For only seven times since the DGA Awards began in 1948, the Guild honoree for feature film achievement has not gone on to win the corresponding Oscar. However, that rare occurrence is fresh in the industry’s consciousness in that it happened just last year when Ben Affleck took the DGA honor on the strength of Argo and wasn’t even nominated for the Oscar. In fact, the odds that this particular exception to the awards rule would happen were pretty much set at the time the DGA and Oscar nominations were announced in 2013—the two competitions shared but two (Ang Lee for Life of Pi, and Steven Spielberg for Lincoln) of their respective five nominees.
Fast forward to today and a sense of “normalcy” has been restored as four of the nominees are the same for the DGA and Best Director Oscar competitions: Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity; Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave; David O. Russell for American Hustle; and Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street.
The remaining DGA nominee is Paul Greengrass for Captain Phillips while the other Best Director Oscar nomination went to Alexander Payne for Nebraska.
In last month’s installment of our The Road To Oscar series, Russell told SHOOT that what attracted him to American Hustle was that its characters were all struggling with their identities. “When we started to make the film, larger questions came up that are timeless. How does anybody own an identity or a narrative in their life? And they—like all of us—have to change and redefine themselves. We all end up selling change to ourselves in order to survive, to believe in what we’re doing. The con storyline [of American Hustle] itself didn’t interest me. What interested me was how people find passion in their lives and believe in what they’re doing. It’s a process that never ends.”
In our fall Directors Series (10/18/13), Greengrass cited the contributions of others to Captain Phillips, including editor Christopher Rouse, A.C.E., who also cut four other films for the director (Green Zone, United 93, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Bourne Supremacy). Greengrass described Rouse—who’s also a co-producer of Captain Phillips—as “my closest collaborator. He sees the world and movies the same way I do. He’s my hardest task master as we try to capture and realize the truth. His editing is like constructing the architecture of truth. He builds sequences and builds structure across a film.”
Cuarón, Greengrass and McQueen are first-time DGA nominees. Russell’s nomination is his second; the first came for The Fighter in 2010. The Wolf Of Wall Street is Scorsese’s 11th DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award in 2006 for The Departed, and has been nominated in that category for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011). Scorsese also won the DGA Award in 2010 for Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Television for Boardwalk Empire and he was nominated in the Documentary category for George Harrison: Living in the Material World in 2011. In 1999, Scorsese was presented with the Filmmaker Award at the inaugural DGA Honors Gala, and he received the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
Women directors
Moving over to the Documentary category, Lucy Walker earned her first DGA nomination on the strength of The Crash Reel. As for what being nominated means to her, Walker told SHOOT, “I’m particularly thrilled because three of the five nominees in this DGA category are female. I cannot think of another directing category in any other award competition where the majority of nominees are women. Females are doing some of the best documentary work and it’s a real thrill to be part of this group.”
The other alluded to two women nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentaries for 2013 are Jehane Noujaim for The Square and Sarah Polley for Stories We Tell. Rounding out the lineup of nominees are: Joshua Oppenheimer for The Act of Killing and Zachary Heinzerling for Cutie and the Boxer. Four of the five documentary directors are first-time nominees. The Square is Noujaim’s third DGA Award nomination. She won the DGA Award in the Documentary category for Startup.com in 2001 (with Chris Hegedus) and was nominated in 2004 for Control Room.
Another lauded female director, Lesli Linka Glatter, garnered her fourth DGA Award nomination in the TV competition, the latest for “The Star” episode of Homeland (Showtime). Back in 2009 she won the DGA Award for Dramatic Series for the “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency” episode of Mad Men and was also nominated in this category for “Episode 32006” of Twin Peaks in 1990 and for the “Q & A” episode of Homeland in 2012. In SHOOT’s The Road To Emmy series (8/16/13), Glatter shared what first attracted her to Homeland. “I was supposed to direct in the first season but I was unavailable. When I saw the show, I was blown away. Usually I’m quick about solving mysteries, seeing what’s going on beneath the surface of a series. But for this show, I had no idea if [character Nicholas] Brody was a traitor. The storytelling was so sophisticated without being manipulative, offering deep character studies along with great story plot development. I was grateful that they came back to me after I couldn’t be involved in the first season.”
Commercials
This year’s field of directors for Outstanding Achievement in Commercials for 2013 consists of a two-time winner and seven-time nominee, Noam Murro of Biscuit Filmworks; a director who’s earned six career nominations, Fredrik Bond of MJZ; and three first-time nominees.
