by Nathaniel R
This year's 70th annual DGA Awards will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on February 3rd a month before the Oscars. The winner for Directing in Theatrical Features usually goes on to win the Oscar though historically there's about one exception a decade (Ben Affleck for Argo, Rob Marshall for Chicago, Ron Howard for Apollo 13, etcetera-- basically don't have the "oh" sound in your movie title!-- did not repeat their wins at the Oscars and some of them weren't even nominated for the Academy Award).
This year's lucky five nominees -- statistically you can expect four of them to pop up again with Oscar -- are:
THEATRICAL FEATURE
- Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
- Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
- Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards...
- Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
TRIVIA NOTE : This is Nolan's fourth nomination with the DGA but he's never transferred that to the Oscar list! The rest are newbies.
TRIVIA NOTE: As strong as that list looks (strange that Spielberg didn't happen but perhaps BAFTA and SAG warned us), the DGA nominations almost never transfer fully to Oscar's Best Director category. They always replace someone, like so...
2016: Garth Davis lost his spot for Lion (DGA) to Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge (Oscar)
2015: Ridley Scott lost his spot for the Martian (DGA) to Lenny Abrahamson on Room (Oscar)
2014: Clint Eastwood lost his spot for American Sniper (DGA) to Bennet Miller for Foxcatcher (Oscar)
2013: Paul Greengrass lost his spot for Captain Phillips (DGA) to Alexander Payne for Nebraska (Oscar)
2012: A CRAZY YEAR. Only two of the DGA's choices made it to the Oscar shortlist (Spielberg & Lee) while the other mainstream nominees were replaced by scrappier indie and foreign film choices
2011: David Fincher lost his spot for Dragon Tattoo (DGA) to Terrence Malick for Tree of Life (Oscar)
2010: Christopher Nolan lost his spot for Inception (DGA) to the Coen Bros for True Grit (Oscar)
So expect one of these five nominees to be snubbed on January 23rd with the Oscar nominations. But which? Though it's most typical for a big MOVIE MOVIE to lose out to a critics darling... that isn't always the case since last year they reversed that more typical move.
FIRST TIME DIRECTOR
This is a super new category for the DGA. Last year they went with had a fairly diverse lineup with gender, ethnicities and nationalities and types of movies by way of Garth Davis for Lion, Kelly Fremon Craig for Edge of Seventeen, Tim Miller for Deadpool, Nate Parker for Birth of a Nation, and Dan Trachtenberg for 10 Cloverfield Lane. This year it's also a fairly wide net at least in terms of styles of movie:
- Geremy Jasper, Patti Cake$
- William Oldroyd, Lady Macbeth
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
- Taylor Sheridan, Wind River
- Aaron Sorkin, Molly's Game
TELEVISION
Dramatic Series
Duffer Brothers - Stranger Things: Chapter Nine "The Gate"
Reed Morano - The Handmaid's Tale "Offred"
Jeremy Podeswa - Game of Thrones "The Dragon and the Wolf"
Matt Shakman - Game of Thrones "The Spoils of War"
Alan Taylor - Game of Thrones "Beyond the Wall"
The Duffer Brothers are the only returning nominees from last years slate. Last year Game of Thrones took up only one of the five nominations but this year it hogs 60% of the category. Insane.
Comedy Series
Aziz Ansari, Master of None "The Theif"
Mike Judge Silicon Valley "Server Error"
Melina Matsoukas Master of None "Thanksgiving"
Beth McCarthy-Miller Veep "Chicklet"
Amy Sherman-Palladino The Marvelous Mrs Maisel "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel"
The only consecutive returning nominee is Mike Judge for Silicon Valley. And lookiewow -- the category is 60% female directors. Times are changing. At least on television.
Movies For TV And Miniseries
Scott Frank Godless
Barry Levinson Wizard of Lies
Kyra Sedgwick Story of a Girl
Jean-Marc Vallee Big Little Lies
George C Wolfe The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Last year this category had two live musicals in it. Quite a bit different this year, eh?
Variety/Talk/News/Sports - Regular Programming
Andre Allen Full Frontal with Samantha Bee #2601
Paul G Casey Real Time with Bill Maher #1527
Jim Hoskinson Late Show with Stephen Colbert "Joe Biden/Elton John"
Don Roy King Saturday Night Live "Host: Jimmy Fallon"
Paul Pennolino Last Week Tonight with John Oliver "French Elections"
Variety/Talk/News/Sports - Specials
Stan Lathan Dave Chappele: Age of Spin
Linda Mendoza Kennedy Center HOnoring David Letterman
Paul Pennolino Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Presents Not the White House Correspondent's Dinner
Amy Schumer, Amy Schumer Leather Special
Glenn Weiss, the 89th Annual Academy Awards
Reality Programs
Hisham Abed "Encore! "Pilot"
John Gonzalez Live PD "Episode 50"
Brian Smith Master Chef "Vegas Deluxe & Oyster Shucks
Adam Vetri Dare to Live "Chainsmokers"
Kent Weed Spartan: The Ultimate Team Challenge "Season Premiere"
Children's Programs
Niki Caro Anne with an E "Your Will Shall Decide Your Destiny"
Benjamin Lehmann The Magical Wand Chase: A Sesame Street Special
Lily Mariye Just Add Magic "Just Add Meddling"
Alison McDonald An American Girl Story "Summer Camp, Friends for Life"
Matthew O'Neill & Thalia Sodi 15 a Quinceanera story: Zoey"
Commercials
Martin de Thurah -Festival (Stubhub) Machines (Stubhub) and Mad World (WealthSimple)
Alma Har'el -Love Without Bias (P&G)
Hoffman/Metoyer -Anthem (KitchenAid) and Go Further, Ford (GTB)
Miles Jay -Alive (Bose QuietComfort), Calling JohnMalkovich.com (Squarespace), Who is JohnMalkovich.com (SquareSpace)
Isaiah Seret - Growing Up (Samsung Galaxy), I Love You (Samsung Great), Never Too Composed (Kohler)
Documentary
Ken Burns & Lynn Novick, The Vietnam War (PBS)
Bryan Fogel, Icarus (Netflix)
Matthew Heineman, City of Ghosts (Amazon)
Steve James, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (PBS)
Errol Morris, Wormwood (Netflix)
The winners of all the DGA Awards will be announced at their 70th annual ceremony on February 3rd, 2018 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.