Director Mendes to get lifetime award

LONDON, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- British film director Sam Mendes will receive a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of Great Britain, the BBC reported Thursday.

Mendes, the 39-year-old husband of actress Kate Winslet, joins lifetime award recipients Stanley Kubrick, John Schlesinger and Trevor Nunn.

"I've decided to treat it as a large bank loan that I can pay off in installments over the next 30 years," said Mendes, who won an Oscar for directing "American Beauty" and is an award-winning theater director.