The Hollywood Foreign Press will bestow its honorary Cecil B. DeMille Award to Martin Scorsese during the Golden Globes on January 17, according to Variety.
Scorsese, who is a few days from his 67th birthday, is responsible for several movies legendary for their gritty, sometimes expressionistic, portrayals of violence. These include Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and GoodFellas.
He also crafted many underrated gems that explored various social and cultural issues. These include The King of Comedy (the obsessions of celebrity culture), The Last Temptation of Christ (a non-Gospel, first-person telling of Jesus's internal struggle), Kundun (the life of the Dalai Lama), and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (the trials of single-motherhood).
The DeMille Award recognizes the lifetime achievement of various actors and directors. Recent recipients include Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, and Al Pacino. Earlier recipients include Walt Disney, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, and Alfred Hitchcock, among others. You can see the complete list of winners here.
During his career, Scorsese twice won the Golden Globe for Best Director (for Gangs of New York and The Departed), so the award thankfully won't seem like a consolation prize. As many of you probably remember, fans were bitterly disappointed when the Oscars did not award Scorsese its directing award for Gangs of New York, going instead with Roman Polanski and The Pianist.
Thank goodness Scorsese finally won for The Departed. Now, any lifetime achievement award he wins at the Academy Awards won't feel like adding insult to injury, some conciliatory gesture that says, "Sorry we never gave you the real thing, but here ya go."
Scorsese's next release is Shutter Island, which arrives on February 19, and he is also at work on Sinatra and The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, both due sometime in 2011.