Directors Guild of America (DGA) WINNERS – Iñárritu Makes History

Erik Anderson February 6, 2016

**HISTORY: Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant) wins back to back awards from the Directors Guild of America**

Alejandro G. Iñárritu made history tonight by becoming the only director in the Directors Guild’s 68 years to win back to back awards. He won last year for Birdman and won again tonight for The Revenant. We now have a completely topsy-turvy Oscar race with a different film each winning the top three guilds. The Big Short won PGA, Spotlight won SAG and now The Revenant has the DGA.

George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road) was the pundits favorite and the passion pick going in but Adam McKay (The Big Short) had stats on his side.

All 10 Gold Rush Gang members are predicting Adam McKay (The Big Short) to win the top Feature Film prize, most had George Miller as their alternate and just a couple had Iñárritu.

The FULL list of DGA winners:

FEATURE FILM

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film

ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU

The Revenant

(20th Century Fox)

Mr. Iñárritu’s Directorial Team:

Unit Production Managers: Drew Locke, James W. Skotchdopole, Doug Jones
First Assistant Director: Scott Robertson
Second Assistant Directors: Megan M. Shank, Matthew Haggerty, Jeremy Marks
Unit Production Manager: Gabriela Vazquez (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
First Assistant Director: Adam Somner (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
Second Assistant Directors: Trevor R. Tavares, Jasmine Marie Alhambra (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)
Second Second Assistant Directors: Brett Robinson, Kasia Trojak (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary

MATTHEW HEINEMAN

Cartel Land
The Orchard
A&E Indiefilms
Our Time Projects
The Documentary Group
Whitewater Films

Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director

ALEX GARLAND

Ex Machina
(A24)

Mr. Garland’s Directorial Team:

Unit Production Manager: Sara Desmond
First Assistant Director: Nick Heckstall-Smith
Second Assistant Director: Ray Kenny

TELEVISION

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series

DAVID NUTTER

Game of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy”
(HBO)

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series

CHRIS ADDISON

Veep, “Election Night”
(HBO)

Mr. Addison’s Directorial Team:

Unit Production Manager: Bill Hill
First Assistant Director: Dale Stern
Second Assistant Director: Michelle Gritzer
Second Second Assistant Director: Miles Perman

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series

DEE REES

Bessie
(HBO)

Ms. Rees’s Directorial Team:

Unit Production Manager: Ron Schmidt
First Assistant Director: Michael J. Moore
Second Assistant Director: Basti Van Der Woude
Second Second Assistant Director: Joann Connolly

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming

DAVE DIOMEDI

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “Episode #325”
(NBC)

Mr. Diomedi’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: Mark Jankeloff, Maureen Smith
Stage Managers: Niclana Tolmasoff, Mike Kilkenny

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials

DON ROY KING

Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special
(NBC)

Mr. King’s Directorial Team:

Associate Directors: Michael Mancini, Michael Poole, Bob Caminiti, Dan Dome
Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly, Joey Despenzero, Lynn Finkel, Eddie Valk

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs

ADAM VETRI

Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge, “Gods of War”
(CMT)

Mr. Vetri’s Directorial Team:

Associate Director: Ian Blankenship
Stage Manager: Richard Mercury Melendez

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs

KENNY ORTEGA

Descendants
(Disney Channel)

Mr. Ortega’s Directorial Team:

First Assistant Director: Rachel Leiterman

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials

ANDREAS NILSSON

Biscuit Filmworks

Emily’s Oz, Comcast ‑ Goodby, Silverstein & Partners NY

First Assistant Directors: Craig Owens, Eric Topp
Second Assistant Director: Eric Topp

Time Upon a Once, General Electric ‑ BBDO

Unit Production Manager: Vincent Landay

Dad Song, Old Spice ‑ Wieden + Kennedy

About the DGA:

In the 79 years since its founding in 1936, the DGA has fought for the economic and creative rights of its members; protected their ability to financially benefit from the reuse of their work; established strong pension and health plans; and established jurisdiction in new technologies and distribution platforms. Today we represent nearly 16,000 directors and members of the directorial team working in film, television, commercials, new media and other audiovisual media.

Author
Recent Posts

Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.