Christopher Nolan was awarded the top prize at the Directors Guild Awards for 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� Saturday, solidifying his front-runner status for next month鈥檚 Oscars.
Other winners at the untelevised ceremony in Los Angeles included , for first time directorial achievement for her romantic drama 鈥淧ast Lives,鈥� and for the documentary 鈥� 鈥� a joint project between The Associated Press and PBS 鈥淔rontline.鈥�
The Directors Guild of America also recognizes achievements in scripted and nonscripted television, with the drama series prize going to Peter Hoar for 鈥淭he Last of Us鈥� episode 鈥淟ong, Long Time,鈥� and the comedy trophy for Christopher Storer for the 鈥淔ishes鈥� episode of 鈥淭he Bear.鈥�
The DGA award is a first for Nolan who had been nominated for the same award four times previously, for 鈥淢emento,鈥� 鈥淭he Dark Knight,鈥� 鈥淚nception鈥� and 鈥淒unkirk.鈥� This year, Nolan was up against some formidable competition in Martin Scorsese for 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon,鈥� Yorgos Lanthimos for 鈥淧oor Things,鈥� Alexander Payne for 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� and Greta Gerwig for 鈥淏arbie,鈥� who some pundits thought might have been capable of an upset win in response to her .
The guild鈥檚 voting body consists of over 19,000 members, which is nearly double the entire membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. But even with different voter makeups, only eight times in 75 years has the DGA winner not also gone on to take the directing Oscar. The most recent divergence was in 2019, when Sam Mendes won the DGA for 鈥�1917鈥� and the Oscar went to Bong Joon-ho for 鈥淧arasite.鈥� Last year, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won both for 鈥淓verything Everywhere All At Once.鈥�
At the Oscars on March 10, Nolan鈥檚 fellow best director nominees include Scorsese, Lanthimos, Jonathan Glazer for 鈥淭he Zone of Interest鈥� and Justine Triet for 鈥淎natomy of a Fall.鈥� Final Oscar voting begins on Feb. 22.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
