If history is any indication, the winner for Best Picture at the upcoming 90th Annual Academy Awards will be one of these three films:
They were among the five nominated by the Directors Guild of America for 2017’s Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film. The other two films (and their directors) were Dunkirk and The Shape of Water.
What gives those top three an edge is that they’ve also secured Best Cast nominations from the Screen Actors Guild. In addition, Get Out and Lady Bird have Writers Guild nominations. (Three Billboards was ineligible for the WGA, but it’s a lock for a screenplay Oscar nom.)
By being embraced by all major guilds – the DGA and SAG especially – it would be virtually unprecedented for any other film to sneak through and take the Academy’s top prize.
The biggest snubs were easily Steven Spielberg‘s The Post and Luca Guadagnino‘s Call Me By Your Name, but also Denis Villeneuve‘s Blade Runner 2049 (though more on merit than expectation).
Perhaps the biggest sigh of relief for the guild’s reputation was citing Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird. The DGA has been notoriously stingy with female nominees over the years, and an all-male list this year would’ve been a particular blemish. Not only has Gerwig’s work been as universally praised as any in 2017, but with the #MeToo and #TIMESUP movements at their apex there would’ve been an understandable furor and backlash.
Which leads us to the most interesting stat of all: for the first time in the 70 years of DGA Awards history, there are no white American male nominees.
Here are the nominations (in the three film categories) for the 70th Annual DGA Awards. Winners will be announced at a gala dinner on Saturday February 3, 2018, one month prior to the Oscars.
Directors Guild of America
2017 Nominees
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film
- Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
- Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
- Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
Outstanding Directorial Achievement for a First-Time Feature Film Director
- Geremy Jasper, Patti Cake$
- William Oldroyd, Lady Macbeth
- Jordan Peele, Get Out
- Taylor Sheridan, Wind River
- Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
- The Vietnam War, dir. Ken Burns & Lynn Novick
- Icarus, dir. Bryan Fogel
- City of Ghosts, dir. Matthew Heineman
- Abacus: Small Enough to Jail, dir. Steve James
- Wormwood, dir. Errol Morris
Lifetime Achievement Award in Motion Picture Direction
Michael Apted
Click on links below for other Critics Group Awards and Guild Nominees that have been announced so far for the 2017 / 18 season:
Golden Globe Winners
National Society of Film Critics
Producers Guild of America nominees
Writers Guild of America nominees
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle
Chicago Film Critics Association
Screen Actors Guild Nominations
Atlanta Film Critics Circle
San Diego Film Critics Society
Philadelphia Film Critics Circle
Toronto Film Critics Association
San Francisco Film Critics Circle
Boston Society of Film Critics
Washington D.C. Film Critics Association
AFI Top 10 of 2017
Critics Choice Awards Nominations
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
New York Film Critics Circle
The National Board of Review