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Wow, what’s with all the big announcements today? Space yourselves out, folks.
Anyway, this is one bit of news I’m very happy to pass on. 83 year-old filmmaker and producer Norman Jewison has been named the next recipient of the Directors Guild of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He will accept the honor at the DGA’s awards ceremony on 30 January.
Jewison is the kind of artist for whom career achievement awards were invented — accomplished, versatile and hard-working across five decades in cinema, he’s rarely had the spotlight to himself. This despite having directed a Best Picture Oscar winner (“In the Heat of the Night,” 1967) and having amassed a career total of seven Oscar nods for such films as “Moonstruck,” “A Soldier’s Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.”
The Academy paid their respects to Jewison in 1999, with an Irving G. Thalberg Award, so the DGA (who have nominated him thrice themselves) is playing catch-up here. Nice to see. Press release excerpt after the cut.
“We are truly honored to present the Lifetime Achievement Award for feature film to Norman Jewison, a legend in this industry. He is an incredible filmmaker whose calm, affable manner belies a ferocious creative fire within,” said [DGA president Taylor] Hackford. “There are very few filmmakers whose body of work moves so fluidly between romantic comedy and political thriller, musical and satire, with an ease and an eloquence that few could hope to match. Norman well deserves to stand among the giants of cinema whom we have honored in the past.”
2 responses so far
1 12-01-2009 at 6:28 pm
Maxim said...
I’ve said this before but Jewison is one of the few genuinely nice and honorable people in the industry. In addition to that he’s also a great director. This was a long time coming and I’m very happy that he finally gets this honor.
2 12-02-2009 at 11:53 am
El Rocho said...
Good call on the DGA’s part. Very well deserved. Jewison has always deserved more recognition. Brilliant director.