The Directors Guild of America revealed its feature film nominees Thursday for the 78th DGA Awards, with the helmers behind awards-season stalwarts One Battle After Another, Sinners, Frankenstein, Marty Supreme and Hamnet scoring noms in the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film category.
The Theatrical Feature Film nominations mark the first full DGA nom ever for Sinners‘ Ryan Coogler and Marty Supreme‘s Josh Safdie, and the second for Hamnet‘s Chloé Zhao, who won the honor in 2021 for her eventual Oscar Best Picture winner Nomadland. It’s also just the second nom for Del Toro, after he won in 2018 for his also eventual Oscar Best Picture winner The Shape of Water. Anderson was previously nominated for There Will Be Blood and Licorice Pizza, and he is coming off a Best Director win at the Critics Choice Awards.
Today’s feature film announcement includes nominees for the DGA’s First Time Theatrical Feature award, a list that includes Ava Victor for Sorry, Baby, Hasan Hadi for Iraq’s Oscar submission The President’s Cake, Harry Lighton for Pillion, Charlie Polinger for The Plague, and Alex Russell for Lurker.
See the full list of noms below, which follow Wednesday’s noms for TV, Docs and Commercials directing.
Last year, Sean Baker won the DGA’s Theatrical Feature FIlm prize for his Anora, part of a haul that built momentum toward his Best Director and Best Picture wins at the Oscars. He beat out a DGA field that included Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), Edward Berger (Conclave), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) and James Mangold (A Complete Unknown).
Last year, RaMell Ross took the First-Time award for his Nickel Boys.
This year’s DGA Awards ceremony is set for Saturday, February 7 at the Beverly Hilton after member voting that runs from now to February 6.
Below are the nominees.
Theatrical Feature Film
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
One Battle After Another
Warner Bros
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Will Weiske
- First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
- Second Assistant Director: Trevor Tavares, Ian Stone
- Second Second Assistant Director: Dominic Pacitti, Rafael Sanz-Jimenez
- Additional Second Assistant Director: Nuekellar Hardy, Chunning Chang, Kit Conners, Kasia Trojak, Tyler Young
RYAN COOGLER
Sinners
Warner Bros
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Will Greenfield, Kenneth Yu
- First Assistant Director: Marvin Williams
- Second Assistant Director: Amir R. Khan
- Additional Second Assistant Director: Gregg Carr, Desiree Stevenson
GUILLERMO DEL TORO
Frankenstein
Netflix
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: J. Miles Dale
- First Assistant Director: Walter Gasparovic
- Second Assistant Director: Chad Belair
JOSH SAFDIE
Marty Supreme
A24
Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Anthony Katagas, Joe Guest
- First Assistant Director: Jeremy Marks
- Second Assistant Director: Zach Citarella
- Second Second Assistant Director: Kailyn Dabkowski
- Assistant Unit Production Manager: Max Samu, Suk Yi Mar, Samson Jacobson
- Location Manager: Matthew Kania, Ross Brodar
CHLOÉ ZHAO
Hamnet
Focus Features
First-Time Theatrical Feature Film
HASAN HADI
The President’s Cake
Sony Pictures Classics
HARRY LIGHTON
Pillion
A24
CHARLIE POLINGER
The Plague
Independent Film Company
ALEX RUSSELL
Lurker
Mubi
EVA VICTOR
Sorry, Baby
A24