The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced today that Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg will receive his Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement award next year now that the 2007 Golden Globes ceremony has been canceled in favor of a press conference announcing the winners on Jan. 13. The postponement will allow the organization to fete the Jurassic Park director in grand style.
Spielberg has already received six Golden Globe awards, winning Best Director for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan; Best Motion Picture (Drama) for E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler’s List, and Saving Private Ryan; and Best Foreign Language Film for Letters From Iwo Jima. He racked up 12 additional nominations, including Best Director for Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Color Purple, Amistad, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and Munich.
It’s uncertain how the writers’ strike will affect other awards shows, including the Academy Awards, but Spielberg should be able to show up and receive his lifetime achievement award from the Visual Effects Society. The 6th Annual VES Awards should proceed as planned on Feb. 10 in Hollywood since it’s not a national television event. In receiving the honor, Spielberg will join the ranks of past winners George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis and Dennis Muren.
Currently on Spielberg’s plate is his long-awaited Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which reunites him with fellow Cecil B. DeMille winner Harrison Ford.
