Bigelow directing in "The Hurt Locker"
My long time friend, director Lynn Hamrick, invited us to the DGA’s heartfelt tribute to director Kathryn Bigelow. This was an unusually special and charged evening because it was part of their year long 75th Anniversary Celebration, the fifth in a series of twenty-five events honoring the Guild’s “Game Changers”. Though Bigelow has rightly resisted being defined by her gender, that was the subject most discussed throughout the evening. Though her creative achievements are significant, her designation as “Game Changer” is based on her success as a female director.
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow has distinguished herself as one of Hollywood’s most innovative filmmakers. Her recent directorial achievement, “The Hurt Locker”, was released in 2009 to box office success and was honored by critics on over 250 top ten lists. The film, written by Mark Boal and produced by Bigelow and Boal, garnered numerous accolades and awards, including the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film and seven Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Screenplay. Kathryn is definitely a groundbreaker and fully embodies poise, clarity and creativity. She has great empathy and patience for everyone she works with and that is obvious in her presence. We are looking forward to her next picture.
Kathryn Bigelow, Amazonian-Imperial, and Mark Boal
The series of colleagues who made their way to the stage included a charming Walter Hill, who met Bigelow just after her first film, “The Loveless“. He thought that she was Amazonian imperial, calm, with a great smile and possibly too intellectual, ivy-league educated and well read. “No good will come of this in show business”, he said, to knowing laughter from the audience.The consensus of all her actors and colleagues was that Kathryn was an incredibly hard worker with endless stamina, always calm under grueling conditions, and they all praised her vision and the loyalty she inspires with her cast and crew.