The trio of first timers are: John X. Carey of Tool; Martin de Thurah of Epoch Films, and Matthijs van Heijningen of MJZ. Carey earned his nomination on the basis of a single entry, Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” out of Ogilvy, Sao Paulo. Carey said of being a nominee, “It’s an amazing endorsement for my career and moving forward. I feel like the little kid looking through the window at the adults and being invited to have a Sprite with them. I’m looking forward to hearing the other filmmakers in different categories discuss their work. So many of these directors are heroes of mine whose work I’ve been watching on video and DVD.”
In the Dove piece—which Carey directed when he was at Paranoid US (he has since joined Tool)—a forensic sketch artist draws women based on self-descriptions and how others describe them. The differences are striking, underscoring that women’s self-image falls short of capturing their true beauty, as more accurately reflected through the eyes of others. The artist never actually sees the women he sketches. His drawings are based solely on the verbal descriptions given to him.
“I almost feel like I handmade this film, involved in every single detail with the agency giving me the freedom to make it the way it should be made,” said Carey.
Carey credited Dove and Ogilvy for taking a leap of faith. “There was always the chance the idea wouldn’t work out. But they were willing to be on board and risk that—not trying to change anything if the results didn’t pan out. That’s the commitment you need for this kind of documentary filmmaking based on a social experiment. It shows the potential that can be realized when agencies and brands are open and willing to explore and experiment.”
Carey also thanked his collaborators, including those he hand-picked for the job—composer Keith Kennis, DP Ed David, and editor Philip Owens (who cut the long version; the shorter version was cut by Paul Kumpata of Rock Paper Scissors). “They all brought a great deal to the film. Ed for example gets to know his subject and connects with them through his camera. He’s a great handheld operator.”
Van Heijningen garnered his nomination for Sony PlayStation’s “Perfect Day” from BBH New York, and Verizon’s “#Forty Eight” for mcgarrybowen, NY. The latter chronicles the rollercoaster ride of an adventure experienced by Edward Norton in two days, underscoring the 48-hour battery life of the Droid Maxx smartphone. The piece opens in a morgue where Norton emerges from his body drawer and flashes back to what’s transpired over the past 48 hours—from finding a wallet to crashing a plane, to being held captive by a survivalist, to uncovering a small fortune to nearly gambling away his life in a Connect Four game.
“Both my DGA entries reflect what I like to do—situations where you don’t know what you’re watching at first and as it unfolds, things become clearer,” said van Heijningen. “My work is not so much about selling product as it is about giving freedom and identity to a product.”
Van Heijningen has been directing spots for 10 years, among the highlights being “The Bear” for Canal+ from BETC Euro RSCG, Paris. “The Bear” won the Film Craft Grand Prix at Cannes in 2012.
The DGA nomination carries particularly significant weight for van Heijningen in that his commercialmaking over the years has been largely European. But a year ago, he moved from Holland to the U.S. to focus on work for American agencies. “I directed seven commercials this past year—the last two being my DGA entries. To get active in the U.S. and then have that work recognized by the DGA means a great deal to me.”
Bond too is gratified by the nomination, noting that it never gets old. As a six-time nominee, Bond said, “I’m like most directors, very self-critical about my work. There’s so much amazing work out there. Every time I’m nominated, I’m surprised and extremely happy to be chosen by my peers, and to get to hang out with them at the awards show. You don’t get the chance to meet other directors that often because you’re usually working. It’s great to meet the directors who are raising the bar.”
Bond’s latest nomination came for two entries: Heineken’s “Voyage” from Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam, and Johnny Walker’s “From The Future” for BBH London. Bond observed that he enjoyed great collaborative relationships with the agency creatives on both jobs. “When you work that way, you feel so connected to the work. I have a long track record, for example, with Heineken and the agency. The creatives include me in their process and I include them in mine. It’s an exciting way to work and you retain strong memories of the whole process and the challenges you faced.”
As for the two remaining DGA Best Commercial Director of 2013 nominees, Murro’s nomination came for Guinness’ “Basketball” via BBDO NY, DirecTV’s “Kids” for Grey NY, and VW’s “Mask” for Deutsch LA; and de Thurah’s for Hennessy’s “The Man Who Couldn’t Slow Down” for Droga5, NY, and Acura MDX 2014’s “Human Race” for Mullen L.A.
