The directing brothers of the acclaimed drama 'No Country for Old Men', Joel and Ethan Coen, were honored by the Director Guild of America as the 2007 Best Feature Film Directors on January 26.
- Jan 28, 2008
AceShowbiz - The duo brothers team, Joel and Ethan Coen, can be said one step closer in bringing home the top prize at the 80th Academy Awards as they were chosen by the Director Guild of America as the 2007 Best Feature Film Directors for their edgy crime drama "No Country for Old Men".
The brothers were presented with the top prize by Martin Scorsese, last year DGA's winner for "The Departed", at the DGA's 60th Awards ceremony on Saturday, January 26, at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City, Los Angeles. The first time DGA winner became the second directing duo to win the award since Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins won the prize in 1961 for helming "West Side Story".
On receiving the trophies, Joel commented, "Ethan and I have a bookshelf in our office where we keep various plaques and such that we've gotten over the years that we call our ego corner." He further elaborated his comment saying, "Whenever Ethan has a really bad day, he gets a bottle of Windex and and a big can of silver polish and goes over and spit shines those medals for an hour or two. It makes him feel better. This is a really big one--in every respect. It's going to keep him busy."
For the top honor at the event, the Coens beat out the Golden Globe-winning director for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" Julian Schnabel. They also outshone their strongest contender Paul Thomas Anderson for the rise to wealth drama "There Will Be Blood". Their other rivals included Sean Penn for his wilderness adaptation "Into the Wild" and Tony Gilroy for his legal thriller "Michael Clayton".
The award gala was hosted by comic Carl Reiner and the evening's kudos were presented by theps, including Daniel Day-Lewis, Josh Brolin, Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard. On the occasion, Glenn P. Weiss, Tony Award director, was honored with Musical Variety Award, while the helmer of "Ghosts of Cite Soliel", Asger Leth, got the award in the documentary category. The guild also honored Barbara Roche with a kudo presented to an associate director or stage manager, the Franklin J. Schaffner award, and Liz Ryan with the Frank Capra achievement prize.
