As if watching their film “Everything Everywhere All at Once” rake in the accolades at the Academy Awards wasn’t gratifying enough, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (a.k.a. the Daniels) also entered the history books as the third directing duo in history to win Best Director.
The Daniels’ nomination was the fourth time a team of two had been up for the prize, with previous nominations going to Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise for 1961’s “West Side Story,” Buck Henry and Warren Beatty for 1978’s “Heaven Can Wait” and Ethan and Joel Coen 2007’s “No Country for Old Men.”
With the Daniels’ win, directing duos have gone three for four at the Academy Awards, suggesting that, once nominated, the Academy has little problem seeing directing as a team sport.
The “Everything Everywhere All at Once” pair came into the evening as the odds-on favorite in the category, with their film enjoying overwhelming success on the awards circuit the weeks and months prior. Daniels has been riding high off the approval of their peers, especially following their Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film in February.
All in all, it was a good night to be named Daniel.
