“Slumdog Millionaire” helmer Danny Boyle won the Directors Guild of America award early today, following triumphs at the Producers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, the Golden Globes and a number of critics’ groups. The DGA is award is historically the single most reliable predictor of the Oscars. So ignore the smear campaign against “Slumdog” and bloggers predicting a possible upset by “Milk,” which as we noted yesterday is dead on arrival in wide release. (Even though I personally talked some friends out of seeing “The Reader” and going to see “Milk” instead). The race is over and yes, it’s going to be a particularly boring Oscar night. Introduced as a nominee last night, Boyle expressed its gratitute to Warner Bros. for turning U.S. distribution of “Slumdog” over to Fox Searchlight after Warners pulled the plug on Warner Independent, which was originally supposed to release. “I should start by curiously thanking Warner Bros. for actually having the grace to do the right thing, when I think it would have been a lot easier to do the wrong thing, and pass the film on to Fox Searchlight, who are an extraordinary bunch of people,” he said. After accepting the award from incumbents Joel and Ethan Coen, Boyle said: “To step into the shoes of people like the Coen brothers, I mean, it’s phenomenal, because I have, as I admitted in the earlier speech, I’ve stolen from them all my career,” he said. “I mean in a naked and appalling way.” The DGA chose “Waltz With Bashir” for its documentary award and handed out a bunch of prizes for TV. More here from the AP.