'Big Short' Pulls Big Upset by Winning Best Picture at PGA Awards
By Dave McNary
In a major surprise, Paramount’s The Big Short has won the Darryl F. Zanuck Award from the Producers Guild of America as the year’s top movie.
The comedy-drama — detailing the 2008 financial crisis and starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt — won over Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Ex Machina, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Sicario, Spotlight and Straight Outta Compton.
Producers Jeremy Kleiner and Dede Gardner were clearly stunned in accepting the award and appeared not to have any prepared remarks. Producer Brad Pitt was not in attendance.
“We need to tell stories that reflect our world on every street corner,” Gardner said.
The fifth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones won the Norman Felton Award for top drama series.
Amy Winehouse documentary Amy won for top documentary for James Gay-Rees. Amy, the front-runner for the Oscar, topped The Hunting Ground, The Look of Silence, Meru and Something Better to Come.
Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out won the award for top animated movie for producer Jonas Rivera. Inside Out, which delved inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl and became a surprise hit with worldwide grosses of $856 million, topped Anomalisa, The Good Dinosaur and The Peanuts Movie.
“We set out to make a movie that spoke to us as parents,” Rivera said in his acceptance speech.
The second season of FX’s Fargo won the David L. Wolper Award for long-form television for the second year in a row. Producer Noah Hawley noted in his acceptance that the season had been a challenge because The Revenant had the snow makers in Calgary tied up.
The first season of Transparent won the Danny Thomas Award for top comedy series.
Amazon’s transgender skein won the award for producers Jill Soloway, Andrea Sperling, Victor Hsu, Nisha Ganatra, Rick Rosenthal and Bridget Bedard. It topped Modern Family, Inside Amy Shumer, Silicon Valley and Veep; Orange Is the New Black won the award last year.
Winners of the 27th Producers Guild of America Awards were announced Saturday night at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
Last Week with John Oliver won the Live Entertainment and Talk Television award. NBC’s The Voice took the competition TV award for the second year in a row. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst won the non-fiction TV award.
Lady Gaga dazzled the audience with her performance of “Til It Happens to You” as part of the introduction to “The Hunting Ground” winning the Stanley Kramer Award. The song, co-written with Diane Warren, is up for the Oscar for Best Original Song.
The theatrical motion picture and television nominees are as follows (winners in boldface):
The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:
“The Big Short”
Producers: Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
“Bridge of Spies”
Producers: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Krieger
“Brooklyn”
Producers: Finola Dwyer & Amanda Posey
“Ex Machina”
Producers: Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
Producers: Doug Mitchell & George Miller
“The Martian”
Producers: Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Mark Huffam
“The Revenant”
Producers: Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon
“Sicario”
Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Edward L. McDonnell, Molly Smith
“Spotlight”
Producers: Michael Sugar & Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagon Faust
“Straight Outta Compton”
Producers: Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez, F. Gary Gray, Dr. Dre, Scott Bernstein
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:
“Anomalisa”
Producers: Rosa Tran, Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman
“The Good Dinosaur”
Producer: Denise Ream
“Inside Out”
Producer: Jonas Rivera WINNER
“Minions”
Producers: Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy
“The Peanuts Movie”
Producers: Craig Schulz, Michael J. Travers
The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:
*The Long-Form Television category encompasses both movies of the week and mini-series.
“American Crime” (Season 1)
This show is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility
“American Horror Story: Hotel” (Season 5)
Producers: Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy, Brad Buecker, Tim Minear, Jennifer Salt, James Wong, Alexis Martin Woodall, Robert M. Williams Jr.
“Fargo” (Season 2)
Producers: Noah Hawley, John Cameron, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Warren Littlefield, Kim Todd WINNER
“True Detective” (Season 2)
Producers: Nic Pizzolatto, Scott Stephens, Steve Golin, Aida Rodgers
“A Very Murray Christmas”
This show is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility
The Award for Outstanding Sports Program:
“Back on Board: Greg Louganis”
“E:60”
“Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Houston Texans”
“Kareem: Minority of One”
“Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” WINNER
The Award for Outstanding Digital Series:
“30 for 30 Shorts”
“Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” WINNER
“Epic Rap Battles of History”
“Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Double Agent”
“This American Life Presents: Videos 4 U”
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:
“Amy”
Producer: James Gay-Rees
“The Hunting Ground”
Producer: Amy Ziering
“The Look of Silence”
Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen
“Meru”
Producers: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin
“Something Better to Come”
Producers: Sigrid Dyekjær, Hanna Polak
The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:
“Better Call Saul” (Season 1)
Producers: Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Melissa Bernstein, Mark Johnson, Stewart A. Lyons, Thomas Schnauz, Gennifer Hutchison, Nina Jack, Diane Mercer, Bob Odenkirk
“Game of Thrones” (Season 5)
Producers: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, Carolyn Strauss, Bryan Cogman, Lisa McAtackney, Chris Newman, Greg Spence WINNER
“Homeland” (Season 4)
Producers: Alex Gansa, Alexander Cary, Lesli Linka Glatter, Howard Gordon, Chip Johannessen, Meredith Stiehm, Patrick Harbinson, Michael Klick, Claire Danes, Lauren White
“House of Cards” (Season 3)
Producers: Beau Willimon, Dana Brunetti, John David Coles, Josh Donen, David Fincher, Eric Roth, Kevin Spacey, John Mankiewicz, Robert Zotnowski, Karen Moore
“Mad Men” (Season 7B)
Producers: Matthew Weiner, Scott Hornbacher, Janet Leahy, Semi Chellas, Erin Levy, Jon Hamm, Blake McCormick, Tom Smuts
The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:
“Inside Amy Schumer” (Season 3)
This show is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility.
