DGA Announces Presenters for 64th Annual DGA Awards

TrendPK.com: DGA President Taylor Hackford today announced the presenters for the 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards. The ceremony, to be hosted by director/producer/actor Kelsey Grammer, will take place on Saturday, January 28, 2012 in the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.

The slate of confirmed presenters for the DGA Awards includes:
Michael Apted
Berenice Bejo
Jessica Chastain
George Clooney
Jon Cryer
Laura Dern
Jean Dujardin
Taylor Hackford
Tom Hooper
Stana Katic
Ben Kingsley
Kathleen Robertson
Octavia Spencer
Betty Thomas
Michelle Williams
Owen Wilson
Deborah Ann Woll

The nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film are:
Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
David Fincher (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

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About the DGA: In the 76 years since its founding in 1936, the Directors Guild of America has fought for the economic and creative rights of its members; protected their ability to financially benefit from the reuse of their work; established strong pension and health plans; and established jurisdiction in new technologies and distribution platforms. Today the DGA represents 14,500 directors and members of the directorial team working in film, television, commercials, new media and other audiovisual media.

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Film directors pick nominees for best movie

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood’s Oscar race narrowed further on Monday when a key directors’ group picked their top five movies and filmmakers, including David Fincher with his Facebook film “The Social Network.”

The Directors Guild of America, which represents men and women who make movies, also put the makers of “Black Swan,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Fighter” and “Inception” on its list of nominees for best directing efforts of 2010.

“Their inspired films radiate the passion and unique vision of each of these filmmakers, who are about to become part of our Guild’s rich history. My sincerest congratulations to all five nominees,” DGA president Taylor Hackford said in a statement, noting 2011 marks the group’s 75th anniversary.

The DGA honor is important because it is one of the most prestigious honors in the U.S. film industry, and because there is a strong correlation between DGA nominees and directors who will vie for Oscars, the world’s top movie honors.

In all but six years since the DGA began giving out awards in 1948, its winner of best director has won the Academy Award, and traditionally the winner of best director has often seen his or her film go on to take best movie from Oscar organizers at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Last year’s DGA winner, Kathryn Bigelow with “The Hurt Locker,” for instance, also claimed the best director Oscar and her Iraq war film took home best motion picture.

“The Social Network,” a fast-paced movie that tells of the founding of website Facebook, already has been named best movie by numerous U.S. critics groups and on Saturday, the National Society of Film Critics also named it the No. 1 film.

Numerous other groups have made their choices, and still others like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with its Golden Globe Awards and the Screen Actors Guild will name their winners later this month. Taken together, the critics and industry groups help narrow pundits’ picks for Oscars.

Fincher and his movie face strong competition from drama “Black Swan,” directed by Darren Aronofsky and telling of a woman on a journey of self-discovery through her dancing.

Director Tom Hooper’s “The King Speech,” a period drama detailing how Britain’s King George VI worked to overcome his stammering, has strong support among Oscar pundits.

Boxing film “The Fighter,” from David O. Russell, also figures prominently in the awards sweepstakes, and the DGA’s fifth nominee, Christopher Nolan and thriller “Inception,” has a loyal fan base owing to his mega-hit Batman movies.

The DGA gives out its awards on Jan. 29. Oscar nominees are named on Jan. 25, and their ceremony takes place on Feb. 27.

Regina King

Regina King, With her everyday beauty and winning personality, actress Regina King could have made a career out of playing wives of leading men Eddie Murphy, Will Smith and Cuba Gooding Jr., as she did in films like “Daddy Day Care” (2003), “Enemy of the State” (1998) and “Jerry Maguire” (1996). But her talents and outsized personality were destined to break out sooner or later. And sure enough, King stole the show from her leading ladies with memorable supporting roles in “Legally Blond 2” (2003) and “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Dangerous” (2005). But it was her turn as R&B legend Ray Charles’ backup singer and lover, Margie Hendricks, in the acclaimed “Ray” (2005) that earned the actress considerable praise and recognition, leading to higher profile work and a regular role on the sixth season of “24” (Fox, 2001- ).

Born Jan. 15, 1971, King grew up in Los Angeles, CA, where she would later say that she did not find stardom – stardom found her. Certain that performing was her future, King took acting lessons as a child from coach Betty Bridges, mother of “Diff’rent Strokes” star Todd Bridges. By the time she was a teenager, she landed a role in the saucy sitcom “227” (NBC, 1985-1990), playing Brenda, daughter of series lead Marla Gibbs. After graduating from Westchester High School in 1988, she enrolled at the University of Southern California, before making the leap to more mature roles with parts in “Boyz in the Hood” (1991) and “Poetic Justice” (1993). She appeared in guest starring roles on “Northern Exposure” (CBS, 1990-95), “New York Undercover” (Fox, 1994-98) and the sitcom “Living Single” (Fox, 1993-98), then later appeared in “High Learning” (1995) as well as the cult comedy hit, “Friday” (1995).

After playing the girlfriend of Martin Lawrence in “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate” (1996), she moved on to a breakout role as the wife of Cuba Gooding Jr. in the 1996 smash hit, “Jerry Maguire.” With her memorable scolding look at her son for using a profanity while watching a football game, the part captured the attention of mainstream audiences and put King squarely on the map. She went on to appear as the wife of Will Smith in the action thriller, “Enemy of the State” (1998), then took roles in “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” (1998) and “Mighty Joe Young” (1998). On television, she appeared in “Where the Truth Lies” (Lifetime, 1999) and “If These Walls Could Talk 2” (HBO, 2000), before landing a regular role on the short-lived sitcom, “Leap of Faith” (NBC, 2002).

King continued her steady climb up the Hollywood food chain move with a series of supporting roles in blockbusters such as “Daddy Day Care,” (2003) playing the wife of star Eddie Murphy, and in “Legally Blonde 2: Red White and Blonde,” (2003) in the part of Grace, the whip-smart chief of staff to Congresswoman Sally Field and arch rival of bubbly, pink-loving law school grad, Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon). King next had a memorable comedic turn as a feisty FBI agent in the surprise hit sequel, “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Dangerous” (2005), opposite Sandra Bullock. The two took pride in performing many of their own stunts, though King suffered a twisted ankle during a climactic fight scene after tripping over her own wig.

It was during the shooting of “Miss Congeniality” that King heard the news that she won the role of Margie Hendricks, mistress and backup singer for Ray Charles (Jaime Foxx), in Taylor Hackford’s biopic, “Ray.” Excited by the meaty role, which she insisted upon playing over the role of Charles’ wife, Della Bea Robinson (Kerry Washington), King set out to learn as much as she could about the real-life “Raelette,” who only appeared in a handful of film clips and photographs. King relied heavily on word-of-mouth accounts and information director Taylor Hackford gleaned from Charles himself before his passing just prior to the movie’s release. King was recognized for her stellar performance with Image and BET awards.

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Regina King was first posted on December 16, 2009 at 10:57 pm.