18 Days Till Oscar 75: PGA and DGA Reactions
The movie told us "Razzle dazzle 'em" ... well, Chicago is certainly razzling and dazzling everyone, all the way towards its meeting with Oscar Gold, which is now just less than three weeks away. Its status as the 75th Oscars frontrunner was cemented even more this past weekend, as it took the one award we all predicted it would win, and even took one we really didn't think it would win. It's beyond a shadow of a doubt now .. Chicago is going to be a name we hear a lot of when envelopes are torn open on the 23rd of March.
Well, let's first cover the one we all pretty much predicted ... the Producers Guild announced their choice for the Best Produced Film of the Year on Sunday, and it went to Chicago ... no big surprise there. The truly big surprise came on Saturday night, when the Directors Guild held their annual awards. The DGA Award Winner is usually the best precursor as to who will win the Best Director Oscar. Only five times in the DGA's 55 year history has their winner not gone on to win the Best Director Oscar.
I think most everybody, including myself, predicted that this would finally be Martin Scorsese's year, to finally win the honors that have eluded him for so long. He may still win the Oscar, but the tide has now turned a bit more against him. How many more times will Scorsese have to endure losing a Best Director honor to a first time director??? Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, and now Rob Marshall ... surprisingly, Rob Marshall was the DGA's selection for Best Director of the Year, and this not only makes Scorsese's chances look a little more dismal, but even more puts Chicago not just firmly in the lead, but you can bet the house on it ... it's taking the prize of Best Picture for Oscar 75, no doubt about it.
Scorsese did receive a lifetime achievement award from the DGA Saturday night, and perhaps that may be the only way he'll receive an honor from the Academy as well. It's still too tough to predict right now, but Scorsese really needed a DGA win to cement his chances at an Oscar Night victory. Marshall was clearly shaken at winning the DGA honor, as I'm sure he also expected that this would be Scorsese's year. He said, "This is something I didn't quite expect", calling the experience "overwhelming."
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