Only one of the directors nominated for this year’s Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feauture Film for 2007 has been nominated before, namely Joel Coen, who was nominated in 1996 for “Fargo’.
This year Coen is nominated together with his brother Ethan Coen for “No Country for Old Men’.
The four other nominees are Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood’); Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton’); Sean Penn (“Into the Wild’); and Julian Schnabel (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’).
In announcing the nominees, DGA President Michael Apted said: “2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the DGA Awards. We are very proud to have these five nominees join the illustrious list of directors that have been nominated for directorial excellence in feature filmmaking over the past 59 years. What makes this award truly meaningful to directors is the knowledge that only this one is decided by their peers – the men and women who know first-hand the passion, sweat and fear that goes into each production.’
The winner will be named at the 60th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 26, 2008, at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
The DGA Award has traditionally been one of the industry’s most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award.
