For the nineteenth time, Actor/Director/Comedian Carl Reiner hosted the Awards ceremony before an audience of 1,200 guests. The presenters included: DGA President Michael Apted, Mischa Barton (The O.C.), Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), DGA Board member LeVar Burton, Sandra Oh and Paul Giamatti (Sideways), Teri Hatcher (Desperate Housewives), Regina King and Kerry Washington (Ray), Diane Lane (Unfaithful), Director Garry Marshall (The Princess Diaries), Ian McShane (Deadwood), Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica), DGA Second Vice President Ed Sherin, Abby Singer, Academy Award(R) winner Halle Berry (Monster's Ball), DGA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Steven Spielberg, and 77th Annual Academy Award(R) nominees: Cate Blanchett (The Aviator), Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator), Thomas Haden Church (Sideways), Jamie Foxx (Ray and Collateral), Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby), Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace) and Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby).
The DGA's Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally served as a near-perfect barometer for the Academy Award for Best Director. Only six times since the DGA Award's inception in 1949 has the winner not gone on to receive the Academy Award for Best Director.
The winners of the 2004 Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and the recipients of the Guild's 2004 Lifetime Achievement Awards, are:
DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA NOMINEES:
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FEATURE FILM
WINNER CLINT EASTWOOD - "Million Dollar Baby" (Warner Bros.) This is Mr. Eastwood's third DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He received a previous nomination for "Mystic River" (2003) and won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for "Unforgiven" (1992).
MARC FORSTER - "Finding Neverland" (Miramax Films) This is Mr. Forster's first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
TAYLOR HACKFORD - "Ray" (Universal Pictures) This is Mr. Hackford's second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982).
ALEXANDER PAYNE - "Sideways" (Fox Searchlight) This is Mr. Payne's first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
MARTIN SCORSESE - "The Aviator" (Miramax Films) This is Mr. Scorsese's sixth DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for "Gangs of New York" (2002), "The Age of Innocence" (1993), "Goodfellas" (1990), "Raging Bull" (1980) and "Taxi Driver" (1976). In 1999 Scorsese was presented with the Filmmaker Award at the inaugural DGA Honors Gala and he won the DGA's highest artistic honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award (for distinguished achievement in film direction) in 2003.
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DOCUMENTARY
BYAMBASUREN DAVAA & LUIGI FALORNI - "The Story of the Weeping Camel"
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN MOVIES FOR TELEVISION
JOE SARGENT - "Something the Lord Made" (HBO) - This is Sargent's third win out of seven previous DGA nominations. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television in 1973 for The Marcus Nelson Murders. That year he also won the DGA Television Award for Most Outstanding TV Director 1973. Sargent's other nominations include: For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story in 2000; A Lesson Before Dying in 1999; Miss Evers' Boys in 1997; World War II: When Lions Roared in 1994; and Miss Rose White in 1992.
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMATIC SERIES NIGHT
WALTER HILL - "Deadwood"-PILOT (HBO) - This is Hill's first DGA Award.
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN COMEDY SERIES
TIM VAN PATTEN - "Sex and the City" -SEX AND THE CITY - "AN AMERICAN GIRL IN PARIS: PART DEUX" (HBO) - This is Van Patten's second win in the Comedy Series category out of four DGA Award nominations. In 2003, he won the Comedy Series award for "BOY INTERRUPTED" (SEX AND THE CITY). In 2002, he was nominated in the Dramatic Series Night category for "WHOEVER DID THIS" (THE SOPRANOS). This year, he was also nominated in the Dramatic Series Night category for "LONG TERM PARKING" (THE SOPRANOS).
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSICAL VARIETY
BRUCE GOWERS - "Genius: A Night for Ray Charles" (CBS) - This is Gowers' first DGA Award. He was also nominated for the FLEETWOOD MAC REUNION SPECIAL in 1997.
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA
