“Birdman” director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has won the Directors Guild of America top feature film award.

“I never expected to be here tonight talking to you — never,” a deeply moved Inarritu said in his acceptance speech Saturday night at the Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles. “I am openly humbled.”

Alfonso Cuaron, who won last year’s DGA and Oscar for “Gravity,” made the presentation of the DGA’s top award to the audacious and surreal comedy-drama.

Inarritu, a native of Mexico, noted that filmmaking is unpredictable: “You can’t pick a sexual position that will turn out a certain kind of child.”

Inarritu credited the cast, led by Michael Keaton, along with producing partners John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole.

“I’m just so thankful, thankful, thankful, thankful,” he concluded.

He won over Richard Linklater for “Boyhood,” Clint Eastwood for “American Sniper,” Morten Tydlum for “The Imitation Game” and Wes Anderson for “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

Linklater and “Boyhood” had been regarded as the awards-season front-runners until recently. The unique nature of “Birdman,” with its long takes and intensity, has elevated the status of the latter.

The DGA win places “Birdman” in the role of favorite for the directing Oscar, following wins two weeks ago at the Producers Guild of America and the SAG awards for best cast.

The DGA award is based on voting by the 15,700 DGA members. It’s one of the top indicators of Oscar sentiment with all but seven of the DGA winners since 1948 going on to take the Best Director Oscar. Ben Affleck won the won the DGA award in 2013 for “Argo” even though he did not receive an Oscar nom.

Directors make up about 6% of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Anderson, Linklater and Tyldum are also nominated for the Oscar along with “Foxcatcher” director Bennett Miller, while Eastwood was excluded from the Oscars.

Female directors won all three major TV awards: Showtime’s “Homeland” director Lesli Linka Glatter, who had received four previous DGA nominations, won for television drama series; Jill Soloway won the comedy series award for Amazon’s “Transparent” and Lisa Cholodenko took the TV movie-miniseries award for HBO’s “Olive Kitteridge.”

Linka Glatter won for the “From A to B and Back Again” segment. It won over another “Homeland” segment, “Game of Thrones,” “House of Cards” and “True Detective.”

“Thank you for letting us tell this incredibly morally ambiguous story,” Linka Glatter said in her acceptance. She had previously won the award for “Mad Men.”

“Breaking Bad” won the drama series category last year.

Soloway’s win for “Transparent” for the “Best New Girl” segment comes a month after it won the comedy series trophy at the Golden Globes.

“I just got in the DGA,” Soloway said. “I got my card three weeks ago. Thanks for my gift.”

“Transparent” topped “Louie,” “Modern Family,” “Orange Is the New Black”and “Silicon Valley.” “30 Rock” won the award last year.

Another female director, Laura Poitras, took the documentary trophy “Citizenfour,” centering on documents leaker Edward Snowden.

Poitras met Snowden while working on a documentary about governmental surveillance in the post-9/11 era. Snowden ultimately handed over top-secret documents that revealed covert surveillance programs run by the NSA.

“Citizenfour” won over “Finding Vivian Maier,” “The Kill Team,” “The Overnighters” and “Virunga.” “Citizenfour,” “Vivian Maier” and “Virunga” are also nominated for the documentary Oscar.

“The Chair” took the reality program award for Anthony Sacco’s “The Test” episode. The Starz series topped “The Quest,” “The Biggest Loser,” “Top Chef,” and “Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge.”

Glenn Weis won the “variety/sports/news — specials” category for the sixth time for directing the Tony Awards, including last year.

Dave Diomedia won the variety/talk/news/sports – regularly scheduled programming” for the first episode of “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.”

The children’s program award went to Jonathan Judge for the pilot for Nickelodeon’s “100 Things to do Before High School.” Nicolai Fuglsig (MJZ) took the commercials award.

Steven Spielberg announced that the DGA has created a new award for best first-time film director, to be presented next year.

“Our guild was founded on the premise of providing support for filmmakers in what can often be a complicated business,” he said. “This new honor is the culmination of something our organization does very well — honor creativity and foster support.”

The DGA presented its inaugural Lifetime Achievement Awards in Television Direction to James Burrows and Robert Butler.

