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The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the industry’s most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award. Only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the Feature Film winner not gone on to win the corresponding Academy Award*:
LOS ANGELES, CA: Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2009. “The DGA Award is especially meaningful to directors because it is decided solely by their peers – the men and women who have been in the same trenches and know exactly what goes into the crafting of a unique motion picture,” said Hackford. “The five nominees for this year have each expressed an indelible vision that transported audiences to vivid vistas of cinematic art. My heartiest congratulations to all of the nominees.” The winner will be named at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
The nominees are (in alphabetical order):
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)
Ms. Bigelow’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Tony Mark
First Assistant Director: David Ticotin
First Assistant Director (Canadian Unit): Lee Cleary
This is Ms. Bigelow’s first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
James Cameron, Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox)
Mr. Cameron’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Colin Wilson
First Assistant Director: Josh McLaglen
Second Assistant Director/Add’l Unit First Asst Director: Maria Battle Campbell
This is Mr. Cameron’s second DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He previously won the Feature Film Award for Titanic in 1997.
Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire (Lionsgate)
Mr. Daniels’ Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Tony Hernandez
First Assistant Director: Chip Signore
Second Assistant Director: Tracey Hinds
Second Second Assistant Director: Michael “Boogie” Pickney
Additional Unit Production Manager: Patrick D. Gibbons
Additional First Assistant Director: Tom Fatone
Additional Second Assistant Directors: Kim Thompson, Mirashyam Blakeslee
Location Manager: Gregory Routt
This is Mr. Daniels’ first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
Jason Reitman, Up In The Air (Paramount Pictures)
Mr. Reitman’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Michael Beugg
First Assistant Director: Jason Blumenfeld
Second Assistant Director: Sonia Bhalla
Assistant Unit Production Manager: Samson Mucke
Second Second Assistant Director: Joseph Payton
Additional Second Assistant Director: Heather L. Hogan
This is Mr. Reitman’s first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds (Weinstein Co/Universal Pictures)
Mr. Tarantino’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Gregor Wilson
Unit Production Manager (Germany): Michael Scheel
First Assistant Director: Carlos Fidel
Second Assistant Director: Miguel Angelo Pate
Second Second Assistant Directors: Jill Moriarty, Tanja Däberitz
This is Mr. Tarantino’s second DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Pulp Fiction in 1994.
*The six exceptions are as follows:
1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!
1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA’s nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.
1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.
1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.
2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.
2002: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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ok… ok… finally a woman nominated. It’s about time! For being over 50% of the population, women are definitely not getting their deserved share.
I wouldn’t rule Tarantino or Reitman out at the Academy Awards. Both have been previously nominated (but haven’t won) and have developed a significant body of work. Basterds is about Nazis and it’s been 15 years since Pulp Fiction, there’s bound to be plenty of directors inspired by it. Up in the Air has George Clooney and will get credit for a non-Hollywood ending.
I don’t think the Academy wants to give Cameron more Oscars than Scorsese. They still might out of resepct for the innovation he’s brought with Avatar. Bigelow may have made a great film (I haven’t seen it yet), but her resume dosen’t have a lot of award winning films on it.
I’d say a four way race.
I think if the academy actually cared about how many academy awards Scorsese has, it wouldn’t have taken decades to actually get him one in the first place.
Kathyrn Bigelow has directed 8 feature films.
Jason Reitman has directed 3.
Reitman is a very talented director; however, The Hurt Locker is the superior film. The Oscar belongs to Bigelow!
And frankly in 83 years, with women representing over 50% of the population, ONLY 3 woman have ever been nominated for an Oscar for Best Director – it’s about fucking time a female director won.
Right On!!!!
Congratulations to all five nominees. All five are well-deserving. However, I’ll repeat myself. The award should go to Kathryn Bigelow. It’s time. And she deserves it.
I thought Tarantino was not a DGA member. He can still be nominated?
i think he became one to direct the episode of ER.
-RnsW
BTW – up in the air is way overrated as a film
Please don’t take this the wrong way but are you retarded or just from Ohio?
Bigelow deserves to win for her work not because she is a woman… don’t put that on her because it will turn into a case of blowback.
Congrats to all nominees, directors and teams.
While Kathryn Bigelow may not have racked up the awards, her work has been consistent and visceral. Lee Daniels did an outstanding job with ‘Precious’. While ‘Up in the Air’ was great, it’s not quite the same level of narrative achievement that the other two are.
To me, it’s a three way race, and the Academy may be willing to break through its white male dominance of 82 years in the category with either Lee or Kathryn. Let’s face it – it’s time. Any longer, and it’s an embarrassment that they’d have to explain.
It’s Bigelow coming out ahead in the battle of the sexes and the battle of the exes.
Wait, I’m a member of the WGA and INGLORIOUS BASTERDS was not an option to vote for in the WGA screenwriter awards! I literally just voted. I assumed that’s because Tarantino is neither WGA or DGA. So how could he be nominated for a DGA award?? WGA rules are you can only be nominated if you’re an active WGA member. That’s why I assume DISTRICT 9 was also not a choice for best screenplay. It was a foreign (non-guild) production. This sucks, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS is for sure the best script of the year.
WGA rules are stricter — you can’t be nominated unless you’re a member. The DGA allows non-members to be nominated as long as the film received some special exemption (I don’t know the exact process or how they decide what movies receive the exemption, but that’s the way it goes).