By John H. Foote
Alfonso Cuaron won the Directors Guild Of America Award last night as Best Director of 2018 for Roma, moving him a step closer to his second Academy Award. Cuaron previously won both the DGA Award and Academy Award for Gravity (2013), an extraordinary science fiction thriller. The director is part of the three amigos, a movement of filmmakers out of Mexico who have dominated the Best Director category since Cuaron’s first win in 2013.
Only four times since 1990, has the DGA winner not gone on to win the Academy Award, and given the love of Roma, it seems highly unlikely anyone can stand in the way of a second Oscar for the immensely well liked Cuaron.
Bradley Cooper lost both his nominations last night, to Cuaron and also to Bo Burnham, who won the First Feature Sward for Eighth Grade, besting Cooper, thought to be a lock for A Star is Born. Insiders are whispering, again, that Cooper’s collosal ego has cost him much through awards season, as back in October his film seemed a lock to dominate the Oscars.
Cuaron’s win is the fifth in six years for a Mexican filmmaker. Cuaron’s win in 2013 was followed by consecutive wins by Alejandro Iñárritu for Birdman (2014) and the astonishing The Revenant (2015). Last year Del Toro took the award for The Shape of Water (2017) with all five artists winning the Oscar as Best Director. Only American director Damien Chazelle interrupted Mexico’s streak, winning for La La Land (2016).
Cuaron seems poised for his second Oscar for Best Director.
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
