Wow! This is a surprise to me, I'd been counting this movie out of the race for Best Picture, I thought it would get the Best Director award and probably lots of the craft prizes, but winning the Producers Guild means it's competitive in Picture. Guillermo del Toro is definitely winning both the DGA and Best Director now, but maybe it's not going to be a split year after all. Could the Critics Choice awards have pegged it right, in going for this one? I guess the thing that I wonder about is whether the actors like it as much (it's not even nominated at SAG, which is tomorrow), since they make up the biggest number of voters. Something else is going to win SAG, so it could very well still be a race. And after last year, where Moonlight won Best Picture without winning a single one of the big three guilds, it feels like anything could still happen, especially with that tricky preferential ballot. But The Shape of Water is definitely up there, and will likely have both PGA and DGA (and maybe BAFTA) going into the Oscars (where it's almost certain to lead the nominations on Tuesday). Stay tuned.
PGA AWARD WINNERS
- Feature Film: The Shape of Water
- Animated Feature: Coco
- Documentary: Jane
