The 2016 Directors Guild of America announced their annual nominees today. This is an important precursor in the Oscar race since it is a guild of around 1,600 members (much larger than the 377 strong directors branch of The Academy). In fact, this guild award is often more significant in terms of predicting Best Picture nominees than Best Director at the Oscars, because of the large voting body. So while the directors in the Academy sometimes have a slot for a dark horse, quirky candidate, the DGA shows who is leading the pack. And today's nominations reflect the presumed front-runners of this awards season:
Best Director
Alejandro Gonzalez Inaritu, The Revenant
Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
Adam McKay, The Big Short
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott, The Martian
In addition, the DGA announced nominees for the inaugural "best directorial achievement for a first time feature film director". Eligible films must be released in New York and Los Angeles within 2015. Foreign films and non-DGA members are eligible for this award.
Best First Feature Film Director
Fernando Coimbra, A Wolf at the Door
Joel Edgerton, The Gift
Alex Garland, Ex Machina
Marielle Heller, Diary of a Teenage Girl
Laszlo Nemes, Son of Saul
So are the five DGA picks our Oscar nominees as well? Likely. But the smaller number of voters at the Academy makes room for more distinctive choices. McCarthy, McKay and Miller would all be first time Oscar nominees (they are first time DGA nominees as well) and one does wonder if the Academy has room for 3 "new" faces. Especially with old guard types like Spielberg and Haynes are waiting in the wings. While one of the three Academy newcomers may be unexpectedly snubbed, the DGA shows that all five films have serious widespread appeal. They are all but certain to show up in Best Picture.
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