DGA Award Winners Announced; Glenn Weiss Wins for Tony Awards Ceremony

The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2011, and the recipients of the Guild's 2012 Career Achievement Awards were announced last night during the 64th Annual DGA Awards Dinner at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles. Michel Hazanavicius won the DGA's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Artist.

The DGA's Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally served as a near-perfect barometer for the Academy Award for Best Director. Only six times since the DGA Award's inception in 1948 has the winner not gone on to receive the Academy Award for Best Director.

Following the welcome by DGA President Taylor Hackford to an audience of more than 1,600 guests, director/producer/actor Kelsey Grammer hosted the ceremony.

Presenters included (in alphabetical order): DGA Secretary-Treasurer Michael Apted; Berenice Bejo (The Artist); George Clooney (The Descendants); Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad); Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men); Laura Dern (Enlightened); Jean Dujardin (The Artist); DGA President Taylor Hackford; 2010 DGA Feature Film Award winner Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech); Stana Katic (Castle); Ben Kingsley (Hugo); Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy); Kathleen Robertson (Boss); Octavia Spencer (The Help); DGA Third Vice President Betty Thomas; Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn); and Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood).

Glenn Weiss received the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety for the 65th Annual Tony Awards. This was Mr. Weiss' eighth DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Musical Variety in 2007 and 2010 for the 61st and 64th Annual Tony Awards. He was previously nominated in this category in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2008, all for the 55th, 56th, 59th, 60th, and 62nd Annual Tony Awards.

Other winners included Jon Cassar for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series (The Kennedys), Patty Jenkins for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series (AMC's The Killing), and Neil Degroot for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs (The Biggest Loser).