January 7, 2010
LOS ANGELES, CA - Directors Guild of America President Taylor Hackford today announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2009.
"The DGA Award is especially meaningful to directors because it is decided solely by their peers - the men and women who have been in the same trenches and know exactly what goes into the crafting of a unique motion picture," said Hackford. "The five nominees for this year have each expressed an indelible vision that transported audiences to vivid vistas of cinematic art. My heartiest congratulations to all of the nominees."
The winner will be named at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
The nominees are (in alphabetical order):
Kathryn Bigelow
The Hurt Locker
(Summit Entertainment)
Ms. Bigelow's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Tony Mark
- First Assistant Director: David Ticotin
- First Assistant Director (Canadian Unit): Lee Cleary
This is Ms. Bigelow's first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
James Cameron
Avatar
(Twentieth Century Fox)
Mr. Cameron's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Colin Wilson
- First Assistant Director: Josh McLaglen
- Second Assistant Director/Additional Unit First Assistant Director: Maria Battle Campbell
This is Mr. Cameron's second DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He previously won the Feature Film Award for Titanic in 1997.
Lee Daniels
Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
(Lionsgate)
Mr. Daniels' Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Tony Hernandez
- First Assistant Director: Chip Signore
- Second Assistant Director: Tracey Hinds
- Second Second Assistant Director: Michael "Boogie" Pinckney
- Additional Unit Production Manager: Patrick D. Gibbons
- Additional First Assistant Director: Tom Fatone
- Additional Second Assistant Directors: Kim Thompson, Mirashyam Blakeslee
- Location Manager: Gregory Routt
This is Mr. Daniels' first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
Jason Reitman
Up In The Air
(Paramount Pictures)
Mr. Reitman's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Michael Beugg
- First Assistant Director: Jason Blumenfeld
- Second Assistant Director: Sonia Bhalla
- Assistant Unit Production Manager: Samson Mucke
- Second Second Assistant Director: Joseph Payton
- Additional Second Assistant Director: Heather L. Hogan
This is Mr. Reitman's first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
Quentin Tarantino
Inglourious Basterds
(The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures)
Mr. Tarantino's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Gregor Wilson
- Unit Production Manager (Germany): Michael Scheel
- First Assistant Director: Carlos Fidel
- Second Assistant Director: Miguel Angelo Pate
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Jill Moriarty, Tanja Däberitz
This is Mr. Tarantino's second DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Pulp Fiction in 1994.
The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the industry's most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award.
Only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the Feature Film winner not gone on to win the corresponding Academy Award.
The six exceptions are as follows:
The winner in the Feature Film category will be announced at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.