The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has presented Christopher Nolan with the Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film award for Oppenheimer.
At the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday night, Christopher Nolan won the top prize for the historical epic Oppenheimer, his first DGA Award.
The Michael Apted Award for debut feature went to Celine Song, the director of Past Lives. In her acceptance speech, Song declared her intention to “keep going—I promise to keep going—as long as I can keep directing films.” For his Oscar-nominated documentary 20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov took home the prize.
Nolan at the Award
In his victory speech, the 53-year-old director stated, “It means everything to me that my peers would think that I deserve this.” Even though this is Nolan’s first DGA victory, the guild loves him and has nominated him four more times since his breakout film “Memento” in 2001.
He faced off against filmmakers Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), Alexander Payne (“The Holdovers”), and Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), who received the guild’s second-highest nomination after Steven Spielberg for his 11th film in this category.
Given that the DGA winner has gone on to win the Oscar 18 out of the previous 20 times, Nolan is largely regarded as the front-runner for the best director Oscar. His bid was only made stronger by his win today. He will compete against Scorsese and Lanthimos again at the Academy Awards the following month; however, voters replaced Gerwig and Payne with Justine Triet (“Anatomy of a Fall”) and Jonathan Glazer (“The Zone of Interest”).
The Sopranos, Band of Brothers, and Game of Thrones director David Nutter won the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award for television. Janet G. Knutsen, an assistant director or unit production manager who has worked on films such as Cobra and Rocky IV, was the recipient of the Frank Capra Achievement Award.
Gary Natoli, whose portfolio includes appearances at the Oscars and the Golden Globes this year, was awarded the Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award, which is given to an associate director or stage manager.
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