Bill Condon may not have been nominated for an Academy Award for directing the fabulous "Dreamgirls," but he was nominated for the prestigious DGA prize by his peers. He lost, as he predicted to me a few weeks ago, to Martin Scorsese but it was a night where he and other gay directors were prominent.
Jennifer Hudson was on hand to present Condon with his nomination medallion. "I have always believed in standing by those who stand by me," the Oscar nominee said. "I had never stepped foot on a set. He trusted me with one of the greatest roles in theater history and pulled emotions out of me I didn't even know I had." Hudson added that Condon "was the heart, soul and spirit of 'Dreamgirls.'"
When the director himself took the stage, he thanked his early influences Stanley Donen, Vincente Minnelli and George Cukor as well as contemporaries like Michael Mann, Steven Speilberg and Martin Scorsese whose influences can be found in his films. One of the sets from Scorsese's 1977 picture "New York, New York" was actually used in "Dreamgirls."
Condon said he shared the award with the late Michael Bennett who directed the show on Broadway: "He was on my shoulder every day."
Rob Marshall, who won the top DGA prize for directing "Chicago" a few years back, won other DGA award Saturday night, this time for directing a Tony Bennett special for television. "Working on this was a gift for me, I'm telling you...Seeing [Bennett] sing 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco' standing two feet away from me was the thrill of my life."
Paris Barclay already has a full shelf of awards that includes two Emmys, a Peabody award and a DGA award. But on Saturday he was honored for his decades of service to the DGA and among those he thanked were his partner, Christopher and their two sons. "It has been an absolute pleasure because you have done more service to me than I ever have for you."