BEN AFFLECK CONTINUED his awards season sweep in Hollywood last night with a win at the Directors Guild of America awards.
He was honoured with the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film award – the top prize of the ceremony -for his work on Argo, beating off competition from industry giants Steven Spielberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Tom Hooper and Ang Lee.
The gong will now join his Golden Globe and the SAG award on the Affleck/Garner mantlepiece.
“There was a point in my life where I was really down, really confused, I didn’t know what was going to happen and I thought ‘I should be a director!’. And so I did it, and I worked very hard,” Affleck said on receiving the award.
“I worked really really hard to try to become the best director that I can be. I don’t think that this makes me a real director but I think it means I’m on the way.”
The Oscar for Best Director usually mirrors the DGA ward but Affleck was snubbed in that category this year. However, his film Argo has an outside chance of taking the top Oscar on 24 February.
Other winners last night included Jay Roach for political TV film Game Change and Lena Dunham for comedy series Girls.
-Additional reporting by AFP
