The Revenant director Alejandro González Iñárritu took home the top prize at the Directors Guild Awards yesterday, making him a winner two years in a row (also in 2015 for Birdman ). Iñárritu previously won Best Director at the Golden Globe Awards. As the Hollywood Reporter writes:
The DGA Award is considered one of the key harbingers of Oscar victory, since there have been only seven occasions in the history of the award when the DGA winner has not gone on to win the Oscar for best director. The suspense was particularly high this year since no one picture has emerged as the obvious Oscar front-runner. While the Golden Globe for best drama went to The Revenant (and the best comedy Globe was awarded to The Martian), each of the guilds have chosen a different film. The Producers Guild of America gave its top prize to The Big Short and the Screen Actors Guild Award for best ensemble went to Spotlight. But the DGA Award now gives a boost to The Revenant, the tale of a 19th century fur trading fighting for his life, from Paramount, New Regency and Plan B.
The DGAs introduced a new category this year for first-time feature film directors. Steven Spielberg presented the award to Ex Machina writer and director Alex Garland. “It’s a crackling good entertainment, a brainy science fiction picture executed in a clean, concise style, with a narrative as logical as it is unpredictable. It’s freaky and scary and satisfying. But it also hints at the possibilities of a new, compelling breed of cinematic mad scientist,” our own Jason Bailey wrote of the film.
See a full list of DGA winners, below. Feel free to cast your picks for Oscar winners in the comments.
Feature Film: Alejandro G. Inarritu, The Revenant
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series: David Nutter, Game of Thrones, “Mother’s Mercy”
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy Series: Chris Addison, Veep, “Election Night”
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Miniseries: Dee Rees, Bessie
Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director: Alex Garland, Ex Machina
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary: Matthew Heineman, Cartel Land
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Reality Programs: Adam Vetri, Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge, “Gods of War”
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children’s Programs: Kenny Ortega, Descendants
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials: Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live 40th Anniversary Special
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming: Dave Diomedi, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “Episode #325”
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials: Andreas Nilsson, Emily’s Oz for Comcast, Time Upon A Once for General Electric, Dad Song for Old Spice