Sean Baker won the top film prize for “Anora” at the Directors Guild Awards on Saturday, putting himself in the driver’s seat for the Best Director Oscar. Last year’s winner, “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan presented Baker with the DGA Award.
Baker and “Anora” are on a huge high following the film’s surprise Best Picture win at the Critics Choice Awards on Friday. And about an hour after winning the DGA Award on Saturday, Baker collected the Producers Guild Awards’ top feature film prize in a stunning turn of events. The DGA, PGA and Critics Choice accolades are the first major honors the film has won this awards season, catapulting it into the front of the Oscar conversation.
“Oh my god, incredibly unexpected,” Baker said as he accepted the DGA honor alongside his directorial team. After acknowledging Nolan and “maestro” Ang Lee, he admitted his “imposter syndrome is skyrocketing right now.”
Four of this year’s five DGA nominees are nominated for the Oscar, with Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Pérez”), Baker, Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”) and James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown”) landing nominations from both groups but DGA nominee Edward Berger (“Conclave”) replaced by Coralie Fargeat (“The Substance”) by the Academy’s Directors Branch.
The Directors Guild Award for theatrical feature film is one of the most reliable Oscar indicators. In the first 76 years of the Directors Guild Awards, which were first given out in 1948, the DGA winner has gone on to win the Oscar for Best Picture 68 times, and his or her film has won the Best Picture Oscar 57 times.
In the last 10 years, though, the picture/director split has happened more often. In that time, the DGA and the Academy have agreed on the directing winner nine times, but the film that won with the guild has only won the Best Picture Oscar five times.
Voting for theatrical feature films closed Friday, Feb. 7, meaning the debacle surrounding maligned “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón may have had a hand in determining the outcome of the race.
Even amid the drama surrounding Gascón, Audiard made sure to thank his “beloved actresses Karla [Sofía Gascón], Zoe [Saldaña], Selena [Gomez], Adriana [Paz] and Édgar [Ramírez], who is not an actress” during his nomination speech, which was presented by newly minted Critics Choice Award winner Saldaña. Audiard’s remark was met with light laughter in the ballroom.
RaMell Ross won the Michael Apted first-time theatrical film DGA award for “Nickel Boys.” This was not a surprise with the film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, and Ross — who was previously nominated for a DGA Award — up for Adapted Screenplay.
Co-directors Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev won the documentary award for their Ukranian film, “Porcelain War,” making them a strong contender for the Academy Award.
In the television categories, the odds of “Shōgun” winning for dramatic series was high, considering the acclaimed FX series took up the majority of the five slots. Frederick E.O. Toye took home the award for directing the episode “Crimson Sky” — his first DGA honor — over fellow “Shōgun” directors Hiromi Kamata and Jonathan Van Tulleken.
“The Bear” dominated the comedy series category with three nominations, but the victory went to “Hacks” co-creator Lucia Aniello, who won for directing the Season 3 finale, “Bulletproof.” This marks Aniello’s second DGA award after winning in 2022 for directing the pilot of “Hacks.”
Steven Zaillian won his second DGA Award in limited series for “Ripley,” beating out “The Penguin” and Alfonso Cuarón, who was nominated for “Disclaimer.”
Other DGA winners included Neil DeGroot for “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted” (reality); Amber Sealey for “Out of My Mind” (children’s); Beth McCarthy-Miller for “The Roast of Tom Brady” (variety specials); Liz Patrick for “Saturday Night Live” (variety programming); and Andreas Nilsson (commercials).
Lee received the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented to him by “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” star Michelle Yeoh. Mary Rae Thewlis was honored with the Robert B. Aldrich Service Award and Thomas J. Whelan took home the Frank Capra Achievement Award.
DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter opened the ceremony by imploring studios and executives to reinvest in the community and to keep productions stateside in the aftermath of the Los Angeles wildfires. Glatter said that if there’s a time to “rally to get us back on our feet and get back to work, it is now.”
Judd Apatow, who hosted the awards for the sixth time, didn’t mince words in his monologue, going after Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni “It Ends With Us” debacle.
“In … 2005, Ang Lee made the groundbreaking movie ‘Brokeback Mountain’ [and] I made ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin,’ which featured two guys saying, ‘You know how I know you’re gay?’ for a solid five minutes,” Apatow said. “That is why he is being honored [for Lifetime Achievement] and I am hosting for the sixth time.”
