Ben Affleck Wins Directors Guild of America Award for 'Argo'
Well, this is awkward.
As reported by Deadline, Ben Affleck won the top prize at the Directors Guild of America Awards last night, taking home the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for his hit film "Argo." The win, which further cements "Argo's" chances at the Oscars, comes despite the fact that Affleck wasn't even nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards.
And Affleck thinks that may actually be helping the film.
"I have nothing but respect for the Film Academy," Affleck said. "I’m also very grateful to the DGA. I mean, you’re not entitled to anything in life. I’m thrilled and honored that the Academy nominated me as a producer for the movie. Maybe taking me out of [the director race] helps give us purpose, because it’s just about that movie as a picture."
Since the DGA Awards were first presented by in 1948, there have been only six occasions where the winner of the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film award failed to earn the Oscar as well. Until this year, that is.
"The four folks here who are nominated I consider my betters," Affleck said, praising fellow nominees Steven Spielberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Ang Lee and Tom Hooper. "There's no other way of saying it. I work really hard at this… You know, I got to a point in my life where I was really down, really confused, really felt beset on all sides by life, didn’t know what was gonna happen. And I thought, I should be a director." He added, "I don’t think this makes me a real director. But I think it means I’m on my way."
"Argo" previously won the top prize at the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild of America Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
The only other film award given out on the evening went to Malik Bendjelloul, who won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for "Search for Sugar Man." And "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" director Milos Foreman was presented with a lifetime achievement award.
A full list of winners, including those in the television categories, can be found on the official DGA website.
