Filmmaker Alejandro G. Inarritu received top honors at the Directors Guild Awards for his critically acclaimed comedy-drama film "Birdman.'
As the DGA has often correctly predicted the winners for the Academy Awards, Inarritu's recent win places the movie in a highly favorable position to also bag awards at the upcoming Oscars, including the best director category.
As he gave thanks to the Hollywood directors present in the room for their votes for "Birdman' starring Michael Keaton, the Mexican filmmaker said: "If this is considered a great film, it has nothing to do with me, it is a miracle."
He further added: "I actually say that humbled because I never expected to be here tonight talking to you, never in my life.'
In his DGA win, the 51-year-old director triumphed over four other filmmakers including Richard Linklater for coming-of-age drama movie "Boyhood', Wes Anderson for comedy film "The Grand Budapest Hotel', Morten Tyldum for historical thriller film "The Imitation Game' and Clint Eastwood for biographical war drama "American Sniper.'
Eastwood has previously bagged special awards at the DGA, including the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2005 and the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
The 2014 film from Fox Searchlight had to pave a rocky road after being nominated at the Golden Globes but lost to "The Grand Budapest Hotel' for best comedy or musical. It also lost to "Boyhood' which took home the Golden Globe award for best drama.
'Birdman' is one of the films with the highest number of Oscar nominations, such as best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, and best supporting actress.
Voting for the upcoming Academy Awards will conclude on February 17 whereas the awarding ceremony itself will be carried out on February 22.
Other awardees at the recently concluded DGA include Laura Poitras who won the award for best documentary director, recognizing her work on "Citizenfour.' The movie puts forward the real-life thriller story of examining documents relating to the government's surveillance programs as leaked by former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden.
Showtime's "Homeland' director Lesli Linka Glatter was given the best director award for a dramatic television series.
