And the Awards Go To...

 Tate Taylor
Director of The Help 

 It could have gone so wrong. Kathryn Stockett sold the film rights to The Help, her best-selling novel about the relationship between homeowners and their domestic staff in 1960s Mississippi, to her childhood friend Tate Taylor, an out actor (Sordid Lives, Winter's Bone) with only one directing credit, 2008's little-seen Pretty UglyPeople. But the female-driven film received strong reviews, became a surprise box office hit, grossing more than $200 million worldwide, and is now a major awards contender. Despite a few quibbles about the film sugarcoating the civil rights era, Taylor's direction, short on flashy style, compensates with rich emotional pull as well as an admirable eye for time and place, and he elicits strong performances from the entire ensemble.