One more reward for Oppenheimer which further cements his position as arch-favorite at the Oscars on March 10. Its director Christopher Nolan won the main prize from the American directors union (DGA), a reliable barometer for the Oscars, on Saturday. In nearly 80 years, nine times out of ten the guild’s winner has won the Oscar for best director. The last time there was disagreement was in 2020. The DGA favored Sam Mendes for 1917, the Oscars Bong Joon Ho for the Palme d’Or Parasite.
Known for his complex blockbusters that pack a punch at the box office, Christopher Nolan has always had a harder time establishing himself in awards season. Oppenheimer’s is his first DGA Awards win in five nominations! On track for Memento, The Dark Knight, Inception and Dunkirk, he came back empty-handed. At the Oscars, where Oppenheimer is in the running in thirteen categories, the statistics are the same with five unsuccessful nominations in the directing and screenplay sections.
“The idea that my peers think I deserve this prize means everything to me,” declared the Briton on stage at the DGA Awards, referring to his feature film dedicated to the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy. Receiving his medallion, Christopher Nolan thanked his team for bringing his ambitious visions to life, including creating a breathtaking replica of the first atomic bomb test: “Sorry, guys! It all depends on you and your teams. And you have never been as successful as when making Oppenheimer.
Also read: Christopher Nolan will also receive an Honorary César
The other directors competing this year for the DGA’s Best Film of the Year award were Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower Moon, Greta Gerwig with Barbie, Yorgos Lanthimos and his Poor Creatures and Alexander Payne with Winter Break. But this year, only three of the DGA Awards nominees will be in the running for the Best Director Oscar.
A sign of the growing internationalization of the Oscars, the branch of directors which decides the five contenders for the statuette, on March 10, emancipates itself from the DGA on two lucky ones by nominating the Frenchwoman Justine Triet (Anatomy of a fall) and the American Jonathan Glazer for his chilling portrait of the Shoah seen through the daily life of the Nazi leaders of Auschwitz, The Zone of Interest. Two films, the main language of which is not English.
Also read: From Cannes to the Oscars, how Anatomy of a Fall is conquering the world
The influx of new members at the Oscars is increasingly leading the Academy to diverge from the guilds, considered precursors. Thus the Oscars preferred to select Sandra Hüller rather than Margot Robbie in the best actress category. The actors’ union (SAG) opted for the Barbie interpreter.
Oppenheimer was not the only DGA Awards winner. The prize for best first film went to Céline Song for her intimate and very personal Past Lives -Nos vies d’avant about the reunion of two childhood friends. The feature film is in the running for two Oscars.
The prize for best documentary went to 20 Days in Mariupol, which chronicles the arrival of war in a Ukrainian city that became the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Russian invasion. “Today my hometown was bombed and seven people were killed, including three children. So it’s a sad day,” said director Mstyslav Chernov. “At the same time, I recognize the power of cinema… when these people are fleeing the bombs falling on them, they go and sit in basements and to combat their fear, they watch films,” he said. -he adds.
The DGA Awards also reward television works: the zombie apocalyptic dystopia The Last of Us won the prize for best episode of a drama series, and The Bear, a frenzied dive into the back kitchen of a Chicago restaurant, won the prize for the comedy.
