Directors Guild of America President Jack Shea and Awards Committee Chairperson Howard Storm today announced the DGA’s five nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 1997. The winner will be announced at the 50th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, March 7, 1998 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and Windows on the World in New York.
The nominees for the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 1997 are (in alphabetical order):
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JAMES L. BROOKS
As Good As It Gets Unit Production Manager: John Adam Jacobson, John D. Schofield First Assistant Director: Aldric Porter Second Assistant Director: William M. Connor Second Second Assistant Director: Shari Hanger DGA Trainee: Hans Berggren |
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JAMES CAMERON
Titanic Unit Production Managers: Grant Hill, Anna Roth, Sharon Mann, Jon Landau First Assistant Director: Josh McLaglen Second Assistant Directors: Sebastian Silva, Kathleen "Bo" Bobak |
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CURTIS HANSON
L.A. Confidential Unit Production Manager: L. Dean Jones, Jr. First Assistant Director: Linda Montanti, Drew Ann Rosenberg Second Assistant Director: Jim Goldthwait Second Second Assistant Director: Heather Kritzer DGA Trainee: Kevin Koster |
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STEVEN SPIELBERG
Amistad Unit Production Manager: Paul Deason First Assistant Director: Sergio Mimica-Gezzan Second Assistant Directors: Eric Jones, Sean Hobin DGA Trainee: Foongy Lee |
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GUS VAN SANT
Good Will Hunting Unit Production Manager: Christopher Goode, Brent O’Connor First Assistant Director: Andrew Shea Second Assistant Director: Lisa Janowski, David Till Second Second Assistant Director: Brian York |
"The five nominees are truly representative of the best in motion picture directing," DGA President Shea said. "Each may have a different style and work with different subjects, but all of them share the exceptional ability to create magical films."
This is Steven Spielberg’s eighth nomination, putting him in a tie with Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann for the most DGA nominations in the feature film category. Spielberg’s first came in 1975 for Jaws, followed by Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial in 1982, The Color Purple in 1985, Empire of the Sun in 1987 and Schindler’s List in 1993. Spielberg has won the DGA Award twice, for both The Color Purple (1985) and Schindler’s List (1993).
James L. Brooks, a three-time nominee, won the DGA Award in 1983 for Terms of Endearment and was nominated in 1987 for Broadcast News.
James Cameron, Curtis Hanson and Gus Van Sant are all first-time nominees.
This is the second time Brooks and Spielberg have been fellow nominees. Ten years ago they joined Lasse Hallstrom (My Life as a Dog), Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) and eventual 1987 winner Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor).
The feature film nominees will be joined at the 50th Anniversary DGA Awards Dinner by the soon-to-be-announced nominees in documentary and television categories, as well as special award honorees including Francis Ford Coppola, recipient of the Guild’s highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award for distinguished career achievement in motion picture directing.
The DGA Award has traditionally been a near perfect barometer for the Best Director Academy Award. Only four times since the DGA Award’s inception in 1949 has the DGA Award winner not won the Academy Award:
- 1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!.
- 1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA’s nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.
- 1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.
- 1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters cited Mel Gibson for Braveheart.
