Directors Guild of America (DGA) Nominations: Chazelle, Davis, Jenkins, Lonergan and Villeneuve

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The Directors Guild of America (DGA), the last major guild of the season, has spoken and the helmers of Arrival, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight all found themselves with the guild’s highest honor today. Lion director Garth Davis earned two nominations today, the top category as well as First-Time Feature Film. He is the only first-time feature film director nominated for the guild’s top honor as well as the only previous DGA nominee (for commercials in 2009).

Missing today from the list were Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge and Martin Scorsese for Silence. Both were in contention here but for Scorsese visibility was a key factor that was not met. Even though Paramount sent out its screeners to the DGA, a group of 15,000 members was obviously too big a bridge to cross. For Gibson, it could have been that his past was just not ready to be set aside by the guild.

Looking at recent history, the DGA and Oscar’s Best Director has not lined up since 2009. Every year since then has seen at least one director from the DGA not make the Oscar cut. Now, figuring out who that would be from this list is going to be the challenge.

The winners in all categories will be announced at the 69th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 4, 2017 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Here is the full list of nominations:

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film

DAMIEN CHAZELLE
La La Land
(Lionsgate)
Mr. Chazelle’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Michael Beugg
First Assistant Director: Peter Kohn
Second Assistant Director: Paula Case
Assistant Unit Production Manager: Bart Lipton
Second Second Assistant Director: Brett Robinson
Additional Second Assistant Director: Dodi Rubenstein
This is Mr. Chazelle’s first DGA Award nomination.

GARTH DAVIS
Lion
(The Weinstein Company)
Mr. Davis’s Directorial Team:
First Assistant Director: Chris Webb
First Assistant Director: Ananya Rane (India Unit)
Second Assistant Directors: Mark Ingram (Australia Unit), Sunny Tiku (India Unit), KP Singh (India Unit), Shaunak Kapur (India Unit)
This is one of two DGA Award nominations this year for Mr. Davis. He is also nominated in the First-Time Feature Film category for Lion. He was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials in 2009 for “Shadow Puppets,” U.S. Cellular.

BARRY JENKINS
Moonlight
(A24)
Mr. Jenkins’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Jennifer Radzikowski
This is Mr. Jenkins’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

KENNETH LONERGAN
Manchester by the Sea
(Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions)
Mr. Lonergan’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Declan Baldwin
First Assistant Director: Michael J. Moore
Second Assistant Director: David Blazina
Second Second Assistant Directors: Tim LaDue, Scooter Perrotta
This is Mr. Lonergan’s first DGA Award nomination.

DENIS VILLENEUVE
Arrival
(Paramount Pictures)
Mr. Villeneuve’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Stan Wlodkowski
First Assistant Director: Donald L. Sparks
Second Assistant Director: Brigitte Goulet
Second Second Assistant Director: Karine P. Labelle
This is Mr. Villeneuve’s first DGA Award nomination.

Outstanding Directorial Achievement in First-Time Feature Film

GARTH DAVIS
Lion
(The Weinstein Company)
Mr. Davis’s Directorial Team:
First Assistant Director: Chris Webb
First Assistant Director: Ananya Rane (India Unit)
Second Assistant Directors: Mark Ingram (Australia Unit), Sunny Tiku (India Unit), KP Singh (India Unit), Shaunak Kapur (India Unit)
This is one of two DGA Award nominations this year for Mr. Davis. He is also nominated in the Feature Film category for Lion. He was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials in 2009 for “Shadow Puppets,” U.S. Cellular.

KELLY FREMON CRAIG
The Edge of Seventeen
(STX Entertainment)
Ms. Fremon Craig’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Brendan Ferguson
Production Manager: Dan Clarke
First Assistant Director: James Bitonti
Second Assistant Director: Daniel Mansfield
This is Ms. Fremon Craig’s first DGA Award nomination.

TIM MILLER
Deadpool
(20th Century Fox)
Mr. Miller’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: John J. Kelly
First Assistant Director: James Bitonti
Second Assistant Director: Daniel Mansfield
This is Mr. Miller’s first DGA Award nomination.

NATE PARKER
The Birth of a Nation
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Mr. Parker’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Mark Moran
First Assistant Director: Tomas Deckaj
Second Assistant Director: Mark C. Stevens
Second Second Assistant Director: Scott Bowers
This is Mr. Parker’s first DGA Award nomination.

DAN TRACHTENBERG
10 Cloverfield Lane
(Paramount Pictures)
Mr. Trachtenberg’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Robert J. Dohrmann
First Assistant Director: Jason Blumenfeld
Second Assistant Director: Paul B. Uddo
Second Second Assistant Director: Jonathan M. Warren
Location Manager: Batou A. Chandler
This is Mr. Trachtenberg’s first DGA Award nomination.

Eligible directors for this award must have released his or her first feature-length film theatrically in Los Angeles or New York in 2016. Foreign films are eligible and the director does not need to be a DGA member.

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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.

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