Kathryn Bigelow wins DGA award!! On to the Oscars!

I am doing my happy dance this morning!  I woke to the news that Kathryn Bigelow had won the Directors Guild award, the first woman in history to do so, for The Hurt Locker.  The winner of the DGA almost always goes on to win Best Director at the Oscars, so we have our front runner after The Hurt Locker also won the PGA award.  Bigelow won over the expected winner, her ex-husband James Cameron, director of Avatar.

Bigelow said she was honored to be "in the same conversation with all of you," referring to the four men she beat out.

 Finishing her brief acceptance speech, she said:

"This is the most incredible moment of my life," Bigelow said.

"This is amazing. I'm so deeply stunned, honored and awed."

 Kathryn Bigelow filmed the low budget Hurt Locker in the summer in Jordan.  It earned only $12 million at the box office (while Avatar breaks every box office record in history), but is one of the top DVD rentals and sales.  That is sure to increase when the Oscar nominations are announced on Tuesday morning.

I am thrilled beyond words.  She won in spite of being a woman, and it is an acknowledgment of a long career of excellence.

I talked to my husband this morning about how he dragged me to see The Hurt Locker.  I didn't want to see a movie about Iraq, but he had heard about how great this little movie was.  I spent the entire film clenching my seat rests, riveted.  It is an amazing film, and an fantastic achievement.  You go girl!!

Read Awards Daily's comments on what this means for the Oscar race here.  I couldn't agree more!

Watch the first 10 minutes of the film.