2021 DGA Award

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We are finally only five days away from the much-delayed Oscar nominations for the weird pandemic year of 2020. The Directors Guild of America has announced their five nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, of which the nominees and winners often mirror the Academy Award choices. The nominees are...

Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Emerald Fennell, A Promising Young Woman
David Fincher, Mank
Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland


This is Fincher's fourth nomination following The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The other four are all first-time nominees in this category.

The 73rd Annual DGA Awards will take place on Saturday April 10, 2021.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra



I’m fairly certain Chloé Zhao will win. *I haven’t seen Nomadland yet. *I loved Trial of the Chicago 7 and Promising Young Woman. *Mank was good but not great. *I don’t think Fincher deserves the nomination. *I haven’t seen Minari yet. *I think these 5 will likely be the best director lineup at the Oscars. *



I think Zhao, Fincher, and Chung are pretty well locked in. I'd love to see Fennell make it. If she and/or Sorkin are on the bubble they could be swapped out by Shaka King (Judas and the Black Messiah), Regina King (One Night in Miami...), or Florian Zeller (The Father). I think Lee Daniels (The United States vs. Billie Holliday) and Spike Lee (Da 5 Bloods) are slightly longer shots on the next tier. I'd be shocked if Kevin Macdonald (The Mauritanian) or anyone else snuck in. Personally I liked Judas and the Black Messiah quite a bit more than The Trial of the Chicago 7, as much as I love Sorkin. If the other branches did the nominating here I'd say actress-turned-director Regina King has a very good chance, but I don't know that the directors branch of the Academy will give her that shot for her debut.

The last times the five DGA and Oscar nominees matched exactly were 2009 and 2005. Those are the only two instances in this century, so far. There is usually at least one difference if not two. But in this year of a much shallower pond to fish from due to the reduced number of releases it might very well be the year to match again? We will know Monday morning.



If the DGAs are as SJ oriented as are the Oscars, it'll be one of the two women. Zhao is non-white, so she'd be the pick of the two. OTOH this seems like the year of the Korean, so Chung is a possible pick as well.

I liked Fincher's work in Mank, but he has no chance. The PC crowd has poo-pooed the picture.



Thomas Vinterberg. There is usually at least one difference between the DGA and Oscar ballots and this year it is Vinterberg (Another Round) over Sorkin. The other four names match up. Unless Aaron Sorkin wins the DGA, whoever wins here has the inside lock on winning the Academy Award for Best Director.