Jacques Audiard, Sean Baker, Edward Berger, Brady Corbet and James Mangold have been nominated as the best feature film directors of 2024 by the Directors Guild of America, which announced its movie nominations on Wednesday.
Audiard was nominated for “Emilia Pérez,” Baker for “Anora,” Berger for “Conclave,” Corbet for “The Brutalist” and Mangold for “A Complete Unknown.”
The nominations make “Anora,” “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave” and “Emilia Pérez” the only films to be nominated in the top category by both of the major guilds that announced on Wednesday, the Directors Guild and the Screen Actors Guild. “The Brutalist” was not nominated in SAG’s ensemble category, while “Wicked” was nominated for SAG’s cast award but not for director Jon M. Chu.
Other directors who didn’t make the DGA list include Coralie Fargeat for “The Substance” and Denis Villeneuve for “Dune: Part Two.”
In the category for first-time feature directors, the nominees were Payal Kapadia for “All We Imagine as Light,” Megan Park for “My Old Ass,” RaMell Ross for “Nickel Boys,” Halfdan Ullman Tondel for “Armand” and Sean Wang for “Dìdi.”
DGA nominations have historically been among the most accurate guild noms for predicting what Oscar voters will do, but the two groups haven’t matched up five-for-five since 2010.
Since then, the Academy’s Directors Branch has gotten increasingly idiosyncratic and international. Last year, it chose French director Justine Triet for “Anatomy of a Fall” and British director Jonathan Glazer for “The Zone of Interest” over DGA nominees Greta Gerwig for “Barbie” and Alexander Payne for “The Holdovers.”
In previous years, the Academy chose Ruben Östlund (“Triangle of Sadness”) over DGA nominee Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”), Ryusuke Hamaguchi (“Drive My Car”) over Denis Villeneuve (“Dune”), Thomas Vinterberg (“Another Round”) over Aaron Sorkin (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”) and Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”) and Pawel Pawlikowski (“Cold War”) over Bradley Cooper (“A Star Is Born”) and Bobby Farrelly (“Green Book”).
Winners will be announced at the 77th annual DGA Awards on Saturday, Feb. 8 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.
The list of nominees and their directing teams:
THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
The nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film for 2024 are (in alphabetical order):
JACQUES AUDIARD
Emilia Pérez
(Netflix)
SEAN BAKER
Anora
(Neon)
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Olivia Kavanaugh
- First Assistant Director: Liza Mann
- Second Assistant Director: Sofía Blanco
- Second Second Assistant Director: Steve Coleman
- Location Manager: Ross Brodar
EDWARD BERGER
Conclave
(Focus Features)
BRADY CORBET
The Brutalist
(A24)
JAMES MANGOLD
A Complete Unknown
(Searchlight Pictures)
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Michael Bederman
- First Assistant Director: Douglas Torres
- Second Assistant Director: Brad Robinson
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Billy Brennan, Veronica Grant
- Location Manager: Anthony Pisani
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MICHAEL APTED FIRST-TIME THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM
PAYAL KAPADIA
All We Imagine as Light
(Sideshow & Janus Films)
MEGAN PARK
My Old Ass
(Amazon MGM Studios)
RAMELL ROSS
Nickel Boys
(Amazon MGM Studios)
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Kenneth Yu
- First Assistant Director: James Roque
- Second Assistant Director: Jonathan M. Warren
- Second Second Assistant Director: Thalia Skaleris
- Additional Second Assistant Director: Zachery Scherer
- Location Manager: Batou Chandler
HALFDAN ULLMANN TØNDEL
Armand
(IFC Films)
SEAN WANG
Dìdi
(Focus Features)
