A strong indicator of who will win the Best Director Oscar in February has arrived this afternoon, as The Directors Guild of America has released nominees for its 2013 awards.
Four DGA and Oscar-directing winners and one newcomer were nominated for the 65th annual award for directorial achievement in feature film for 2012.
The only newcomer is Ben Affleck, who landed his first Directors Guild film award nomination for Iran hostage thriller Argo.
Four past winners of the DGA Award are Kathryn Bigelow, nominated for Zero Dark Thirty; Tom Hooper, Les Miserables; Ang Lee, Life of Pi; and 11-time nominee Steven Spielberg, Lincoln.
Among the directors absent from the list this year are previous DGA Award nominees: Django Unchained's Quentin Tarantino, Silver Linings Playbook's David O. Russell, The Master's Paul Thomas Anderson along with Moonrise Kingdom's Wes Anderson.
DGA members are often members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Science. Since 1948, there have been exceptions only on six occasions where the DGA winner has not gone on to win the Oscar for best director.
This year's winner will be announced at the annual DGA Awards dinner at the Ray Dolby Ballroom on February 2nd, 2013.
Please check the list below.
BEN AFFLECK – Argo (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Affleck's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Amy Herman
- First Assistant Director: David Webb
- Second Assistant Director: Ian Calip
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Clark Credle, Gavin Kleintop
- First Assistant Director (Turkey Unit): Belkis Turan
- This is Mr. Affleck's first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
KATHRYN BIGELOW – Zero Dark Thirty (Columbia Pictures)
Ms. Bigelow's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Colin Wilson
- First Assistant Director: David A. Ticotin
- Second Assistant Directors: Ben Lanning, Sarah Hood
- First Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Scott Robertson
- Second Assistant Directors (Jordan Unit): Jonas Spaccarotelli, Yanal Kassay
- Second Second Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Tarek Afifi
- Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Rajeev Mehra
This is Ms. Bigelow's second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Hurt Locker in 2009.
TOM HOOPER – Les Misérables (Universal Pictures)
Mr. Hooper's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Patrick Schweitzer
- First Assistant Director: Ben Howarth
- Second Assistant Director: Harriet Worth
- Second Second Assistant Director: Dan Channing Williams
This is Mr. Hooper's second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The King's Speech (2010) and was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Mini-Series for John Adams in 2008.
ANG LEE – Life of Pi (Twentieth Century Fox)
Mr. Lee's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Michael J. Malone
- Unit Production Manager (Taiwan): Leo Chen
- First Assistant Directors: William M. Connor, Cliff Lanning
- Second Assistant Directors: Robert Burgess, Ben Lanning
- Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Sanjay Kumar
- First Assistant Director (India Unit): Nitya Mehra
- Second Assistant Director (India Unit): Ananya Rane
- Second Second Assistant Directors (India Unit): Namra Parikh, Freya Parekh
- Second Assistant Directors (Montreal Unit): Derek Wimble, Renato De Cotiis
This is Mr. Lee's fourth DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and was nominated for Sense and Sensibility in 1995.
STEVEN SPIELBERG – Lincoln (DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox)
Mr. Spielberg's Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Susan McNamara
- First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
- Second Assistant Director: Ian Stone
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Eric Lasko, Trevor Tavares
This is Mr. Spielberg's eleventh DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film three times for Saving Private Ryan (1998), Schindler's List (1993) and The Color Purple (1985). He was also nominated in this category for Munich (2005), Amistad (1997), Empire of the Sun (1987), E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jaws (1975). Mr. Spielberg was honored with the DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.
Source: Deadline
