DGA Nominees: Anderson, Branagh, Campion, Spielberg, Villeneuve
Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 5:49PM by Nathaniel R
And now the 'super thursday' of Guild Awards comes to an end with the Directors Guild of America nominations. The Directors Guild has historically been the best 'predictor' as to the Best Picture lineup though that distinction ceased being really important in 2009 when Oscar expanded its Best Picture lineup. Since then we've only seen one DGA Feature Film nominee that didnt show up in Oscar's Best Picture list (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) though we've several several DGA nominees who didn't show up in the parallel Oscar list for Best Director. Make sense? Okay, let's discuss their nominees...
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT - FEATURE FILM
- Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
- Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
- Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
- Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
- Denis Villeneuve, Dune Part One
It's the expected five. I had predicted Adam McKay for Dont' Look Up under the "expect the worst so you won't be disappointed" rule. This is an extremely solid list even though it won't be mine. If Oscar repeats this list it won't be too big a bummer. Still, this list rarely transfers exactly. The last time that happened was 2009 (the Kathryn Bigelow vs her ex husband James Cameron year) so it's unlikely that we won't have a slight alteration come Oscar nomination morning. Making a full transfer even more shocking would be the fact that it's been since 1950 (1950!!!) that the Oscar race for Best Director has consistent of all previous nominees. Usually there's at least one newbie.
And usually from the DGA to Oscar there is one switcheroo. That said these five movies are locked and loaded for Best Picture nods.
Recent history of DGA versus Oscar:
2020: Aaron Sorkin, Trial of Chicago 7 (DGA) replaced by Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round (Oscar)
2019: Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit (WGA) replaced by Todd Philips, Joker (Oscar)
2018 (3/5 year) Peter Farrelly, Green Book and Bradley Cooper, A Star is Born (DGA) replaced by Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War) and Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite (Oscar)
2017: Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards (DGA) replaced by Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread (Oscar)
2016: Garth Davis, Lion (DGA) replaced by Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge (Oscar)
2015: Ridley Scott, The Martian (DGA) replaced by Lenny Abrahmson, Room (Oscar)
2014: Clint Eastwood, American Sniper (DGA) replaced by Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher)
2013: Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips (DGA) replaced by Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
2012: (2/5 year complete chaos) Ben Affleck, Argo, Kathryn Bigelow Zero Dark Thirty, Tom Hooper, Les Miserables (DGA) replaced by Michael Haneke, Amour, David O Russell, Silver Linings Playbook, and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
2011: David Fincher Girl with Dragon Tattoo (DGA) replaced by Terrence Malick, Tree of Life (Oscar)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT - FIRST TIME FEATURE
- Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter
- Rebecca Hall, Passing
- Tatiana Huezo, Prayers for the Stolen
- Lin-Manuel Miranda, tick tick...BOOM!
- Michael Sarnoski, Pig
- Emma Seligman, Shiva Baby
This category has only been around since 2015 and this is the first year with six nominees so there must have been a tie for the fifth slot. It's a majority female race this year.
Opinion!: this group is arguably better than the main group (for the collective directing this year), though they're less famous as Directors naturally since they're just starting.
True story: Only one nominee in this DGA category has ever landed an Oscar nomination for Best Director in their season. That was Jordan Peele, Get Out (2017) though he was nominated in the DGA's main category as well as in this "first time" field.
Another true story: Interestingly enough this year's first time field includes the director of Mexico's Oscar finalist Tatian Huezo and LAST YEAR'S FIELD DID TOO (Fernando Frias de la Parra for I'm No Longer here)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT - DOCUMENTARY
- Jessica Kingdon, Ascension
- Stanley Nelson, Attica
- Raoul Peck, Exterminate All Brutes
- Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Summer of Soul
- Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin, The Rescue
Reader Comments (12)
That first-time director's list is *chef's kiss*. Really happy especially for LMM to get in to keep his film 4/4 today in guild nominations. Wow!
I'm more excited about the first-timers race than the main event, but I'm not mad at those nominees either. (Maybe that will change after I finally watch Belfast.)
I really hope Denis wins this.
The first time director's list is really good, at least of the films I've seen. Hall, Miranda, and Seligman, in particular, really created memorable and special wins. I really can't wait to see what they do next.
I'm a bit surprised to see McKay missing. I still think Don't Look Up is a top tier contender for BP, but I do think this shows its weakness. Still, it could easily Green Book its way to a win.
Based everything I've seen, I'm down with these five folks (just need to see Belfast). Really didn't want McKay to be here (he doesn't deserve to be) so it's all good.
It’s not my five either as we’re dealing with the same small pile of contender films BUT I do hope it’s an exact transfer to Oscar cause I’m very good with this group. Also love Jane and Steven are nominated together again. This year though Jane will win.
Even though Licorice Pizza is probably 5th or even 6th in terms of Best Picture heat, I honestly believe PTA is most likely 2nd in Best Director. Not that he has a chance of winning (this is clearly Campion’s to lose), but if any of these five is going to miss out come Oscar nomination morning, he’s the snub who’d actually surprise me the most with the obvious exception of Campion. I could see any of the other three missing out before PTA. Even if we were in a five-nominee Best Picture year, he’d be a lone director nomination even if the movie missed the top 5.
Meh. Could have been a lot worse.
Oscar I think will go with either Hamaguchi or Trier instead of Branagh. I'd like to think that Spielberg's work is undeniable, but the other guilds seem to think so.
LOL at how the replacements by the Academy generally are an improvement, at least for the past few years. But my guess is the Oscar list matches. PTA is already the Director's Branch deep cut that might usually get subbed in on Oscar morning (e.g. Vinterberg or Pawlikowski). If McKay is the #6, I'm doubt many voters go out of their way to put him over the top.
Since the last time all five Oscar nominees for Best Director were previous nominees was in 1950, the most likely options among the current contenders to replace [Branagh] are Reinaldo Marcus Green, Aaron Sorkin and Ryusuke Hamaguchi. (Very long shots: Miranda, Gyllenhaal, Hall.)
I think there's some wishful thinking here regarding Branagh dropping off. He's the one I want to drop of, too. but if paying attention to the Oscars has taught me one thing, it's to expect disappointment. The only lock is Campion.
Although Mexico didn't get the nomination last year... that movie was good too, but not TOP5... This year Mexico will get nominated! The Best of the 15, it simply has to...
Nathaniel - time to raise it from your "last place"! :)
My lineup for the foreign noms is Mexico, Finland, Japan, Norway and Iran - easily the 5 best of the bunch and perfect compbination - covering south america, asia, europe and middle east... only africa and australia will miss out, but some parts of the world always have to.
Meanwhile, although I hope West Side Story will not get best picture nom (it was just impossible to believe in these "ballet dancing gangs"), but Spielberg did have a colourful top notch visual and dancing/singing mix in that film.
I hope this really will be the lineup of Oscar nominees... if then only Spielberg could be left out. .