Directors Guild Announce Nominees

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) have just announced their five nominees for outstanding directorial achievement in feature film for 2013. Like the other Hollywood guilds, this is largely indicative of the Oscar nominations due to the considerable overlap in membership, so expect an almost identical list of names next Thursday, 16th January.

There a no real surprises, and it seems Paul Greengrass is beginning to assert himself as the likely fifth nominee at the Oscars, beating off the Coen Brothers, Robert Redford and Stephen Frears in one of the most competitive Best Director races in years. Martin Scorsese is now a safe bet for fourth spot, while David O. Russell, Steve McQueen and Alfonso Cuaron are locks with the biggest three films this season.

Cuaron, McQueen and Greengrass have never been nominated for the DGA award before, while David O. Russell enjoys his second and this is Martin Scorsese’s eleventh. Though the Oscar nominees could be very different, it’s unlikely, and it’s hard to imagine Alfonso Cuaron not cleaning up based on the scale of his project, and the vision required to successfully pull everything together over several years. But this is Hollywood, so anything can happen…

DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement

Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips

David O. Russell, American Hustle

Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street