The 77th annual Directors Guild Awards, held at the Beverly Hilton, was one of several awards ceremonies that took place Saturday, Feb. 8 on a busy evening in Los Angeles, with the Producers Guild Awards, Annie Awards and AARP Awards held the same day.
Here is the full list of winners.
THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez”
Sean Baker, “Anora” **WINNER**
Edward Berger, “Conclave”
Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”
James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”
FIRST-TIME THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
Payal Kapadia, “All We Imagine as Light”
Megan Park, “My Old Ass”
RaMell Ross, “Nickel Boys” **WINNER**
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, “Armand”
Sean Wang, “Dìdi”
DOCUMENTARY
Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, “Porcelain War” **WINNER**
Julian Brave Noisecat and Emily Kassie, “Sugarcane”
Johan Grimonprez, “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
Ibrahim Nash’at, “Hollywoodgate”
Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, “Daughters”
DRAMATIC SERIES
Alex Graves, “The Diplomat” (“Dreadnought”)
Hiromi Kamata, “Shōgun” (“Ladies of the Willow World”)
Issa López, “True Detective: Night Country” (“Part 6”)
Frederick E.O. Toye, “Shōgun” (“Crimson Sky”) **WINNER**
Jonathan Van Tulleken, “Shōgun” (“Anjin”)
COMEDY SERIES
Lucia Aniello, “Hacks” (“Bulletproof”) **WINNER**
Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear” (“Napkins”)
Duccio Fabbri, “The Bear” (“Doors”)
Jeff Schaffer, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” (“No Lessons Learned”)
Christopher Storer, “The Bear” (“Tomorrow”)
MOVIES FOR TELEVISION AND LIMITED SERIES
Kevin Bray, “The Penguin” (“Tophat”)
Alfonso Cuarón, “Disclaimer”
Jennifer Getzinger, “The Penguin” (“A Great or Little Thing”)
Helen Shaver, “The Penguin” (“Cent’anni”)
Steven Zaillian, “Ripley” **WINNER**
VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING
Paul G. Casey, “Real Time With Bill Maher” (“Jiminy Glick, Andrew Cuomo, Adam Kinzinger”)
Jim Hoskinson, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & Mavis Staples w/ Jeff Tweedy”)
David Paul Meyer, “The Daily Show” (“Indecision 2024: The Democratic National Convention – Plot Twist!”)
Liz Patrick, “Saturday Night Live” (“John Mulaney/Chappell Roan”) **WINNER**
Paul Pennolino, “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” (“India Elections”)
VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS – SPECIALS
Hamish Hamilton, “The 96th Annual Academy Awards”
Beth McCarthy-Miller, “The Roast of Tom Brady” **WINNER**
David Paul Meyer, “The Daily Show Presents a Live Election Night Special With Jon Stewart: Indecision 2024: Nothing We Can Do About It Now”
Glenn Weiss, “The 77th Annual Tony Awards”
Ali Wong, “Ali Wong: Single Lady”
REALITY PROGRAMS
Neil DeGroot, “Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted” (“The Cliffs of Ireland”) **WINNER**
Joseph Guidry, “Deal or No Deal Island” (“Are You Decisive?”)
Ari Katcher, “Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show” (“Road Trip”)
Patrick McManus, “American Ninja Warrior” (“Las Vegas Finals 4”)
Mike Sweeney, “Conan O’Brien Must Go” (“Ireland”)
CHILDREN’S PROGRAMS
Kat Coiro, “The Spiderwick Chronicles” (“Welcome to Spiderwick”)
Michael Goi, “Avatar: The Last Airbender” (“Aang”)
Jim Mickle, “Sweet Tooth” (“This Is a Story”)
Jennifer Phang, “Descendants: The Rise of Red”
Amber Sealey, “Out of My Mind” **WINNER**
COMMERCIALS
Lance Accord, “An American Love Story,” Volkswagen (Johannes Leonardo)
Kim Gehrig, “A Life in Sound,” SiriusXM (Uncommon); “Am I A Bad Person?,” Nike (Wieden+Kennedy); “Find Your Friends,” Apple (Client Direct)
Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, “Michael CeraVe, CeraVe,” WPP Onefluence (Ogilvy)
Andreas Nilsson, “Board Game,” Hennessy (Wieden+Kennedy); “First Office Poo,” Andrex (FCB); “One More,” Apple (Client Direct); “Whizzer,” Virgin Media (VCCP) **WINNER**
Ivan Zachariáš, “Flock,” Apple (Media Arts Lab)
Steve Pond contributed to this report.
