She's been head to head with her ex husband, James Cameron, throughout this year's awards season, but yesterday Kathryn Bigelow finally got her spot in the limelight when she won the Directors' Guild of America's top award. Beating out competition from Cameron (Avatar), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), Lee Daniels (Precious) and Jason Reitman (Up In The Air), she can now be confident that The Hurt Locker is a front runner in the race for this year's Oscars.
Bigelow has often been seen as a pioneer in a masculine industry, flying in the face of industry expectations and making the sort of films more often associated with male directors. Becoming the first ever woman to win this prestigious award, she played down the gender issue, saying simply "I suppose I like to think of myself as a filmmaker." But there was no playing down her excitement or the pleasure she felt at being in such impressive company. It's a bigger achievement because The Hurt Locker was such a small film, made on a budget of just $16M - a fraction of what its rivals enjoyed. But underdogs have a habit of doing well on Oscar night, and its chances have been further boosted by a Best Picture nod from the Producers Guild of America.
Meanwhile, Cameron - who has declared his belief that The Hurt Locker deserves all the big awards - also has something to celebrate. Avatar beat Titanic this week to become the biggest grossing film of all time.