“Modern Family” (Season 6)
Producers: Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Jeff Morton, Jeffrey Richman, Brad Walsh, Danny Zuker, Vali Chandrasekaran, Megan Ganz, Elaine Ko, Kenny Schwartz, Chuck Tatham, Rick Wiener, Chris Smirnoff, Sally Young
“Silicon Valley” (Season 2)
Producers: Mike Judge, Alec Berg, Jim Kleverweis, Clay Tarver, Dan O’Keefe, Michael Rotenberg, Tom Lassally
“Transparent” (Season 1)
Producers: Jill Soloway, Andrea Sperling, Victor Hsu, Nisha Ganatra, Rick Rosenthal, Bridget Bedard WINNER
“Veep” (Season 4)
Producers: Armando Iannucci, Chris Addison, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Godsick, Stephanie Laing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Frank Rich, Tony Roche, Kevin Cecil, Roger Drew, Sean Gray, Ian Martin, Georgia Pritchett, David Quantick, Andy Riley, Will Smith, Bill Hill
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Non-Fiction Television:
“30 for 30” (Season 6)
Producers: Connor Schell, John Dahl, Bill Simmons, Erin Leyden, Andrew Billman, Marquis Daisy, Libby Geist
“Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” (Season 3)
Producers: Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig
“The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” (Season 1)
Producers: Marc Smerling, Andrew Jarecki, Jason Blum WINNER
“Shark Tank” (Season 6)
Producers: Mark Burnett, Clay Newbill, Yun Lingner, Max Swedlow, Jim Roush, Brandon Wallace, Becky Blitz, Laura Roush, Shaun Polakow, Phil Gurin
“Vice” (Season 3)
Producers: BJ Levin, Bill Maher, Eddy Moretti, Shane Smith, Jonah Kaplan, Tim Clancy, Ben Anderson, Shawn Killebrew
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Competition Television:
“The Amazing Race” (Seasons 25 and 26)
Producers: Jerry Bruckheimer, Bertram van Munster, Jonathan Littman, Elise Doganieri, Mark Vertullo
“Dancing with the Stars” (Seasons 19 and 20)
Producers: Rob Wade, Ashley Edens-Shaffer, Joe Sungkur
“Project Runway” (Season 13)
Producers: Jonathan Murray, Sara Rea, Desiree Gruber, Jane Cha, Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Teri Weideman
“Top Chef” (Season 12)
Producers: Daniel Cutforth, Tom Colicchio, Chaz Gray, Casey Kriley, Padma Lakshmi, Jane Lipsitz, Doneen Arquines, Erica Ross
“The Voice” (Seasons 7 and 8)
Producers: Audrey Morrissey, Mark Burnett, John de Mol, Marc Jansen, Lee Metzger, Chad Hines, Jim Roush, Kyra Thompson, Mike Yurchuk, Amanda Zucker, Carson Daly WINNER
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television:
“The Colbert Report” (Season 11)
Producers: Stephen T. Colbert, Tom Purcell, Jon Stewart, Meredith Bennett, Barry Julien, Emily Lazar, Tanya Michnevich Bracco, Paul Dinello, Matt Lappin
“Key & Peele” (Season 4)
This show is in the process of being vetted for producer eligibility.
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (Season 2)
Producers: Tim Carvell, John Oliver, Liz Stanton WINNER
“Real Time with Bill Maher” (Season 13)
Producers: Bill Maher, Scott Carter, Sheila Griffiths, Marc Gurvitz, Billy Martin, Dean E. Johnsen, Matt Wood
“The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” (Season 2)
Producers: Lorne Michaels, Jamie Granet Bederman, Katie Hockmeyer, Jim Juvonen, Brian McDonald, Josh Lieb, Gavin Purcell
The Award for Outstanding Children’s Program:
“Doc McStuffins”
“The Fairly OddParents”
“Octonauts”
“Sesame Street” WINNER
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”
“Toy Story That Time Forgot”
