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Your Carpetbagger is at the morning roundtable for all the DGA nominees (from l to r: Cooper, Farrelly, McKay, Cuarón, Lee) 
Before they took the stage, strong 5-minute clips played from each director’s film for this big industry audience. The choices...
ASIB: “La vie en rose”
ROMA: Beach scene
GREEN BOOK: Copacabana
BLACKKKLANSMAN: Charlottesville
VICE: GWB offers VP job to Cheney
ASIB: “La vie en rose”
ROMA: Beach scene
GREEN BOOK: Copacabana
BLACKKKLANSMAN: Charlottesville
VICE: GWB offers VP job to Cheney
The scenes were all selected by the directors themselves, btw
Spike Lee’s utter stare-straight-ahead stillness whenever Farrelly talks is really something
Cuarón says he, Iñárittu, and del Toro have an “evil killer” theory to explain the sense of anxiety a director has during production. “When the idea for a film is manifested, the evil killer is manifested, and you have to keep him at bay,” he said.
“What happens the night before [a big scene] is you look under the bed or in the closet for the evil killer,” said Cuarón. “That’s the dread, so much can go wrong.”
Spike Lee on his signature visual flourish: “John David [Washington] was asking every day, ‘When’s it gonna come? When are we gonna do the double dolly shot?’”
Spike Lee no longer uses the phrase “dutch angle.” “There’s certain terminology you can’t use on a set today,” he said, preferring to call it “tilted”
Spike Lee just referenced “the hated Patriots” in advance of tomorrow’s Super Bowl. “Boston and New York don’t get along!”
“No one on the planet breaks harder than Christian Bale,” says Adam McKay of his VICE star. “It’s like something out of a 1920s comedy. He just explodes in a cartoonish way.”
Just asked the DGA voter next to me which of these five men she prefers. “Well, I liked GREEN BOOK the best,” she replied. “But today, I think Bradley Cooper is the most together.”
Spike Lee just talked about auditioning Halle Berry for JUNGLE FEVER: “Her character was a three dollar crack ho, and she was too fine the first five times. She finally got smart: She didn’t take a shower for a week! I didn’t recognize her, so I cast her.”
This DGA symposium has turned into The Spike Lee Show, but who’s complaining? Even Boots Riley, seated in the row behind me, is grinning while watching this
“I don’t believe in directing kids,” said Cuarón. “I don’t give them a screenplay. I don’t want them to know very much about what’s going on... I personally don’t like all these ‘amazing child actors’”
Bradley Cooper just revealed to a shocked Spike Lee that ten years ago, he auditioned for one of Spike’s films and read for Spike himself...
Cuarón didn’t tell the actor playing Fermín to play his big scene naked until the day of shooting. He was fine with it, Yalitza was not. So for Yalitza’s reaction shots, the actor wore briefs, and then she left the room when he went nude.
Peter Farrelly is discussing the GREEN BOOK scene where Viggo throws out the glasses. The black actors in that scene were so horrified to learn Viggo was the movie’s protagonist, not the bad guy, that Farrelly stopped production for 45 mins to explain Viggo’s arc to them
BCoop just mentioned ALL ABOUT STEVE
“I ask every actor when I work with them, ‘Do you mind line readings?’” said Peter Farrelly. (This is when the director asks you to say the line like he’s saying it.) Farrelly would give line readings to Viggo, who welcomed them. “Mahershala was like, ‘I’d prefer not.’”
BCoop is talking about the “thousands” of auditions he went on before becoming successful. “Ben Affleck’s role in PEARL HARBOR? I was never gonna get that.”
And that’s a wrap! I’ll tweet more from the actual DGA Awards ceremony tonight...
.... and now I’m at the DGA ceremony. Here’s tonight’s lineup:
I’m sitting next to a DGA voter who also voted for Peter Farrelly, just like the voter I sat next to at the roundtable this morning 👀
The introductory clip package at the DGAs ended with a shot from ROMA, so...
In his introductory remarks, DGA president Thomas Schlamme blasts Hollywood movie-making as “a closed, dated ecosystem that disadvantages people of color.” No words minced!
“Everybody start fucking,” says DGA Awards host Aisha Tyler, “because the end of the world is nigh.” This is a more rollicking DGAs than I was expecting!
“I love the smell of a multi-ethic swordfight in the morning,” cracks Aisha Tyler about this year’s racially diverse but still female-deficient DGA lineup. “Bring on them dicks!”
A tablemate just texted your Carpetbagger a candid portrait of award-season skepticism
The clip introducing Bradley Cooper started with “hi Ally, I’m Gail.” I yelped
B’Coop
Keri and Matthew
The DGA award for Comedy Series goes to Bill Hader for BARRY
Former DGA president Paris Barclay: “How have things been since I left? It’s hard to let go of those black presidents, isn’t it?”
FX CEO John Landgraf, accepting the DGA diversity award, just shouted out journalist @moryan for holding his feet to the fire on this issue
Spike Jonze just won the DGA award for Commercials
The DGA Award for First-Time Feature Film goes to Bo Burnham! Over Bradley Cooper, no less. ASIB is cuuuuursed
“I really did not think this was mathematically possible,” says First-Time Feature Film winner Bo Burnham, who just shouted out his fellow nominees, including “BCoops”
The DGA award for Best Documentary goes to Tim Wardle for THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS
A bit of an upset in a stacked category that included RBG, FREE SOLO, and WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR
True, though the DGA has only had the first-timer award for four years now
“400 years ago, my ancestors were stolen from mother Africa... and along with native people, built this motherfucker,” says Spike Lee at the DGAs, noting that history rarely teaches that Washington owned slaves and Jefferson “was a pedophile”
The winner of the DGA award for TV Movie and Limited Series is Ben Stiller for ESCAPE AT DANNEMORA
Peter Farrelly, accepting his nominee medallion, starts his speech by shouting out Chloé Zhao and Nadine Labaki
“When we talk about diversity, don’t forget about disability,” says Farrelly. “Ten percent of the country is disabled, but only one percent of them is working.”
The DGA award for Dramatic Series goes to Adam McKay for SUCCESSION
Ok, here comes the big one...
The feature-film DGA award goes to Alfonso Cuarón for ROMA!
“Gracias, cabrón,” Cuarón tells presenter Guillermo del Toro
