Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Oscars 2016: Directors Guild of America Awards Nominations

The Directors Guild of America has announced their annual list of nominees today. Let's take a look at not only who made the cut, but whose films have shown a lot of strength.

Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, The Revenant
Thomas McCarthy, Spotlight
Adam McKay, The Big Short 
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road 
Ridley Scott, The Martian 

I got all of them right except for Thomas McCarthy. I figured that with how Spotlight has been underpeforming this season (Shut out at the Globes, snubbed for directing/editing at BAFTA Awards, no individual acting nod at SAG except Rachel McAdams, etc.), then even McCarthy would. But not the case. I figured his spot would go to Denis Villeneuve since Sicario has been performing well in the guilds. But two glaring omissions are Todd Haynes and Steven Spielberg. With Todd Haynes getting snubbed here and Carol at the Producers Guild, I have my concerns about how it'll perform on Thursday morning. I also figured Spielberg would get in because...well, he's Spielberg. But they didn't name check him here.

They also have announced a new and special film category: Outstanding Directorial Achievement For A First-Time Film Director.

Fernando Coimbra, Wolf at the Door
Joel Edgerton, The Gift
Alex Garland, Ex Machina 
Marielle Heller, Diary of a Teenage Girl 
Laszlo Nemes, Son of Saul 

With this nomination along with a Producers Guild nomination, Ex Machina is showing quite a bit of strength in this race. I also love seeing Joel Edgerton recognized for his work and Marielle Heller to shine a light on female filmmakers. Especially after the Oscars found themselves in hot water for snubbing women directors last year.

The big morning, Oscar Nomination Day, is coming on Thursday. I cannot wait to discuss those once they are announced. Until then, thanks for reading!

No comments:

Post a Comment