It was once again worth the 103 year wait. Sam Mendes won the top prize at this year’s Directors Guild of America Awards for the World War I thriller 1917, beating out his fellow revered directors Bong Joon Ho, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Taika Waititi for the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film honor. “My grandfather inspired this film, and he made me, when I was 12, sign a contract promising I would write a novel by the age of 18,” Mendes told the ceremony’s attendees. “Obviously I’m not a freak so I didn’t do that, but I did do this. So I want to say thank you for him for that.” Also taking home some hardware was Alma Har’el for Honey Boy (Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director), Bill Hader for Barry (Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series), and Nicole Kassell for Watchmen (Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series). With its latest win, is 1917 still an Oscars villain? Maybe.
