LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Steven Spielberg, Jane Campion and Kenneth Branagh were among the nominees announced Thursday for the Directors Guild of America Award for outstanding direction of a feature film.
Spielberg was nominated for “West Side Story,” Campion for “The Power of the Dog” and Branagh for “Belfast.” Also earning nods were Paul Thomas Anderson for “Licorice Pizza” and Denis Villeneuve for “Dune.”
Much like the Producers Guild of America is a strong indicator of success in the best picture category on Oscar night, the DGA Award is historically a solid predictor of who will take home the Academy Award for best director.
In fact, since 1948, there have only been eight times that the winner of the DGA award for feature film directing has not gone on to win the Oscar for best director. The most recent time was in 2020, when Sam Mendes won the DGA Award for “1917,” but the Oscar went to Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.”
Last year, both honors went to “Nomadland” director Chloé Zhao, who became only the second woman to win the DGA’s top prize and the Oscar. Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win the award, for 2008’s “The Hurt Locker.”
The nomination for Spielberg is the 11th of his career. He has won the DGA Award three times, for “Saving Private Ryan,” “Schindler’s List” and “The Color Purple.” He also received the DGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
Campion was previously nominated for the award for “The Piano,” while Villeneuve was nominated for “Arrival” and Anderson was nominated for “There Will Be Blood.” Branagh is a first-time DGA nominee.
Meanwhile, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Lin-Manuel Miranda were among those nominated Thursday for best first-time director. Gyllenhaal was nominated for “The Lost Daughter,” while Miranda’s nod was for “tick, tick…BOOM!”
Also nominated for best first-time director were Rebecca Hall for “Passing,” Tatiana Huezo for “Prayers for the Stolen,” Michael Sarnoski for “Pig” and Emma Seligman for “Shiva Baby.”
The 74th annual DGA Awards will be presented March 12 at the Beverly Hilton.
