The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has revealed its nominees for the upcoming 2025 awards, and it’s a high-stakes Oscar season, proven by the notable snubs and surprises. The five filmmakers contending for the prestigious DGA Award for Directorial Achievement in Feature Film are the following:
- Jacques Audiard for “Emilia Pérez”
- Sean Baker for “Anora”
- Edward Berger for “Conclave”
- Brady Corbet for “The Brutalist”
- James Mangold for “A Complete Unknown”
It’s a category entirely of first-time DGA nominees. Most notably, this is significant for Mangold, who nabbed the first of his career for the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” which continues to pick up momentum coming after its haul at the SAG Awards noms. After helming films like “Walk the Line” (2005), “Logan” (2017) and “Ford v Ferrari” (2019), this piece of notoriety seemed long overdue.
This is also huge for German auteur Berger, who missed out on a director nom for “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) despite winning the BAFTA Award for directing. Now, with the religious thriller “Conclave,” he seems poised to land his first career nom.
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Berger and Mangold were nominated alongside Golden Globe winner and critics’ awards leader Brady Corbet for “The Brutalist,” indie filmmaker Sean Baker for “Anora,” and French legend Jacques Audiard for “Emilia Pérez.”
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Among the notable omissions were the two directors of the biggest blockbusters of the year — Jon M. Chu for the musical “Wicked” and Denis Villeneuve for the sci-fi sequel “Dune: Part Two” — offering considerable blows to their awards campaigns. Also failing to make the cut were any women directors from some of this year’s most lauded hits, including the two Golden Globe-nominated auteurs Coralie Fargeat of the body-horror movie “The Substance” and Payal Kapadia for “All We Imagine as Light” (though she was nominated in the first-time director category).
In the first-time director category, the guild nominated the following:
- Payal Kapadia for “All We Imagine as Light”
- Megan Park for “My Old Ass”
- RaMell Ross for “Nickel Boys”
- Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for “Armand
- Sean Wang for “Dìdi”
For the first time in three years, women didn’t dominate the debut filmmaker category, where Kapadia nabbed a spot for her Indian drama and Megan Park for “My Old Ass.” Although Park helmed the 2021 drama “The Fallout” starring Jenna Ortega, the film was released on then-called HBO Max and not given a theatrical release, making her eligible for “My Old Ass.” Joining the lineup is critics’ awards darling RaMell Ross for “Nickel Boys,” Sean Wang for “Dìdi” and a surprisingly mentioned Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel of the Norwegian thriller “Armand,” which is competing for international feature at the Oscars.
“2024 has been a truly extraordinary year for storytelling – and today’s nominees have created audacious and unique films that expand the possibilities of cinematic excellence,” said Lesli Linka Glatter, DGA president. “I am thrilled to congratulate all our nominated directors for their brilliant work, which is visionary, inspirational and speaks to the depth of the human experience. To be chosen by one’s peers is the true marker of outstanding directorial achievement and what makes these nominations so very special.”
Nominations on the TV front and documentary categories were previously announced, where FX’s drama series “Shōgun,” FX’s comedy series “The Bear” and HBO/Max’s miniseries “The Penguin” all led with three nominations apiece.
For decades, the DGA Award for Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has been a reliable predictor of success in the Best Director category at the Academy Awards. Since the award’s inception, only eight times has the DGA winner failed to secure the Oscar: Anthony Harvey (“The Lion in Winter”), Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather”), Steven Spielberg (“The Color Purple”), Ron Howard (“Apollo 13”), Ang Lee (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”), Rob Marshall (“Chicago”), Ben Affleck (“Argo”) and Sam Mendes (“1917”).
When it comes to the DGA and the Oscar for best picture correlation, history shows a DGA nom is even more critical. Only two films — “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989) and “CODA” (2022) — have managed to win best picture at the Oscars without a DGA nom. Meanwhile, six films have won best picture without even an Oscar nom for directing: “Wings” (1927), “Grand Hotel” (1932), “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Argo” (2012),
“Green Book” (2018) and “CODA.”
Oscar nomination voting is currently underway. The winners will be announced at the 77th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.