Other nominees for the directors’ guild’s top prize include Aaron Sorkin, David Fincher and Lee Isaac Chung.
The Directors Guild of America on Tuesday nominated the feature film and first director for the 2021 DGA Awards.
The director is nominated by directors Minarisee Lee Isaac Chung, Promising young womansee Emerald Fennell, Manksee David Fincher, Trial of the Chicago 7Aaron Sorkin and Nomadlandis Chloé Zhao.
Last year, 1917‘s Sam Mendes won the DGA’s feature film award before losing Best Director Oscar to fellow DGA nominee. Parasitese Bong Joon Ho.
The first time directors have been nominated The forty-year-old versionsee Radha Blank, I’m not here anymore Fernando Frías de la Parra, A night in Miamisee Regina King, Sound of Metalsee Darius Marder in The fathersee Florian Zeller.
The DGA, traditionally one of Hollywood’s most male-dominated guilds, has nominated two women, Zhao and Fennell, for the first time in its category of directorial directors. Zhao is also the first woman of color to be nominated in the category for directors.
For this, the directors’ guild only nominated a woman in the feature film category eight times, the last being Greta Gerwig in 2018 for Lady Bird. This year, two more women, Radha Blank and Regina King, received nominations in the DGA’s first category for directing directors.
The DGA nominees often overlap strongly with the Film Academy’s choices in the directing category, and usually at least four of the five candidates repeat the Oscar nominations. Fifteen of the last 17 winners of the DGA Award won the Oscar.
Zhao, who won Best Director at the Golden Globes, and Fincher, who has been nominated for Best Director twice before, for The curious case of Benjamin Button and The social network, appear to be the frontrunners in the director’s race. This year’s DGA nominations elevate Sorkin, long known for his screenplay, to the Oscars, as well as Fennell, who also received a nomination for Best Director at the Golden Globes.
Notable absences from the nominations are Paul Greengrass (Universal’s) News from the world), Spike Lee (Netflix’s Da 5 bloods), Shaka King (Warner Bros. ‘ Judas and the Black Messiah) and George C. Wolfe (Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom).
The group honors two colored people among its nominees, Korean-American director Chung and Chinese director Zhao, and three colored people among the first-time nominees, with black directors Radha Blank and Regina King and Mexican director Fernando Frías. de la Parra.
The DGA on Monday announced its nominations in the TV, documentary and commercial categories.
The 73rd annual DGA Awards will be presented on April 10th.
A full list of the 2021 DGA Awards feature film and first director nominees follows.
Outstanding performance in theater films for 2020:
Lee Isaac Chung
Minari
(A24)
Chung’s Executive Team:
Unit Production Manager: Dylan Brodie
First Assistant Director: Jeff Dubray
Second Assistant Director: Ann Laudick
Second Second Assistant Director: Stephen J. Hanan
Emerald Fennell
Promising young woman
(Focus functions)
Ms Fennell’s team of directors:
Unit Production Manager: Reena Magsarili Raasch
First Assistant Director: Michael T. Meador
Second Assistant Director: Alexander Armero
Second Second Assistant Director: Anthony Manzo
David Fincher
Mank
(Netflix)
Fincher’s executive team:
Unit Production Manager: Allen Kupetsky
First Assistant Director: Richard Goodwin
Second Assistant Director: Samantha McGrady
Second Second Assistant Director: Matt McKinnon
Additional Second Assistant Directors: Jeff Goodell, John Stern, George Williams III
Aaron Sorkin
The Chicago 7 Trial
(Netflix; DreamWorks Photos)
Mr. Sorkin’s executive team:
Unit Production Managers: Charles Miller, Stuart M. Besser, Jonathan Shoemaker
First Assistant Director: Joseph P. Reidy
Second Assistant Director: Rachel Jaros
Second Second Assistant Director: Justin Bischoff
Location Managers: Dennis Voskov, Nick Rafferty (Chicago Unit)
Chloé Zhao
Nomadland
(Searchlight Photos)
Zhao’s executive team:
Unit Production Manager: Mary Kerrigan
First Assistant Director: Mary Kerrigan
Outstanding director performance of a first director of the film:
Radha Leeg
The forty-year-old version
(Netflix)
Me. Blank’s director team:
Unit Production Manager: James Price
First Assistant Director: Michael L. Walker
Second Assistant Director: Kenyon Noble
Second Second Assistant Director: Jonathan Santos
Location Managers: Katarina Dedicova, Tim Stacker
Fernando Frías de la Parra
I’m not here anymore
(Netflix)
Frías’ director team:
Production Managers: Martín Pérez Valle, Assia Fratz (New York Unit)
First Assistant Director: Carlos Suazo
Second Assistant Directors: Alí Santiago, Alex Burstein (New York Unit)
Second Second Assistant Directors: Karen Alcázar, Anthony James Faure (New York Unit)
Regina King
A night in Miami
(Amazon Studios)
Me. King’s executive team:
Unit Production Manager: Paul O. Davis
First Assistant Director: Mark Anthony Little
Second Assistant Director: Kevin O’Neil
Darius Marder
Sound of Metal
(Amazon Studios)
Marder’s executive team:
Unit Production Manager: Amy Greene
First Assistant Director: Matthew Vose Campbell
Florian Zeller
The father
(Sony Pictures Classics)
Zeller’s executive team:
First Assistant Director: George Every
Second Assistant Director: Jamie D. Allen