The DGA shakes things up with a Mangold nomination
Wednesday, January 8, 2025 at 4:30PM
Cláudio Alves in Best Director, Brady Corbet, Edward Berger, Jacques Audiard, James Mangold, Oscars (24), Payal Kapadia, Punditry, RaMell Ross, Sean Baker, guild awards, precursors

by Cláudio Alves

The guilds are going wild for James Mangold's A COMPLETE UNKNOWN.

The Directors Guild of America has had its say, nudging the awards season in one clear direction. And that is the way for A Complete Unknown, James Mangold's latest biopic which has amassed strong box office numbers and now is a threat for a Best Director Oscar nomination. Nathaniel was right to predict him in our first round of Team Experience punditry. But along with Mangold's inclusion come many notorious absences, including Jon M. Chu, whose best chance at a major Best Director prize was this guild honor whose tastes run closer to the Hollywood mainstream than the Academy's branch tends to be. Denis Villeneuve and Coralie Fargeat are also nowhere to be found, while RaMell Ross and Payal Kapadia were only honored in the First Feature category. 

Discover the complete list of DGA nominees after the jump…

 

Feature Film

Last year, the DGA went with Greta Gerwig and Alexander Payne, whereas the Academy preferred Jonathan Glazer and Justine Triet. It's easy to imagine a similar scenario this season, where a more unconventional work takes the place of at least one of these DGA nominees. The likeliest targets for replacement are Berger and Mangold, but a surprise Baker snub could still happen. As it stands, Audiard and Corbet feel like our frontrunners. 

Going beyond the 2023 season helps us see the patterns of the DGA and AMPAS relationship even better. In 2022, Joseph Kosinski received a DGA nod, but Ruben Östlund replaced him in the Oscar lineup.  In 2021, Denis Villeneuve gave way to Ryusuke Hamaguchi. In 2020, Aaron Sorkin was a DGA pick, while the Academy went with Thomas Vinterberg. In other words, someone like Coralie Fargeat could still make it to the AMPAS quintet. Indeed, it would be more surprising if the DGA five was merely replicated. That hasn't happened since 2009.

 

First-Time Theatrical Feature Film

It'll always feel weird that these first feature categories don't consider documentaries in the same way they prize narrative features. Both Payal Kapadia and RaMell Ross have directed award-winning documentaries before trying their hand at fiction filmmaking this year. In Ross's case, it's especially galling since he was even Oscar-nominated for his efforts. Hell, he's already a DGA nominee, having been in the running for the Documentary award for Hale County This Morning, This Evening.

 

Documentary 

You would think nominating three different directing duos would be a first for the DGA, but it has happened multiple times already. It's worth pointing out that all these films have been shortlisted by AMPAS for their own Documentary Feature prize. Not that this lineup's history perfectly matches the Oscar picks. In fact, such a thing has never happened.

 

Dramatic Series

Comedy Series

Movies for Television and Limited Series

It feels vaguely wrong that one show fills 60% of the allotted slots in each of the main TV categories. Even from a strategic perspective, this seems like a tricky situation. After all, will one episode be able to rise above the rest, or will Shogun, The Bear, and The Penguin split votes with themselves, opening the path for another victor? I could see López, Aniello, and Cuarón surprising here. Stranger things have happened.

 

Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming

Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials 

Reality Programs

Children's Programs 

Commercials

What does the DGA have against RuPaul's Drag Race? No matter how acclaimed or mainstream that reality competition gets, the Directors Guild never nominates it. Oh well, better luck next time. Regarding other matters, it's nice to see Lance Acord get recognition as a director since his genius work shooting such films as Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette, and Where the Wild Things Are earned him little in the way of big Best Cinematography prizes. Where were those Oscar nominations? He has also become a producer in the past few years. Daughters and the Earth Mama feature from last year were both executive produced by Sofia Coppola's former DP of choice.

 

What do you think about these DGA nominations? Is James Mangold coming for that Oscar nomination, or is he one of those guild honorees that the Academy rejects?

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
See website for complete article licensing information.