DGA Nominees: Anderson, Branagh, Campion, Spielberg, Villeneuve
Thursday, January 27, 2022 at 5:49PM
NATHANIEL R in Best Director, DGA, Denis Villeneuve, Emma Seligman, Jane Campion, Kenneth Branagh, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Paul Thomas Anderson, Rebecca Hall, Steven Spielberg, Tatiana Huezo

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 

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

 

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

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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