Tom Hooper pulled off an upset win on Saturday for the top film honour at the Directors Guild of America Awards for his British monarchy tale The King's Speech.
Hooper won out over David Fincher for The Social Network, who had been considered the favourite for Hollywood's main directing prizes, including the Academy Award on February 27.
The guild win for Hooper sets up a showdown between him and Fincher at the Oscars, where The King's Speech leads with 12 nominations.
"To be back here a second time is extraordinary," said Hooper, an Emmy winner for the miniseries Elizabeth I and Directors Guild nominee for the miniseries John Adams.
The Directors Guild honour is one of the most-accurate forecasts for the Oscars. Only six times in the 62-year history of the guild awards has the winner failed to take home the directing Oscar.
Earlier in the evening, as he accepted a guild medallion for his nomination, Hooper thanked his mother, who first brought the story of The King's Speech to his attention after she attended a dramatic reading of the tale when it was an unproduced play.
"She came home and she rang me up and she said, ‘I think I found your next movie,'" Hooper said. "The moral of the story is, listen to your mother."
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