Directors Guild Nominations: Steve McQueen, Alfonso Cuaron, David O. Russell, Martin Scorsese and Paul Greengrass
Steve McQueen, Alfonso Cuaron, David O. Russell, Martin Scorsese and Paul Greengrass have been nominated for the top feature-film award by the Directors Guild of America, the DGA announced on Tuesday.
McQueen was nominated for “12 Years a Slave,” Cuaron for “Gravity,” Russell for “American Hustle,” Scorsese for “The Wolf of Wall Street” and Greengrass for “Captain Phillips.”
Missing the cut in a competitive and crowded year: Alexander Payne for “Nebraska,” Spike Jonze for “Her,” Joel and Ethan Coen for “Inside Llewyn Davis,” Jean Marc Vallee for “Dallas Buyers Club” and John Lee Hancock for “Saving Mr. Banks.”
Cuaron, McQueen and Greengrass have never before been nominated for the DGA Award. Russell was nominated for “The Fighter,” while Scorsese has 10 previous nominations.
The choices from the near-15,000 member Directors Guild reinforce that “12 Years a Slave,” “Gravity” and “American Hustle” are near the top in this year’s awards race; they make it clear that “Captain Phillips” is a guild favorite as well; and they show that the recent flurry of manufactured controversy over “The Wolf of Wall Street” has not dampened the enthusiasm that those who make movies and vote for awards have for Scorsese.
The DGA Award is normally one of the most reliable predictors of the Oscars — though last year, shockingly, only two of the five DGA nominees went on to receive Oscar nominations.
Over the years, though, about 80 percent of DGA nominees have been honored by the Academy. And the winners almost always agree: Last year’s DGA winner, Ben Affleck (“Argo”), was only the seventh DGA winner in 65 years not to win the Best Director Oscar.
The nominees:
ALFONSO CUARÓN
“Gravity” (Warner Bros. Pictures)
This is Mr. Cuarón’s first DGA Award nomination.
PAUL GREENGRASS
“Captain Phillips” (Columbia Pictures)
This is Mr. Greengrass’s first DGA Award nomination.
STEVE McQUEEN
“12 Years A Slave” (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
This is Mr. McQueen’s first DGA Award nomination.
DAVID O. RUSSELL
“American Hustle” (Columbia Pictures)
This is Mr. Russell’s second DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for The Fighter in 2010.
MARTIN SCORSESE
“The Wolf of Wall Street” (Paramount Pictures)
This is Mr. Scorsese’s eleventh DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2006 for The Departed, and has also been nominated in that category for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011). Mr. Scorsese also won the DGA Award in 2010 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Television for Boardwalk Empire and he was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for George Harrison: Living in the Material World in 2011. In 1999, Mr. Scorsese was presented with the Filmmaker Award at the inaugural DGA Honors Gala, and he was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.