Directors Guild Nominations Include Bradley Cooper, Alfonso Cuarón, Spike Lee

Lee is only the fifth black director ever nominated by the DGA; Peter Farrelly and Adam McKay also receive nominations

Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman
Spike Lee photographed by Matt Sayles for TheWrap

The Directors Guild of America has nominated Bradley Cooper, Alfonso Cuarón, Peter Farrelly, Spike Lee and Adam McKay as the best directors in the feature film category of 2018 in the Directors Guild Awards announced on Tuesday.

Cooper was nominated for “A Star Is Born,” Cuarón for “Roma,” Farrelly for “Green Book,” Lee for “BlacKkKlansman” and McKay for “Vice.”

Lee is only the fifth black director nominated for the award. All of those nominations have come in the last decade, starting with Lee Daniels in 2010 and including Steve McQueen in 2014, Barry Jenkins in 2017 and Jordan Peele in 2018.

“Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler was considered likely to land a DGA nomination as well, but he was bypassed by voters. So were directors Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Favourite”), Barry Jenkins (“If Beale Street Could Talk”) and Damien Chazelle (“First Man”).

“BlacKkKlansman” and “A Star Is Born” are now the only 2018 films to receive nominations from the Directors Guild, Writers Guild and Producers Guild, plus a Screen Actors Guild nomination for ensemble acting. “Green Book,” “Black Panther” and “Vice” have received three of the four key guild nominations.

Cooper was also nominated in the Best First-Time Feature Film Director category, along with Bo Burnham (“Eighth Grade”), Carlos Lopez Estrada (“Blindspotting”), Matthew Heineman (“A Private War”) and Boots Riley (“Sorry to Bother You”).

Heineman, oddly, is a first-time directing nominee who has already won two DGA Awards for directing “Cartel Land” and “City of Ghosts” — but because those films were documentaries, he is considered a first-time feature director.

For the last five years in a row, four of the five DGA nominees have gone on to receive Oscar nominations for Best Director. Over their seven-decade history, the Directors Guild Awards have been an extremely accurate predictor of the Oscars, with the two organizations typically choosing a very similar roster of nominees and picking the same winner 90 percent of the time.

The 71st Annual Directors Guild Awards will take place on Feb. 2 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland.

The nominees and their teams, from the DGA press release:

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FEATURE FILM FOR 2018:

BRADLEY COOPER
“A Star is Born”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mr. Cooper’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Robert J. Dohrmann
First Assistant Director: Michele “Shelley” Ziegler
Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
Second Second Assistant Director: Matthew R. Milan

This is one of two DGA Award nominations this year for Mr. Cooper. He is also nominated in the First-Time Feature Film category for “A Star Is Born.”

ALFONSO CUARON
“Roma”
(Netflix)

Mr. Cuarón’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Ana Hernandez
First Assistant Director: Frederic Henocque Albino
Second Assistant Director: Patrick Heyerdahl
Second Second Assistant Directors: Luis Fernando Vásquez, Julián ‘Chico’ Valdés, Arturo Garcia

This is Mr. Cuarón’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2013 for “Gravity.”

PETER FARRELLY
“Green Book”
(Universal Pictures)

Mr. Farrelly’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Alissa M. Kantrow, John Brister, Franses Simonovich (New York Unit)
First Assistant Directors: J.B. Rogers, Alejandro Ramia (New York Unit)
Second Assistant Directors: Paul B. Uddo, Jack McKenna (New York Unit)
Second Second Assistant Directors: Gerson Paz, Jonathan Warren
Location Manager: Louis Zuppardi

This is Mr. Farrelly’s first DGA Award nomination.

SPIKE LEE
“BlacKkKlansman”
(Focus Features)

Mr. Lee’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Marcei A. Brown
First Assistant Director: Mike Ellis
Second Assistant Director: Tracey Hinds
Second Second Assistant Directors: Jason Perez, Christina Ann Walker, Anastasia Folorunso
Location Manager: Tim Stacker

This is Mr. Lee’s first DGA Award nomination.

ADAM MCKAY
“Vice”
(Annapurna Pictures)

Mr. McKay’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: Julie Hartley, Jeff Waxman
First Assistant Director: Matt Rebenkoff
Second Assistant Director: Joann Connolly
Second Second Assistant Directors: Yarden Levo, Dave Vogel (Washington D.C. Unit)

This is Mr. McKay’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He was previously nominated for “The Big Short” in 2015. Mr. McKay also received a nomination this year in the Dramatic Series category for “Succession.”

***

OUTSTANDING DIRECTORIAL ACHIEVEMENT OF A FIRST-TIME FEATURE FILM DIRECTOR FOR 2018:

BO BURNHAM
“Eighth Grade”
(A24)

Mr. Burnham’s Directorial Team:
First Assistant Director: Dan Taggatz
Second Assistant Director: Vic Coram
Second Second Assistant Director: Evelyn Fogleman
This is Mr. Burnham’s first DGA Award nomination.

BRADLEY COOPER
“A Star is Born”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mr. Cooper’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Robert J. Dohrmann
First Assistant Director: Michele “Shelley” Ziegler
Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
Second Second Assistant Director: Matthew R. Milan

This is one of two DGA Award nominations this year for Mr. Cooper. He is also nominated in the Feature Film category for “A Star Is Born.”

CARLOS LOPEZ ESTRADA
“Blindspotting”
(Summit Entertainment)

Mr. Estrada’s Directorial Team:
Assistant Director: La Mar Stewart
Second Second Assistant Director: Dominic Martin
Additional Second Second Assistant Director: Armin Houshmandi

This is Mr. Estrada’s first DGA Award nomination.

MATTHEW HEINEMAN
“A Private War”
(Aviron Pictures)

Mr. Heineman’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Louise Killin
First Assistant Directors: George Walker, Peter Freeman (Jordan Unit)
Second Assistant Directors: Tom Mulberge (UK Unit), Tom Browne (Jordan Unit)

Second Second Assistant Director: Tarik Afifi (Jordan Unit)

This is Mr. Heineman’s third DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary in 2017 for “City of Ghosts” and in 2015 for “Cartel Land.”

BOOTS RILEY
“Sorry to Bother You”
(Annapurna Pictures)

Mr. Riley’s Directorial Team:
Production Manager: Chris Martin
First Assistant Director: Brian Benson

Second Assistant Director: Hilton Jamal Day
Second Second Assistant Directors: Sam Purdy, Nick Alvarez

This is Mr. Riley’s first DGA Award nomination.

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