DGA Awards: Guilllermo del Toro is 2018 Directors Guild Winner

Erik Anderson February 3, 2018

The Directors Guild of America have given Guillermo del Toro their top prize, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, for his romance fantasy The Shape of Water. The film recently won the Producers Guild award and is cementing itself the Best Picture frontrunner just a month out from the Oscars. Only four movies have ever won DGA and PGA (not including ties) and lost Best Picture: Apollo 13 (1995), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Brokeback Mountain (2005) and La La Land (2016) just last year.

13 of the last 14 winners here went on to win the Directing Oscar. Ben Affleck (Argo) is the outlier, as he was not Oscar-nominated.The last time a director won DGA was Oscar-nominated and lost was 2002, when Rob Marshall (Chicago) won DGA but Roman Polanski (The Pianist) won the Oscar. Chicago still managed a Best Picture win.

In Feature Film, four of the five nominees nominated here were also nominated for the Directing Oscar. Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) was snubbed in favor of Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread).

Jordan Peele won the First Time Feature Film director prize for Get Out. While only the third year of this award, Peele is the only winner to also be Oscar nominated.

Matthew Heineman won for Directorial Achievement in Documentary for City of Ghosts, besting Oscar-nominees Steve James (Abacus: Small Enough to Jail) and Bryan Fogel (Icarus). Last year’s winner here went on to win the Documentary Oscar but that won’t happen this year as City of Ghosts was snubbed. It’s the first documentary to win here and not be Oscar-nominated since 2011’s Project Nim.

In Television, Emmy-winner Reed Morano (The Handmaid’s Tale) faces off against The Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things) and a trio of Game of Thrones directors. Last year, Game of Thrones won here. Veep won Comedy last year and is nominated again this year.

Here are the nominees and winners in bold (and photos):

FILM

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film

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”

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary

Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, “The Vietnam War”
Bryan Fogel, “Icarus”
Matthew Heineman, “City of Ghosts”
Steve James, “Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”
Errol Morris, “Wormwood”

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film

Geremy Jasper, “Patti Cake$”
William Oldroyd, “Lady Macbeth”
Jordan Peele, “Get Out”
Taylor Sheridan, “Wind River”
Aaron Sorkin, “Molly’s Game”

TELEVISION

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series

The Duffer Brothers, “Stranger Things” for “Chapter Nine: The Gate”
Reed Morano, “The Handmaid’s Tale” for “Offred”
Jeremy Podeswa, “Game of Thrones” for “The Dragon and the Wolf”
Matt Shakman, “Game of Thrones” for “The Spoils of War”
Alan Taylor, “Game of Thrones” for “Beyond the Wall”

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series

Aziz Ansari, “Master of None” for “The Thief”
Mike Judge, “Silicon Valley” for “Server Error”
Melina Matsoukas, “Master of None” for “Thanksgiving”
Beth McCarthy-Miller, “Veep” for “Chicklet”
Amy Sherman-Palladino, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” for “Pilot”

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series

Scott Frank, “Godless”
Barry Levinson, “The Wizard of Lies”
Kyra Sedgwick, “Story of a Girl”
Jean-Marc Vallee, “Big Little Lies”
George C. Wolfe, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”

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

Andre Allen, “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” for “Episode #2061”
Paul G. Casey, “Real Time with Bill Maher” for “Show #1527”
Jim Hoskinson, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” for “Joe Biden/Elton John”
Don Roy King, “Saturday Night Live” for “Host: Jimmy Fallon”
Paul Pennolino, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” for “French Elections”

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

Stan Lathan, “Dave Chappelle: The Age of Spin”
Linda Mendoza, “Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize Honoring David Letterman”
Paul Pennolino, “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Presents Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner”
Amy Schumer, “Amy Schumer: The Leather Special”
Glenn Weiss, “89th Academy Awards”

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs

Hisham Abed, “Encore!” for “Pilot”
John Gonzalez, “Live PD” for “Episode 50”
Brian Smith, “MasterChef” for “Vegas Deluxe & Oyster Schucks”
Adam Vetri, “Dare to Live” for “Chainsmokers”
Kent Weed, “Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge” for “Season Premiere”

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs

Niki Caro, “Anne with an E” for “Your Will Shall Decide Your Destiny”
Benjamin Lehmann, “The Magical Wand Chase: A Sesame Street Special”
Lily Mariye, “Just Add Magic” for “Just Add Meddling”
Alison McDonald, “An American Girl Story: Summer Camp” for “Friends for Life”
Matthew O’Neill and Thalia Sodi, “15: A Quinceañera Story: Zoey”

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials

Martin de Thurah, StubHub’s “Festival” and “Machines”, and Wealthsimple’s “Mad World”
Alma Har’el, P&G’s “Love without Bias”
Will Hoffman and Julius Metoyer, KitchenAid’s “Anthem” and Ford’s “Go Further”
Miles Jay, Bose’s “Alive”, and Squarespace’s “Calling JohnMalkovich.com” and “Who is JohnMalkovich.com?”
Isaiah Seret, Samsung’s “Growing Up” and “I Love You”, and Kohler’s “Never Too Composed”

Lifetime Achievement & Service Award Recipients

Honorary Life Member Award – MICHAEL APTED

Given in recognition of leadership in the industry, contribution to the Guild and the profession of directing, and outstanding career achievement.

Frank Capra Achievement Award – DWIGHT WILLIAMS

This award is given to an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.

Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award – JIM TANKER

This award is given to an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.

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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.