At long last, those of us who are really not interested in what the stars are wearing had something else to look at during a red-carpet lead-in to a major Hollywood awards show. For the third year in a row, BMW supported the Directors Guild of America during the 68th Annual DGA Awards program.
Televised on February 6, 2016 from the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, the DGA Awards celebrated directorial excellence in feature films and television programs.
As glamorous as the red carpet prelude may be for these award shows, there are viewers who are not into fashion, or really very interested in what the stars have to say during their brief interviews before disappearing into the auditorium. But this year, there were other stars on the red carpet that were worthy of our attention.
BMW’s newest M car—the BMW M2, was drawing rave reviews on the red carpet, and so was the marque’s luxury flagship, the new 7 Series Sedan. Joining the M2 and the 7 Series on the red carpet were some of the industry’s most luminary directors and actors, such as Angela Basset, Abigail Breslin, Rachel McAdams, Jane Lynch, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Alejandro González Iñárritu, who took home the award for best director for a feature film.
Iñárritu’s award puts him into an enviable position for the Academy Awards that will be given out on February 28, 2016, since the Oscar for best director has been awarded to the DGA award recipient almost every year. Put aother way, only seven times in the past 68 years has the Best Director Academy Award not gone to the person who won the DGA award.
We didn’t need the DGA’s stamp of approval to know Iñárritu was a good director. He first came to our attention in 2001 when he directed “Powder Keg” for BMW’s “The Hire” short film series starring Clive Owen and various BMW vehicles. If you haven’t seen them, you should. They’re all on YouTube.
But back to the stars of today, we would like to thank BMW for arranging something other than the usual scenery on an award show red carpet. How about an i8 and an M4 GTS at the Oscars?—Scott Blazey
[Photos courtesy of BMW AG.]
