly high that Cuaron will take home his second Oscar soon. If so he will be the second Mexican director to do so after Alejandro G. Iñárritu won back-to-back prizes for BIRDMAN and THE REVENANT. Cuaron was presented his prize by last year’s winner Guillermo del Toro, and upon accepting Cuaron said, “Gracias, cabrón.”

Cuaron spoke to IndieWire, saying he made this movie expecting no one to see it, and the response has been “moving” and “strange”

“I said it was going to be a film that I was going to do that nobody would see and then moving on. But it’s been a really moving, strange process, finding the way people are responding, the way my peers are responding, and reconnecting with peers that I admire so much. And it’s almost overwhelming. I didn’t calculate that people would find [something so personal so universal]. I wish I could calculate those things.”

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The evening was dominated by big names, with Bill Hader taking home his first DGA for directing on the show BARRY, while Ben Stiller did the same for directing on the miniseries, ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA. The big shock of the evening came in the form of yet another snub for director Bradley Cooper, who lost First-Time Feature Film for A STAR IS BORN to Bo Burnham for his movie EIGHTH GRADE. This yet another blow for the movie once thought to cruise through awards season. Hollywood must have something against handsome, bearded, multi-Oscar-nominated actors who are also terrific directors.