Kathryn Bigelow directing "The Hurt Locker" Photo: Summit Ent. (c) 2009
Kathryn Bigelow made history last night, becoming the first woman filmmaker to win the Directors Guild of America award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for her gritty wartime drama "The Hurt Locker." She is in fact only the seventh woman to be so nominated.
Statistically, this makes her a virtual lock for the Academy Award in the same category. According to show business daily Variety, the same director has won both in all but six years since 1948, including last year, when Boyle won both trophies for "Slumdog Millionaire."
In her acceptance speech, Bigelow said, as quoted by Variety: "We all felt a really deep responsibility to tell this story with as much honesty as possible, given the courage of the men and women in the field...This is the most incredible moment of my life."
Bigelow has been directing since the eighties. Previous movies she's helmed include the vampire thriller "Near Dark," in 1987, "Blue Steel," a cop drama with Jamie Lee Curtis and the late Ron Silver in 1989, 1991's "Point Break" with the late Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves and Gary Busey, "K-9: The Widowmaker" and "Mission Zero." IMDb notes that she is also a talented painter who studied for two years at the San Francisco Art Institute before eventually graduating from Columbia University's Film School.
Her former husband, James Cameron, beat her at the Golden Globes for Best Director earlier this year, but it looks to be Bigelow's year at the Academy Awards.
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