PRECIOUS

With his second directorial effort, filmmaker Lee Daniels accomplished several astonishing feats, not least that he wrangled an incredible array of new and veteran talents into one film and elicited searing performances out of all of them, especially comedienne Mo'nique who won an Oscar for her ferocious portrayal of an abusive mother. Led by a breakout, Oscar-nominated Gabourey Sidibe, this ruthlessly unsentimental yet empathetic portrait of poverty and perseverance is full of grit and raw emotion. Buoyed by Daniels' confident, empathetic direction and Geoffrey Fletcher's Oscar-winning screenplay, PRECIOUS is a little-movie-that-could that had its own Cinderella story, going from Sundance breakout to Best Picture-nominee.

director/producer Lee Daniels

Lee Daniels is a film and TV creator best known for his films PRECIOUS (Oscar noms for Director and Picture), THE BUTLER, and THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY, among others and his hit TV shows EMPIRE and STAR.