2009 Directors Guild Awards Give Boyle's 'Slumdog' Top Honours

by Jarrett Martineau | February 2, 2009 at 08:44 am

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Awards season is upon us, movie-goers, and last night Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' added another big victory to its scores of honours when Boyle was named Best Director by the Directors Guild of America at their annual awards gala.

Danny Boyle, whose rags-to-riches romance "Slumdog Millionaire" has won over U.S. audiences, was named best director by the Directors Guild of America on Saturday, cementing the movie's position as the Oscar front-runner.

The DGA victory is known to be a frequently accurate prediction for the eventual Best Director winner at the Academy Awards and it will be interesting to see if Boyle will beat out David Fincher's 'Benjamin Button' on Oscars night.

The DGA honor is an indicator of which movie is the front-runner for the best picture Oscar, the world's top film award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In all but six of the award's 61 years, the DGA winner has also won the best director Academy Award, and generally over the history of the Oscars, the winner of best director sees his film go on to claim best movie.

"Slumdog" already has won the best drama Golden Globe Award. It has been honored by the Producers Guild of America as the year's best movie and has seen its actors earn the best ensemble cast from the Screen Actors Guild.