Audiard, James Mangold and Edward Berger are In, Denis Villeneuve and Jon M. Chu Snubbed
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has revealed its nominees for the 2025 awards.
It’s 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:
- 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, 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 nominations. Mangold has helmed films “Walk the Line” (2005), “Logan” (2017) and “Ford v Ferrari” (2019).
This is also good news for German director Berger, who missed out on a director nomination for “All Quiet on the Western Front” (2022) despite winning the BAFTA Award for directing. Now, with the religious thriller “Conclave,” he is poised to land his first career nomination.
Among the notable omissions were the two directors of the year’s biggest blockbusters: Jon M. Chu for the musical “Wicked” and Denis Villeneuve for the sci-fi sequel “Dune: Part Two,” 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 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:
- 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 3 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 surprisingly mentioned Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel of the Norwegian thriller “Armand,” which is competing for international feature at the Oscars.
2024: Extraordinary Year
“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 for TV 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.
The DGA and the Oscar for best picture correlation:
History shows a DGA nomination is even more critical. Only 2 films — “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989) and “CODA” (2022) — have won the best picture Oscar without a DGA nomination.
And 6 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.”
The Oscar nomination voting is currently underway.
The winners will be announced at the 77th DGA Awards on Saturday, February 8, 2025, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
