The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2015 were announced tonight during the 68th Annual DGA Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. In a historic win, Alejandro G. Iñárritu won the DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The Revenant. Mr. Iñárritu is the first director to win the award in back-to-back years. He won this Award last year for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).

 

Actor Jane Lynch hosted the ceremony before an audience of more than 1,600 guests. Presenters included (in alphabetical order): Christian Bale, DGA President Paris Barclay; Angela Bassett; Abigail Breslin; Steve Carrell; James Corden; Bryan Cranston; Matt Damon; Leonardo DiCaprio; DGA 5th Vice President Jon Favreau; Ryan Gosling; Kathy Griffin; Tom Hooper; Regina King; Christian Jules Le Blanc; Jennifer Jason Leigh; Rachel McAdams; DGA National Vice President Vincent Misiano; Nate Parker; Jeff Probst; Steven Spielberg; Michelle Stafford; and Lily Tomlin.

 

BMW is the Exclusive Automotive Sponsor of the 68th Annual DGA Awards.

 

The winners of the 2015 DGA Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement are:

 

 

(20th Century Fox)

 

Mr. Iñárritu's Directorial Team:

Unit Production Managers: Drew Locke, James W. Skotchdopole, Doug Jones

First Assistant Director: Scott Robertson

Second Assistant Directors: Megan M. Shank, Matthew Haggerty, Jeremy Marks

 

Unit Production Manager: Gabriela Vazquez (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)

First Assistant Director: Adam Somner (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)

Second Assistant Directors: Trevor R. Tavares, Jasmine Marie Alhambra (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)

 

Second Second Assistant Directors: Brett Robinson, Kasia Trojak (Argentina, California, and Montana Unit)

 

This is Mr. Iñárritu’s third DGA Award win and fourth nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2014 for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). He was also nominated in this category for Babel in 2006. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for “Best Job” (Procter & Gamble) in 2012.

 

 

 

(HBO)

 

Ms. Rees's Directorial Team:

 

Unit Production Manager: Ron Schmidt

First Assistant Director: Michael J. Moore

Second Assistant Director: Basti Van Der Woude

 

Second Second Assistant Director: Joann Connolly

 

This is Ms. Rees’s first DGA Award win.

 

 

 

(A24)

 

Mr. Garland's Directorial Team:

 

Unit Production Manager: Sara Desmond

 

First Assistant Director: Nick Heckstall-Smith

 

Second Assistant Director: Ray Kenny

 

This is Mr. Garland's first DGA Award win.

 

 

Game of Thrones, “Mother's Mercy”

(HBO)

 

This is Mr. Nutter’s first DGA Award win and sixth nomination. He was previously nominated in this category in 2013 for the Game of Thrones episode “The Rains of Castamere” and in 2006 for The Sopranos episode “Join the Club.” He was also nominated in the Comedy Series category for Entourage episodes “The Resurrection” (2007) and “Lose Yourself” (2010); and in the Movies for Television and Mini-Series category for The Pacific “Basilone” in 2010.

 

 

Veep, “Election Night”

(HBO)

 

Mr. Addison's Directorial Team:

 

Unit Production Manager: Bill Hill

First Assistant Director: Dale Stern

Second Assistant Director: Michelle Gritzer

Second Second Assistant Director: Miles Perman

 

This is Mr. Addison’s first DGA Award win.

 

 

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “Episode #325”

(NBC)

 

Mr. Diomedi’s Directorial Team:

 

Associate Directors: Mark Jankeloff, Maureen Smith

Stage Managers: Niclana Tolmasoff, Mike Kilkenny

 

This is Mr. Diomedi’s second DGA Award win and his third nomination. He previously won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming in 2014 for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, “Episode #1.”

 

He was also nominated in this same category in 2013 for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, “#799.”

 

 

(NBC)

 

Mr. King’s Directorial Team:

 

Associate Directors: Michael Mancini, Michael Poole, Bob Caminiti, Dan Dome

Stage Managers: Gena Rositano, Chris Kelly, Joey Despenzero, Lynn Finkel, Eddie Valk

 

This is Mr. King’s second DGA Award and tenth nomination. He previously won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming in 2013 for Saturday Night Live “Host: Justin Timberlake” and was previously nominated for Saturday Night Live episodes in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014. He was also nominated in the Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming category this year for Saturday Night Live, “Host: Tracy Morgan/Musical Guest: Demi Lovato.”

 

 

Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge, “Gods of War”

(CMT)

 

Mr. Vetri’s Directorial Team:

 

Associate Director: Ian Blankenship

Stage Manager: Richard Mercury Melendez

 

This is Mr. Vetri’s first DGA Award win and second nomination. He was previously nominated in this category in 2014 for Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Challenge, “Welcome to the Gun Show.”

 

 

(Disney Channel)

 

Mr. Ortega’s Directorial Team:

 

First Assistant Director: Rachel Leiterman

 

This is Mr. Ortega’s second DGA Award win and third nomination. He previously won in this category in 2006 for High School Musical, and was nominated in this category in 2007 for High School Musical 2.

 

 

 

(Biscuit Filmworks)

 

Emily’s Oz, Comcast – Goodby, Silverstein & Partners NY

 

First Assistant Directors: Craig Owens, Eric Topp

Second Assistant Director: Eric Topp

 

Time Upon A Once, General Electric - BBDO

 

Unit Production Manager: Vincent Landay

 

Dad Song, Old Spice - Wieden + Kennedy

 

This is Mr. Nilsson’s first DGA Award win.

 

 

 

The Orchard

 

A&E Indiefilms

Our Time Projects

The Documentary Group

Whitewater Films

 

This is Mr. Heineman’s first DGA Award win.

 

 

Joe Pytka – Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Television Direction: Commercial director Joe Pytka was honored with the Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Distinguished Achievement in Television Direction in honor of his groundbreaking career.

 

Mary Rae Thewlis – Frank Capra Achievement Award: Given to an Assistant Director or Unit Production Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.

 

Tom McDermott – Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award: Given to an Associate Director or Stage Manager in recognition of career achievement in the industry and service to the Directors Guild of America.

 

Next year’s 69th Annual DGA Awards will take place on Saturday, February 4, 2017 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.  

 

In the 80 years since its founding in 1936, the DGA has fought for the economic and creative rights of its members; protected their ability to financially benefit from the reuse of their work; established strong pension and health plans; and established jurisdiction in new technologies and distribution platforms. Today we represent more than 16,000 directors and members of the directorial team working in film, television, commercials, new media and other audiovisual media. http://dga.org