Guillermo Del Toro wasn't offended when Natalie Portman called out the lack of female directors nominated at the Golden Globes.

As she introduced the nominations at the award show on Sunday (07.01.18), Portman referred to the ''all male nominees'' but Del Toro, who picked up the prize for helming 'The Shape of Water', thinks it marks a positive change ahead for Hollywood.

Speaking about female directors like Greta Gerwig and Patty Jenkins, who didn't receive nominations in the Best Director category at the Golden Globes, Del Toro said: ''I love them. What this season has told us is it's time for everyone to say what they think, so let's do it.''

Del Toro also picked up the Best Director award at the Critics' Choice Awards on Thursday (11.01.18) and is thrilled with all the success 'The Shape of Water' is having.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight backstage, he shared: ''You take it in strides beautifully. When it happens, it's great. Now, it doesn't happen every time, so you learn not to go a little crazy. It's beautiful.''

In his Golden Globes speech, Del Toro thanked a ''few fantastic women'' who he had worked with on the movie.

He told the audience: ''I want to mention a few fantastic women sitting on this table. Sharon, Nancy, Ofelia, Sally, Kimmy and Vanessa. Without whom I wouldn't be here ... For 25 years I have handcrafted very strange little tales made of motion, colour, light and shadow. In three precise instances, these strange stories, these fables, have saved my life. Once with 'Devil's Backbone', once with 'Pan's Labyrinth', and now with 'Shape of Water', because as directors, these things are not just entries in a filmography. We have made a deal with a particularly inefficient devil that trades three years of our lives for one entry on IMDb. And these things are biography and they are alive.''

The 2018 award season has been very successful for Del Toro and 'The Shape Of Water', with the movie leading the majority of nominations and also scooping a number of top prizes too.