Spielberg Wins Directors’ Award for ‘Schindler’s List’

Steven Spielberg added the Directors Guild of America Award on Saturday night to the growing array of accolades given to him for his epic motion picture “Schindler’s List.”

The directors’ honor suggests that Spielberg and the movie will take home Oscars when they are awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on March 21.

Although other outcomes are possible--Oscar ballots were only mailed to academy voters Friday--history is on Spielberg’s side. Only three times since the guild began giving awards in 1949 has the winner of the guild’s prize failed to also win the Oscar for direction. And typically, academy voters also give the Oscar for best picture of the year to their best director winner.

The last time there was an exception was 1985 and it involved Spielberg. The guild prize went to him for directing “The Color Purple,” but the Oscar went to Sydney Pollack for “Out of Africa.”

A directing Oscar for the prolific Spielberg, the world’s most commercially successful director, would be his first.

The Directors Guild prizes for feature film, television and advertising were awarded in a dinner ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and in New York. Spielberg was present in Beverly Hills to accept his award.

“Schindler’s List” was voted best film of 1993 by the major critics groups and won the Golden Globe best drama prize.