by Nathaniel R
Zhao on the set of Nomadland
As expected Chloe Zhao took the DGA prize last night for Nomadland on her way to making history (hopefully) on Oscar night. She's only the second woman to win the DGA for Feature Film and she'd be the second to win the Oscar if she prevails later this month on Hollywood's High Holy Night. She reportedy praised her fellow nominees at the guild awards where her peers convene honoring David Fincher as "master class", Aaron Sorkin as "a poet". And echoing the sentiment of many of us movie lovers in that Lee Isaach Chung's Minari touched her personally and she can't wait to see what Emerald Fennell does as a follow up to Promising Young Woman. Relatable words and classy, too...
The most interesting wins though were arguably the Documentary direction (which skipped over the actual Oscar hopefuls to go to the directors of The Truffle Hunters) and the First Time Feature director. The latter went to Darius Marder for Sound of Metal. Given that film's very strong nomination tally at the Oscars, showing up in just about every category it might have reasonably hoped to land in, and his win here one has to assume Marder was in the dread sixth spot for Best Director at the Oscars.
Darius Marder and Riz Ahmed on set
Feature Film Chloe Zhao, Nomadland
First nomination and win.
First Time Feature Director Darius Marder, Sound of Metal
First nomination and win.
Documentary Feature Michael Dweck & Gregory Kershaw, The Truffle Hunters
First nomination and win.
Comedy Series Susanna Fogel, The Flight Attendant "In Case of Emergency"
First nomination and win. She was previously BAFTA nominated for cowriting the brilliant comedy Booksmart
Drama Series Lesli Linka Glatter, Homeland "Prisoners of War"
This is Glatter's third win, and second for Homeland.
Limited Series Scott Frank "The Queen's Gambit
Second nomination and first win. He was previously nominated for directing the western series Godless (2017). He's also a screenwriter and was twice Oscar nominated (Logan, Out of Sight)
Variety Talk News Sports (Regularly Scheduled) Don Roy King SNL "Dave Chappelle; Foo Fighters"
This was his 15th DGA nomination and 7th win. All of those nominations were for Saturday Night Live.
Variety Talk News Sports (Special) Thomas Schlamme "A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote"
This was his 9th nomination and 4th win -- all the wins were for either West Wing or Sports Night. He's also received a non-competitive career achievement award.
Reality Program Joseph Guidry Full Bloom, "Petal to the Metal"
First nomination and win.
Children's Program Amy Schatz "We Are the Dream: The Kids of Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest"
This is her 12th nomination and 7th win, all from this particular category.
BEATS BY DRE - YOU LOVE ME, dir. Melina Matsoukas from ballad on Vimeo.
Commercials Melina Matsoukas "You Love Me, Beats by Dr. Dre - Translation"
This was her third nomination and first win. All three nominations were in different categories (First Time Feature - Queen & Slim, and Directing Comedy Series - Master of None were the previous nominations)
Honorary Life Member Award Paris Barclay
In his career he earned 10 DGA nominations and 1 win (usually for acclaimed dramas like West Wing, NYPD Blue, ER, and In Treatment but a few comedies too). This is his second non-competitive career honors award