On Thursday morning, January 8, 2009, DGA Third Vice President Taylor Hackford announced the five nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for the year 2008.
"A film is a collaboration, but it is the director's energy and vision that brings the elements of script, performance and production into a satisfying totality," said Hackford. "Today's nominees demonstrate how vision, combined with skill and talent, creates magic on the screen. What makes this award truly meaningful to directors is the knowledge that only this award is decided solely by their peers - the men and women who live the passion, sweat and fear that goes into creating feature films."
Hackford further explained how the DGA Feature Film Award is one of the industry's most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award, with the Guild's selection going on to win the Best Director Academy Award fifty-four out of sixty times since the inception of the DGA Awards in 1948.
The press covers the DGA Awards announcement on January 8, 2009.
The more than 14,000 members of the DGA were able to cast their votes for nominees three ways: mail, fax, and over the internet via the secure online voting system created for the DGA by Votenet. Members can use the same three methods to cast their vote in the Feature Film category. The deadline for Returning all Feature Film Final Ballots is Friday, January 30, 2009, 6:00 p.m. PST.
The winner will be announced at the 61st Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 31, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
The nominees are (in alphabetical order):
DANNY BOYLE
Slumdog Millionaire
(Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Boyle's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Sanjay Kumar
- First Assistant Director: Raj Acharya
- Second Assistant Director: Avani Batra
- Second Second Assistant Director: Sonia Nemawarkar
This is Mr. Boyle's first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination.
DAVID FINCHER
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
(Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Fincher's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Daniel Stillman
- First Assistant Director: Bob Wagner
- Second Assistant Director: Allen Kupetsky
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Pete Waterman, Stephen F. Lonano
This is Mr. Fincher's first DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He previously won the DGA Commercial Award for Speed Chain (Nike), Gamebreakers (Nikegridiron.com), and Beauty for Sale (Xelibri Phones) in 2003.
RON HOWARD
Frost/Nixon
(Universal Pictures)
Mr. Howard's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Kathleen McGill
- First Assistant Director: William M. Connor
- Second Assistant Director: Kristen Ploucha
- Second Second Assistant Director: Scott R. Meyers
This is Mr. Howard's fourth DGA Feature Film Award Nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Cocoon in 1985, and won the Award in 2001 for his direction of A Beautiful Mind, and in 1995 for Apollo 13.
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
The Dark Knight
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Nolan's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Managers: Kevin De La Noy, Susan Towner, Jan Foster
- First Assistant Director: Nilo Otero
- Second Assistant Director: Brandon Lambdin
- Additional Second Assistant Director: Jessica Franks
- Second Second Assistant Director: Greg Pawlik
- Location Manager: James R. McAllister
This is Mr. Nolan's second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for Memento in 2001.
GUS VAN SANT
Milk
(Focus Features)
Mr. Van Sant's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Barbara A. Hall
- First Assistant Director: David Webb
- Second Assistant Director: John R. Saunders
- Second Second Assistant Director: Ian Calip
- Additional Second Assistant Director: Cindy A. Taylor
This is Mr. Van Sant's second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for Good Will Hunting in 1997.
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:
- 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 selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.
- 2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.
- 2002: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.
The winner in the Feature Film category will be announced at the 61st Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 31, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.