Jane Lynch hosted the 67th annual DGA ceremonies.

Updated list of winners:

FEATURE FILM

WES ANDERSON

The Grand Budapest Hotel

CLINT EASTWOOD

American Sniper

ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) — WINNER

RICHARD LINKLATER

Boyhood

MORTEN TYLDUM

The Imitation Game

DRAMATIC SERIES

DAN ATTIAS

Homeland, “13 Hours in Islamabad”

JODIE FOSTER

House of Cards, “Chapter 22”

CARY JOJI FUKUNAGA

True Detective, “Who Goes There”

LESLI LINKA GLATTER

Homeland, “From A to B and Back Again” — WINNER

ALEX GRAVES

Game of Thrones, “The Children”

COMEDY SERIES

LOUIS C.K.

Louie, “Elevator: Part 6”

JODIE FOSTER

Orange is the New Black, “Thirsty Bird”

MIKE JUDGE

Silicon Valley, “Minimum Viable Product”

GAIL MANCUSO

Modern Family, “Vegas”

JILL SOLOWAY

Transparent, “Best New Girl” — WINNER



MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND MINISERIES

ROB ASHFORD (Directed by)

GLENN WEISS (Live Television Direction By)

Peter Pan Live!

LISA CHOLODENKO

Olive Kitteridge — WINNER

ULI EDEL

Houdini

RYAN MURPHY

The Normal Heart

MICHAEL WILSON

The Trip to Bountiful

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

PAUL G. CASEY

Real Time With Bill Maher, “#1226”

DAVE DIOMEDI

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “Episode #1” — WINNER

JIM HOSKINSON

The Colbert Report, “#11040”

DON ROY KING

Saturday Night Live, “Host Jim Carrey/Musical Guest Iggy Azalea”

CHUCK O’NEIL

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, “OpenCarrying to the Midterms”

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – SPECIALS

HAMISH HAMILTON

The 86th Annual Academy Awards

LOUIS J. HORVITZ

The 37th Annual Kennedy Center Honors

DES McANUFF

Billy Crystal: 700 Sundays

RICH RUSSO

Super Bowl XLVIII

GLENN WEISS

The 68th Annual Tony Awards — WINNER



REALITY PROGRAMS

BERTRAM van MUNSTER

JACK CANNON

ELISE DOGANIERI

The Quest, “One True Hero”

NEIL DeGROOT

The Biggest Loser, “Episode 1613”

STEVE HRYNIEWICZ

Top Chef, “The First Thanksgiving”

ANTHONY B. SACCO

The Chair, “The Test” — WINNER

ADAM VETRI

Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge, “Welcome to the Gun Show”

CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS

PAUL HOEN

How to Build A Better Boy

JONATHAN JUDGE

100 Things To Do Before High School, “Pilot” — WINNER



VINCE MARCELLO

American Girl: Isabelle Dances Into The Spotlight

JOEY MAZZARINO

Sesame Street, “4504 Numericon”

AMY SCHATZ

Saving My Tomorrow, “Part 1 and 2”

COMMERCIALS

NICOLAI FUGLSIG – (MJZ) – WINNER

Sapeurs, Guinness AMV BBDO

Waiting, FEMA Deutsch NY

LAUREN GREENFIELD – (Chelsea Pictures)

Always #LikeAGirl, Always – Leo Burnett

BRENDAN MALLOY

EMMETT MALLOY – (HSI Productions)

The Huddle, Nike Wieden + Kennedy

DANIEL MERCADANTE

KATINA MERCADANTE – (Epoch Films)

Sports Matter, Dick’s Sporting Goods Anomaly

We Are Not Alone, Facebook Wieden + Kennedy

Big Sister, Facebook Wieden + Kennedy

NOAM MURRO – (Biscuit Filmworks)

Ahead of Their Time, Dodge Wieden + Kennedy Portland

Empty Chair, Guinness BBDO NY

DOCUMENTARY

DAN KRAUSS

The Kill Team

JOHN MALOOF

CHARLIE SISKEL

Finding Vivian Maier

JESSE MOSS

The Overnighters

LAURA POITRAS

Citizenfour — WINNER

ORLANDO von EINSIEDEL

Virunga