'The Shape of Water,' Television Newbies Win At 2018 Producers Guild Awards
The march towards to the Oscars continues as the 2018 Producers Guild Awards honored the best in film and television.
The Shape of Water Wins
Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water won the Producers Guild Award's most significant award, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, for a top feature film. Del Toro shared the prize with fellow co-producer J. Miles Dale.
Actor Richard Jenkins, who portrayed Giles in the film, stepped in to accept the award on del Toro's behalf. The director was in Mexico to take care of his ailing father. Dale thanked the Producers' Guild Awards for recognizing the film's obscure plot.
Del Toro and The Shape of Water have had a good awards season. Del Toro picked up the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Best Director award at the Golden Globe Awards. He also picked up the Critics' Choice Awards' Best Director award. The Shape of Water also won Best Picture, Best Score, and Best Art Direction at the event. The American Film Institute also named the film one of its best movies of 2017.
Coco's Cool Ride
The Shape of Water was not the only film that scored a major award at the PGA. Coco producer Darla K. Anderson won Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Picture Award. The Disney-Pixar 3D animated film has found box office success and won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film.
Streaming Services Score
Several major screening services won a majority of the television awards.
Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale scored the Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television-Drama. The Elisabeth Moss-led series also took home prizes at the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.
Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel picked up the Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television-Comedy. The comedy series follows Miriam "Midge" Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) as she seeks a career in stand-up comedy during the late 1950s while being a single mother of two.
Netflix's Black Mirror producers Anabel Jones and Charlie Brooker earned the David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television.
DuVernay Gets Political
Ava DuVernay stole the Producer's Guild Awards with a stirring speech that was well-received by the crowd. DuVernay, who earned the PGA's Visionary Award, talked about the political climate as well as the women's marches and the government shut down. She also encouraged the crowd that now it was the time to accept diversity in the entertainment industry.
"Don't think of diversity as a good thing to do. Think of it as a must. An absolute must," said DuVernay.
The Producer's Guild Awards are a reliable indicator of who might receive Oscar nominations and eventually win the iconic golden statue on Sunday, March 4.
