Judd Apatow Returns as Host of DGA Awards; Don Mischer Back as Chair

By Peter White

Standing up for his star! Judd Apatow cleared up some common misconceptions about Pete Davidson after working alongside him for the upcoming film The King of Staten Island.

Sam Mendes took home the top prize at the 72nd Annual DGA Awards on Saturday. The filmmaker won for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for .

The lack of female directors nominated at this year's Directors Guild Awards didn't go unnoticed.During Saturday night's ceremony, DGA president Thomas Schlamme was quick to address the controversy: "I caution us to use awards as the barometer, the only barometer, of progress — it’s just one measure.

The five DGA Award nominated feature film directors held forth Saturday morning on aspects of their craft in advance of the evening’s gala ceremony that will tap one of the five with the union’s highest honor. This year’s nominees shared subject matter — their films this year focused on violence and conflict, as befits our troubled times, and they didn’t score high on diversity, with all of the nominees male and the four U.S.

The ceremony for the 72nd annual Directors Guild of America Awards is currently underway at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

By Joe Utichi, Antonia Blyth

By Patrick Hipes

This photo from May 18, 2019, shows the Long Beach Pride sign illuminated at night on the festival grounds at Marina Green Park on Shoreline Drive in downtown Long Beach. Photo: Q Voice News.

Judd Apatow’s The King of Staten Island, starring Pete Davidson of Saturday Night Live, will make its premiere as the opening night film at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival.The Austin, Texas, festival on Wednesday announced that “The King of Staten Island” will kick off SXSW on March 13. The movie, Apatow’s first fiction film as director since 2015′s Trainwreck, is Davidson’s highest profile project yet.Universal Pictures will release The King of Staten Island in June.

From Judd Apatow's latest tale to a new animated Apple TV+ series, comedic fare will once again take the spotlight this year at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, a fertile launch pad for some recent popular comedies.More than 100 feature films and episodic shows will be showcased during the nine-day event, set to run March 13-22, the fest unveiled Wednesday.Among the high-profile feature debuts is Apatow's The King of Staten Island, which stars Pete Davidson in his first lead role alongside

Live from Austin, Texas, it’s Pete Davidson.

By Dino-Ray Ramos

 meets  as cameras follow a competitive cheerleading squad on their journey to the NCA All-Star National Championship. Directed by Greg Whiteley, is a six-part Netflix docuseries that chronicles the brutal training, exceptional athletics and high stakes of Navarro College’s award-winning team. Led by coach Monica Aldama, they spend months preparing for the sport’s most prestigious competition in Daytona Beach, Florida, where they only get one shot at taking home the 2019 title.

With “Joker’s” stunning 11 Oscar nominations — the most of any film this year — director Todd Phillips’ gritty reimagining of the Batman villain has followed in “Black Panther’s” historic footsteps and taken a massive thwack at the ironclad conventional wisdom that comic-book movies cannot be major awards season contenders.

By Erik Pedersen

After a four-day delay, the Directors Guild of America has finished announcing this year’s TV nominees, includng Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television Dramatic Series; Comedy Series; and Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials for 2019.