American Beauty, already loaded with Golden Globes, plus nominations for the upcoming Oscars and BAFTAs, cleaned up at two separate awards ceremonies over the weekend - Saturday's Director's Guild of America awards and yesterday's Screen Actor's Guild awards. The big prize at the DAG's went to Beauty director Sam Mendes, who won Outstanding Directorial Achievement for his debut feature in a ceremony held at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Mendes received his award from Steven Spielberg, who was the recipient of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award For Distinguished Achievement in Motion Pictures.
Yesterday the Screen Actor's Guild gave its nod of approval to American Beauty by granting the three big prizes - Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Cast - to 'Beauty's Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening and the 'Beauty cast. A veteran SAG winner was** Sidney Poitier**, who became the 36th recipient of the Annual Life Achievement Award. Poitier was presented his award by by Denzel Washington. And the other winners - after the deluge of honours for American Beauty - included Michael Caine, granted the award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his part in The Cider House Rules, and **Angelina Jolie **who carried away the prize for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Girl, Interrupted - the film which also already won Jolie a Golden Globe.