Danny Boyle Scores for "Slumdog Millionaire" at DGA Awards

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From Variety...

"Slumdog Millionaire," the longshot turned awards season favorite, has stayed on its hot streak with director Danny Boyle taking the top honor from the Directors Guild of America.

Boyle won the trophy Saturday night at the DGA's awards show at the Century Plaza, topping David Fincher for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Ron Howard for "Frost/Nixon," Christopher Nolan for "The Dark Knight" and Gus Van Sant for "Milk."

"If I can get here, so can you," the 52-year-old Boyle told the audience in a brief acceptance speech. "Dream kind, dream hard."

The "Slumdog" victory keeps its momentum going following victories at SAG for top ensemble, the PGA for top feature and the Golden Globe for best drama, along with 10 Oscar nominations. Boyle will face Fincher, Howard and Van Sant for the Oscar directing award along with Stephen Daldry for "The Reader."

And the DGA award for best director has been a reliable indicator of Oscar success with 54 of the 60 DGA winners going on to take the Oscar. Joel and Ethan Coen, who presented the DGA award to Boyle, won both awards last year for "No Country for Old Men."

Earlier in the evening, Boyle had noted that "Slumdog Millionaire" might have wound up without a theatrical release last year. It had originally been set to be released by Warner Independent, which was closed down last summer by Warner Bros., which then sold off the film to Fox Searchlight.

"I should start by curiously thanking Warner Bros. for actually having the grace to do the right thing, when I think it would have been a lot easier to do the wrong thing, and pass the film on to Fox Searchlight, who are an extraordinary bunch of people," Boyle said.

The top DGA TV awards went to Paul Feig for the "Dinner Party" episode of "The Office" for comedy series, Dan Attias for the "Transitions" segment of "The Wire" for drama series and Jay Roach for "Recount" in the TV movie category.

"I'm going to have a heart attack," a stunned Feig said from the stage while Attias noted that the recognition for the "The Wire" following its final season was first major award the much-praised HBO series has received.

Ari Forman's animated "Waltz with Bashir" won the DGA's documentary award. "Bashir" has also been nominated for best foreign-language film for the Oscars and studies a soldier dealing with repressed memories of his involvement in the war with Lebanon.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who can no longer speak due to complications from thyroid cancer, received a standing ovation when honored with an honorary lifetime membership in the guild along with recorded testimonials from Steven Spielberg, Patty Jenkins, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone.

"I think it's very brave of directors to give a critic an honorary membership," Ebert said in a statement read by his wife. "The person responsible above all else for a film is the director."

Tony Croll won the reality award for "America's Next Top Model." Croll also won the first trophy in the category in 2004 for "Three Wishes."

Jon Cryer subbed as the emcee for Carl Reiner, who took ill Friday from food poisoning. Reiner had served as host for 21 years.

Cryer noted that he's also a member of the DGA, which he noted has "awesome" health insurance that includes coverage of therapy. "Imagine if SAG covered therapy," he quipped.