Damien Chazelle Wins Directors Guild Award, ‘La La Land’ Closes in on Oscar Gold

Damien Chazelle Wins Directors Guild Award, ‘La La Land’ Closes in on Oscar Gold

Damien Chazelle has been named the best feature-film director of 2016 by the Directors Guild of America, a win that reinforces the frontrunner status of his musical “La La Land” at the Oscars.

Chazelle was the clear favorite going into the DGA show, where he was competing against his fellow Oscar nominees Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”), Kenneth Lonergan (“Manchester by the Sea”) and Denis Villeneuve (“Arrival”), and against Garth Davis for “Lion.”

The DGA win makes Chazelle a prohibitive favorite to win the Oscar for Best Director, and by extension keeps “La La Land” the frontrunner to win Best Picture.

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Since 1950, only seven DGA winners have failed to also take home the Academy Award for directing, and three of those seven couldn’t win the Oscar because they weren’t nominated.

Chazelle’s film also won the top prize at the Producers Guild Awards, the most reliable Best Picture indicator.

Star Emma Stone won best-actress honors at the SAG Awards, but “La La Land” was not nominated in that guild’s de facto best-picture category, ensemble cast.

Derek Cianfrance, the indie film director whose films have included “Blue Valentine,” “The Place Beyond the Pines” and “The Light Between Oceans,” won the Directors Guild Award for commercials.

Ridley Scott was given the guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award, while other honorary prizes went to Marie Cantin (Frank Capra Achievement Award), Thomas Schlamme (Robert B. Aldrich Service Award) and retiring DGA executive director Jay D. Roth (Presidents Award).