Alex Garland has won the Best Director for first feature for the erotically-charged sci-fi Ex Machina at the Directors Guild of America Awards, voted by about 16,000 members.
It’s the inaugural award for the DGA’s first-time director trophy.
The award, presented by Steven Spielberg, was the first honor announced Saturday night at the DGA’s 68th annual awards ceremonies at the Century Plaza.
Spielberg noted that had the award existed previously, it would have gone to Orson Welles for Citizen Kane and John Singleton for Boyz in the Hood.
Garland directed Ex Machina from his own script. The film, which stars Alicia Vikander as an android.
He competed against Fernando Coimbra for A Wolf at the Door, Joel Edgerton for The Gift, Marielle Heller for The Diary of a Teenage Girl, and Laszlo Nemes for Son of Saul.