Three of the nominees are from production house MJZ, including last year's winner Dante Ariola
By Robert Goldrich
LOS ANGELES --The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has named its nominees for best commercial director of 2007: Dante Ariola, Fredrik Bond, Frank Budgen, Nicolai Fuglsig and Noam Murro.
Ariola, who won the DGA Award last year, Bond and Fuglsig are all with bicoastal/international MJZ. Budgen directs via Gorgeous Enterprises, London, and is handled stateside by bicoastal Anonymous Content. And Murro is with Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles.
MJZ’s strong showing continues an impressive DGA Awards run for the company. This marks the fifth time in six years that MJZ has had more than one nominee for the coveted DGA commercial director of the year honor. And scoring three of the five nominees this time around doesn’t even represent the high water mark for the production house. In the competition for the DGA Award recognizing the best director of 2005, MJZ had four of the five nominees (Craig Gillespie, who won the award, Spike Jonze, Rocky Morton and Rupert Sanders). Last year, MJZ had two nominees–Ariola, who won the award, and Tom Kuntz. And MJZ had a pair of nominees for the ’04 (Ariola and Bond) and ’02 honors (Ariola and Gillespie).
MJZ directors have won the DGA Award each of the last two years–Ariola as best director of ’06 and Gillespie for ’05.
Two who take the fifth
This latest DGA nomination represents the fifth of Ariola’s career. He has earned his most recent one on the strength of three commercials: Sony PlayStation 3’s “Grenade” from TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, Wrigley’s “Flare” via Energy BBDO, Chicago, and Nike’s “Addicted” from Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam.
Meanwhile Biscuit’s Murro has built a most impressive DGA Awards tradition of his own. This marks the fifth time in the last six years that he has been nominated for the DGA honor. Murro won the DGA Award as best commercials director of ’04. This time around, Murro is nominated for: Volkswagen Golf’s “Night Drive” out of DDB London; Orbit Gum’s “Affair” from Energy BBDO Chicago; and the National Basketball Association’s “Remember” for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco.
Bond, Budgen, Fuglsig While Murro and Ariola are past DGA Award winners, the rest of the field consists of Bond, who has two career nominations, and a pair of first-time DGA Award nominees, Budgen and Fuglsig.
Bond’s latest nomination comes on the basis of the California Milk Processor Board’s “Straw” for Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, and JC Penney’s “Aviator” from Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
Budgen becomes a DGA Award nominee on the strength of Sony Bravia’s “Playdoh” for Fallon, London (produced by Gorgeous) and Live Earth’s “S.O.S., Save Our Selves” (produced by Anonymous and Gorgeous) via Young & Rubicam, Chicago.
Fuglsig is nominated for Guinness’ “Tipping Point” and Motorola’s “Journey,” both from Abbot Mead Vickers/BBDO London, and JC Penney’s “It’s Magic” out of Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
The DGA Awards are in their 60th year. The DGA opened the annual competition to commercial directors in 1980. This year’s DGA Award winners–spanning theatrical features, TV, documentaries and commercials–will be announced and honored during a gala evening ceremony in Los Angeles on Saturday, January 26.
Among this year’s feature film DGA Award nominees are the Coen Brothers for No Country For Old Men. The Coens are handled for commercials by Company, a Los Angeles-based house headed by executive producer Robin Benson.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this yearโs Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa โT-Rexโ Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shieldsโ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More