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Directors Guild Award Nominees Revealed, Include Hooper And Bigelow But No Tarantino

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So this is what has blown the internet up today.

If you haven’t seen already, the nominees for this year’s Directors Guild Awards have been revealed, and with that comes a boatload of controversy.

Leading the pack are the five filmmakers with nominations including Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Ang Lee (Life Of Pi), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Ben Affleck (Argo) and yes, Tom Hooper for his film Les Miserables. The last name here is where the debate has raged, as director Quentin Tarantino has gone nomination-less for his film Django Unchained, leaving people all across the web to once again proclaim that awards are utterly meaningless.

Now, while I myself am lukewarm to cold on Tarantino’s film, the polarizing nature of it is why it’s going nomination free here. The guild features thousands of voting members, and the idea of finding that many people who agree on the film is unlikely. An Oscar nomination still seems likely, same goes for the film as a whole, so don’t fret too much, fans of Django.

BEN AFFLECK
Argo
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mr. Affleck’s Directorial Team:
·         Unit Production Manager:  Amy Herman
·         First Assistant Director:  David Webb
·         Second Assistant Director:  Ian Calip
·         Second Second Assistant Directors: Clark Credle, Gavin Kleintop
·         First Assistant Director (Turkey Unit): Belkis Turan

This is Mr. Affleck’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.

KATHRYN BIGELOW
Zero Dark Thirty
(Columbia Pictures)

Ms. Bigelow’s Directorial Team:
·         Unit Production Manager:  Colin Wilson
·         First Assistant Director:  David A. Ticotin
·         Second Assistant Directors:  Ben Lanning, Sarah Hood
·         First Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Scott Robertson
·         Second Assistant Directors (Jordan Unit): Jonas Spaccarotelli, Yanal Kassay
·         Second Second Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Tarek Afifi
·         Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Rajeev Mehra

This is Ms. Bigelow’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination.  She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Hurt Locker in 2009.

TOM HOOPER
Les Misérables
(Universal Pictures)

Mr. Hooper’s Directorial Team:
·         Unit Production Manager:  Patrick Schweitzer
·         First Assistant Director:  Ben Howarth
·         Second Assistant Director:  Harriet Worth
·         Second Second Assistant Director: Dan Channing Williams

This is Mr. Hooper’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination.  He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The King’s Speech (2010) and was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Mini-Series for John Adams in 2008.

ANG LEE
Life of Pi
(Twentieth Century Fox)

Mr. Lee’s Directorial Team:
·         Unit Production Manager:  Michael J. Malone
·         Unit Production Manager (Taiwan): Leo Chen
·         First Assistant Directors:  William M. Connor, Cliff Lanning
·         Second Assistant Directors:  Robert Burgess, Ben Lanning
·         Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Sanjay Kumar
·         First Assistant Director (India Unit): Nitya Mehra
·         Second Assistant Director (India Unit): Ananya Rane
·         Second Second Assistant Directors (India Unit): Namra Parikh, Freya Parekh
·         Second Assistant Directors (Montreal Unit): Derek Wimble, Renato De Cotiis

This is Mr. Lee’s fourth DGA Feature Film Award nomination.   He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and was nominated for Sense and Sensibility in 1995.

STEVEN SPIELBERG
Lincoln
(DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox)

Mr. Spielberg’s Directorial Team:
·         Unit Production Manager:  Susan McNamara
·         First Assistant Director:  Adam Somner
·         Second Assistant Director:  Ian Stone
·         Second Second Assistant Directors: Eric Lasko, Trevor Tavares

This is Mr. Spielberg’s eleventh DGA Feature Film Award nomination.  He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film three times for Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler’s List (1993) and The Color Purple (1985).  He was also nominated in this category for Munich (2005), Amistad (1997), Empire of the Sun (1987), E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jaws (1975).  Mr. Spielberg was honored with the DGA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.

Source Indiewire

Joshua Brunsting

Josh is a critic, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, a wrestling nerd, a hip-hop head, a father, a cinephile and a man looking to make his stamp on the world, one word at a time.