After six prior nominations with no victories, the legendary director Martin Scorsese finally captured the top honor from the Directors Guild of America (DGA) for gangster thriller ‘The Departed.’
It was the first victory in seven DGA nominations for Scorsese. And making him front runner for the Oscars as the guild winner usually goes on to win the best-director Oscar.
Scorsese bested Bill Condon (’Dreamgirls’), Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (’Little Miss Sunshine’), Stephen Frears (’The Queen’), and Alejandro Gonzalez-Inarritu (’Babel’).
Scorsese was pleased with the honor and expressed,
I just wanted to make a good film and people would go see it and enjoy the film and God willing I’d get another picture and that’s it. I did not think I’d be standing here tonight, I’ll tell you that.
The award was handed over by Steven Spielberg on Saturday night in ceremonies at the Century Plaza Hotel.
‘The Departed’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio as a cop who’s secretly in a Boston crime outfit, Matt Damon as a mob mole who has infiltrated the police, and Jack Nicholson as the merciless gang leader pulling everyone’s strings, is an adaptation from the Hong Kong crime thriller ‘Infernal Affairs.’
The film was made by Warner Bros, a division of Time Warner Inc, and grossed notable $265 million worldwide.
Scorsese previously had been nominated for a DGA Award for ‘The Aviator’ (2004), ‘Gangs of New York’ (2002), ‘The Age of Innocence’ (1993), ‘GoodFellas’ (1990), ‘Raging Bull’ (1980) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976).
