Danielle Solzman
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2018.
Once again, no women have been nominated. I cannot stress this enough. While Greta Gerwig was nominated for Lady Bird last year, you’d have to go back to Kathryn Bigelow’s nomination for The Hurt Locker (2009) and Zero Dark Thirty (2012). Before this, the most recent nomination had been Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation (2003). This comes in a year in which there have been some very strong contenders. Unfortunately, it’s just not enough to make it into the pantheon of DGA nominations or quite possibly an Oscar nomination. Critics of Bohemian Rhapsody‘s absence should be pleased because it’s hard to win Best Picture without a DGA nomination or win.
Once thought to be among the front runners, what does today mean for Black Panther director Ryan Coogler? Similarly, The Favourite‘s Yorgos Lanthimos and If Beale Street Could Talk‘s Barry Jenkins were also snubbed by today’s announcement. Other directors are also among the snubs. It doesn’t mean that it’s the run of the run for their chances but the DGA award is one of the strongest prognosticators by far.
Since the first award in 1949, their winner has gone on to repeat at the Oscars all but seven times. It is possible to still win Best Picture without winning Best Director. This has happened sixteen times in Oscar history where the DGA winner did not direct the Oscar winner for Best Picture. Most recently, this occurred when Damien Chazelle was both the DGA and Oscar for La La Land but Moonlight won Best Picture. Prior to this, Spotlight won Best Picture while Alejandro G. Iñárritu won Best Director for The Revenant.
Time is running out on the directors who were once perceived to be a front runner or a major threat. Oscar nomination voting ends on January 14, 2019.
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FEATURE FILM
BRADLEY COOPER
A Star is Born (Warner Bros. Pictures)
- Unit Production Manager: Robert J. Dohrmann
- First Assistant Director: Michele “Shelley” Ziegler
- Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
- Second Second Assistant Director: Matthew R. Milan
ALFONSO CUARÓN
Roma (Netflix)
- Unit Production Manager: Ana Hernandez
- First Assistant Director: Frederic Henocque Albino
- Second Assistant Director: Patrick Heyerdahl
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Luis Fernando Vásquez, Julián ‘Chico’ Valdés, Arturo Garcia
PETER FARRELLY
Green Book (Universal Pictures)
- Unit Production Managers: Alissa M. Kantrow, John Brister, Franses Simonovich (New York Unit)
- First Assistant Directors: J.B. Rogers, Alejandro Ramia (New York Unit)
- Second Assistant Directors: Paul B. Uddo, Jack McKenna (New York Unit)
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Gerson Paz, Jonathan Warren
- Location Manager: Louis Zuppardi
SPIKE LEE
BlacKkKlansman (Focus Features)
- Unit Production Manager: Marcei A. Brown
- First Assistant Director: Mike Ellis
- Second Assistant Director: Tracey Hinds
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Jason Perez, Christina Ann Walker, Anastasia Folorunso
ADAM MCKAY
Vice (Annapurna Pictures)
- Unit Production Managers: Julie Hartley, Jeff Waxman
- First Assistant Director: Matt Rebenkoff
- Second Assistant Director: Joann Connolly
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Yarden Levo, Dave Vogel (Washington D.C. Unit)
OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT OF A FIRST-TIME FEATURE FILM DIRECTOR
BO BURNHAM
Eighth Grade (A24)
- First Assistant Director: Dan Taggatz
- Second Assistant Director: Vic Coram
- Second Second Assistant Director: Evelyn Fogleman
BRADLEY COOPER
A Star is Born (Warner Bros. Pictures)
- Unit Production Manager: Robert J. Dohrmann
- First Assistant Director: Michele “Shelley” Ziegler
- Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
- Second Second Assistant Director: Matthew R. Milan
CARLOS LÓPEZ ESTRADA
Blindspotting (Summit Entertainment)
- Assistant Director: La Mar Stewart
- Second Second Assistant Director: Dominic Martin
- Additional Second Second Assistant Director: Armin Houshmandi
MATTHEW HEINEMAN
A Private War (Aviron Pictures)
- Unit Production Manager: Louise Killin
- First Assistant Directors: George Walker, Peter Freeman (Jordan Unit)
- Second Assistant Directors: Tom Mulberge (UK Unit), Tom Browne (Jordan Unit)
- Second Second Assistant Director: Tarik Afifi (Jordan Unit)
BOOTS RILEY
Sorry to Bother You (Annapurna Pictures)
- Production Manager: Chris Martin
- First Assistant Director: Brian Benson
- Second Assistant Director: Hilton Jamal Day
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Sam Purdy, Nick Alvarez
