Directors Guild of America 2013 Award Nominations

Maxwell Haddad

10 years ago

Just like that, another major guild has unveiled their nominations. This time we are dealing with the Directors Guild of America, who have selected their choices for the 5 best film directors of 2013. If you have been following the awards race thus far, none of these names should come as a surprise. Last year there was a major disparity between the DGA nominees and the eventual Oscar nominees, an overall rarity as far as these things go. (This rarity occurred because the Oscar ballots were due in before the DGA announced. This year, the Oscar ballots are due in tomorrow so last minute voters could look to the DGA nominations for “help” as to who to ultimately select.) There is a major difference between the DGA members and the Oscar voters, however, so it is not entirely unheard of for the nominees not to match, particularly in a year as diverse as this one. Notably left off the list today who were potential contenders are Spike Jonze (Her), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), and the Coen Brothers (Inside Llewyn Davis). There are also some pundits who feel that Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) is a potential surprise after his film has proved to be more popular than expected with the guilds. If I were a betting man I would say that I still think Jonze has a very strong shot at an Oscar nomination for best director (he received one for Being John Malkovich when that film was not nominated for Best Picture), but I am unclear as to who of the 5 below would be left off in his stead. It should be noted that American Hustle now stands as the only film to be honored by all of the major guilds, receiving nominations from the WGA, PGA, SAG (Best Ensemble) and now the DGA. Interestingly, Hustle director David O. Russell failed to get a DGA nomination last year but ended up with an Oscar nomination for Silver Linings Playbook anyway.

Here are the nominees:

1. Alfono Cuaron for Gravity