How accurate a predictor of the Oscar is the DGA Award, to be given this Saturday, Jan 28.
Quite accurate. Over the past 58 years, there have been only 6 years in which there wasa discrepancy between the two presigious prizes.
They are:
1968:
The DGA winner was Anthony Harvey for “The Lion in Winter,” but the Oscar went to Carol Reed for the musical “Oliver!”
1972:
The DGA winner was Francis Ford Coppola for “The Godfather,” but the Oscar winner was Bob Fosse for the musical “Cabaret.”
1985:
The DGA winner was Steven Spielberg for “The Color Purple,” but the Oscar went to Sydney Pollack for “Out of Africa.” Spielberg was not even nominated by the Directors Branch.
1995:
The DGA winner was Ron Howard for “Apollo 13,” but the Oscar winner was Mel Gibson for “Braveheart.” Like Spielberg, Howard was not even nominated.
2001:
The Oscar winner was Ang Lee for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” but the Oscar winner was Steven Soderbergh for “Traffic.” Soderbergh was also nominated that year for “Erin Brockovich.”
2003:
The DGA winner was Bob Marshall for “Chicago,” but the Oscar honoree was Roman Polanski for “The Pianist.”
It's worth noting that half of the discrepancies (3 out of 6) between the two prizes have occured over the past decade.