The last of the major guilds, the Directors Guild of America, has announced its nominations for the 69th Annual DGA Awards. While many of the nominees will surprise no one, here's one that actually was kind of surprising.
Tim Miller's work on
"Deadpool" has been rewarded with a nod for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film. This makes the comic book adaptation an unexpected contender in the Oscars race, especially since it also has a PGA nomination under its belt.
Nate Parker was nominated for his directorial debut
"The Birth of a Nation", which comes to sweeten the blow that the film received after controversy involving Parker's rape charge from his college days. However, this is the only nomination that Parker has received in this entire awards season, so the DGA nod comes as little consolation for a film that was once seen as a major contender and ended up a box-office failure.
Another surprise is that
Garth Davis pulled off a double-nomination for his work on the true story drama
"Lion". He was nominated both for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film and First-Time Feature Film. Now,
"Lion" is a perfectly okay film, but the attention it's been getting this awards season is crazy. Plus, nominating Davis means that some huge players were left off the list:
Martin Scorsese for
"Silence",
Denzel Washington for
"Fences",
Clint Eastwood for
"Sully" and
Mel Gibson for
"Hacksaw Ridge". Well, at least I'm happy to see Villeneuve made the list after being snubbed last year for
"Sicario".
The winners of the 2017 Directors Guild Awards will be revealed on February 4th.
Check out the complete list of DGA film nominations after the jump.
