In the run-up to Oscar season, every award matters, no matter how minor. And the Director’s Guild Awards are particularly interesting this year for the string of first-timers earning nominations and for Get Out securing not one but two nods for Jordan Peele.
As you might guess, the awards, handed out by Hollywood’s director’s union, focus solely on the person overseeing the movie, and have two categories with five nominees each: Best Director, and Outstanding Directorial Achievement Of A First-Time Feature Film Director. And in Best Director, we see a few names held over from the Golden Globes:
Guillermo Del Toro, The Shape Of Water
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Interestingly, for four out of five of these directors, this is their first DGA nomination; Nolan’s been up three times before this. As for the first-timers?
Geremy Jasper, Patti Cake$
William Oldroyd, Lady MacBeth
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Taylor Sheridan, Wind River
Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
Yep, Sorkin’s never directed a feature film before. That said, out of all the nominees, it’s pretty clear that the DGA wants to give Get Out an award. But that Del Toro is nominated for Best Director gives another edge to The Shape Of Water, which led the Golden Globes in nominations and won two for Best Director and Best Score. So this Oscar season may be shaping up to be one of the more interesting in recent memory.
