‘The Shape of Water’ won Best Theatrical Motion Picture at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday night (20.01.18).
The fantasy romance’s director Guillermo del Toro was unable to collect the accolade at the 29th Annual ceremony held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, due to caring for his ailing father in Mexico, but the movie’s co-producer, J. Miles Dale, was there and made a short speech after being handed the statuette.
The filmmaker joked about how it was hard to win-over audiences with a flick that has a cleaner [Sally Hawkins] and an amphibian man [Doug Jones] as the main characters.
He quipped: "When your romantic leads are a cleaning lady and a fish, it’s a tough sell."
The heartwarming feature beat off stiff competition from the likes of ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing’, Missouri’, ‘Lady Bird’, ‘Get Out’, ‘Dunkirk’, ‘The Post’, ‘Call Me By Your Name’, ‘I, Tonya’, ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Molly’s Game’.
‘Coco’ won Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures and ‘Jane’, which sees the real-life scientist Jane Goodall open up about her life and work, received the equivalent in the Documentary category.
It was previously revealed that Ava DuVernay was the recipient of Producers Guild’s Visionary Award.
The ‘Selma’ helmer admitted she was delighted with the recognition.
She tweeted: "This is so lovely and unexpected. I love producing. Almost as much as directing. So you know that’s a lot! My thanks to @ProducersGuild for this encouraging recognition. (sic)"
DuVernay’s emergence in the movie industry was hailed as one of the "great developments of the past several years".
Producers Guild Awards chairs Donald De Line and Amy Pascal said in a statement: "The emergence of Ava DuVernay as a producer and filmmaker has been one of the great developments of the past several years.
"Whether in scripted features, television or documentaries, her unique voice, skill and passion have inspired countless audiences throughout our country and around the world."
The 45-year-old director follows in the footsteps of the likes of Brad Pitt, Megan Ellison, Laura Ziskin, and Jeff Skoll in winning the accolade.
The Producers Guild Awards movie winners shortlist is as follows:
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures
‘The Shape Of Water’
Producers: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
‘Coco’
Producer: Darla K. Anderson
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures
‘Jane’
Producers: Brett Morgen, Bryan Burk, Tony Gerber, James Smith