The Directors Guild of America kept strong guild streaks alive for “Mad Max: Fury Road” and “The Revenant” Tuesday with nominations for filmmakers George Miller and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, respectively.
The two joined Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”), Adam McKay (“The Big Short”) and Ridley Scott (“The Martian”) in the feature film category.
Historically, the DGA’s film nominations — decided upon by a vast body of more than 16,000 members — are a solid barometer for the best director and particularly best picture categories at the Oscars. Recent DGA-nominated directors who failed to score a nomination from the Academy’s directors branch include Clint Eastwood (“American Sniper”), Paul Greengrass (“Captain Phillips”) and, notoriously, Ben Affleck (“Argo”) and Kathryn Bigelow (“Zero Dark Thirty”).
Recent films nominated by the DGA that failed to net a best picture Oscar nomination include “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “The Dark Knight,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and “Into the Wild.”
This marks Inarritu’s third DGA nomination to date. He won for “Birdman” last year, was nominated for 2005’s “Babel” and also won the commercials prize for a 2012 Procter and Gamble ad.
Scott has also been nominated three times, for 1991’s “Thelma & Louise,” 2000’s “Gladiator” and 2001’s “Black Hawk Down.” He was Oscar-nominated on each occasion.
This is the first DGA nomination for McCarthy, McKay and Miller.
The guild also instituted a new category, outstanding directorial achievement for a first-time feature film director. Eligible directors for this award must have released his or her first feature-length film theatrically in Los Angeles or New York in 2015. Foreign films are eligible and the director does not need to be a DGA member.
The nominees are:
Fernando Coimbra, “A Wolf at the Door”
Joel Edgerton, “The Gift”
Alex Garland, “Ex Machina”
Marielle Heller, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl”
Laszlo Nemes, “Son of Saul”
And once again, this year’s DGA nominees for theatrical motion pictures:
Alejandro G, Iñárritu, “The Revenant”
Tom McCarthy, “Spotlight”
Adam McKay, “The Big Short”
George Miller, “Mad Max: Fury Road”
Ridley Scott, “The Martian”
Television, commercial and documentary nominees will be announced tomorrow. Winners will be revealed at the 68th annual DGA Awards on Feb. 6.
