The Shape of Water
Los Angeles: Guillermo del Toro’s bid for Oscars glory was boosted on Saturday as he took top prize at the Directors Guild of America honors — a key predictor for the Academy Awards.
The Mexican filmmaker was crowned best director for his Cold War- era fantasy romance The Shape of Water, a month ahead of the glittering culmination of Hollywood’s annual awards season.
The 53- year- old has already scooped a Golden Globe for directing the movie, starring Sally Hawkins as a janitor in a top secret government laboratory who falls in love with a mysterious merman- like sea creature.
“This movie particularly took me to do things I was very afraid
of,” Del Toro told fellow filmmakers at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.
“It was a movie that was full of many reasons why it shouldn’t work, and those are the reasons why it works.”
Del Toro, who lives in Los Angeles, has alternated between bigbudget Hollywood popcorn fare such as Blade II and more personal Spanish- language projects such as Love Lies ( 1989) and Cronos ( 1993).
Monsters and the supernatural have been a recurring theme of his movies, which include Mimic ( 1997), both Hellboy films and his 2006 masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth.
The Shape of Water was nominated for seven Golden Globes in January, eventually taking home two, and was awarded best picture by the Producers Guild. It is up for 13 Oscars.
Alexandre Desplat, the movie’s Oscar- winning composer, said on the red carpet of his “amazing relationship” with Del Toro, describing the director as “so generous, passionate, and inspiring.” Del Toro edged out Christopher Nolan, nominated for World War II thriller Dunkirk — another film seen as a top contender for Oscar glory on March 4.
The DGA Awards are seen as a reliable bellwether of Academy Awards success — particularly the best director prize, as 13 of the last 14 winners went on to win the Oscar for best director.
A feature of speeches during the awards season has been defiant rejection of the culture of sexual harassment and gender inequality, and the DGAs were no different.