Directors Guild Awards: Jane Campion Wins for ‘The Power of the Dog’

TV awards go to Mark Mylod for “Succession,” Lucia Aniello for “Hacks” and Barry Jenkins for “The Underground Railroad”

Jane Campion - Directors Guild Awards
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Jane Campion has been named the best feature-film director of 2021 by the Directors Guild of America for “The Power of the Dog.” She is the second consecutive female director to win after Chloe Zhao’s victory last year for “Nomadland,” and the third overall after Zhao and Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”), who won in 2010 and was also on hand for the ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

“I’m here because I care about women having voices,” Campion said in her acceptance speech. She had been the prohibitive favorite going into the DGA Awards, just as she is in the Best Director category at the Academy Awards — and the fact that she won even at the end of a marathon DGA ceremony during which one person after another had paid homage to her fellow nominee Steven Spielberg suggests that the rest of awards season will be smooth sailing for her.

Maggie Gyllenhaal won the award for a first-time feature director for “The Lost Daughter” over Lin-Manuel Miranda for “tick, tick…BOOM!” and Rebecca Hall for “Passing,” among others. It made Gyllenhaal the second woman to win the award in the category’s seven-year existence, after Alma Har’el for “Honey Boy” two years ago. “This is a community that I think I had always wanted to be a part of,” said an emotional Gyllenhaal after she won. “And I didn’t even let myself know that.”

Gyllenhaal also mentioned that she was not yet in the DGA, and that she needed two sponsors to join. One, she said, would be her father, director Stephen Gyllenhaal — and for the other, she asked Spielberg, seated near the stage, if he’d sign for her.

(Spielberg had already received a lengthy shout-out from fellow director Denis Villeneuve, who said that as a kid he’d had a hockey jersey made with the name “SPIELBERG” on the back.)

The award for documentary film went to veteran filmmaker Stanley Nelson for “Attica” over a field that also included first-time director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson for “Summer of Soul.”

Lucia Aniello won the award for comedy-series directing for “Hacks,” while the prize for television movies and limited series went to Barry Jenkins for “The Underground Railroad.”

In the drama series category, Mark Mylod won for “Succession” over five other directors who were also nominated for that show. It was the first time one show had swept all the nominations since “Hill Street Blues” did it in 1983, when the category only consisted of three nominees. Until “Succession” this year, no series had ever swept a five-nominee category.

Appropriately enough, the award was presented by “Succession” cast members Brian Cox, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook and Jeremy Strong.

In the variety-TV categories, Paul Dugdale won for “Adele: One Night Only” and Don Roy King won his seventh consecutive DGA Award for “Saturday Night Live.”

Smriti Mundhra won the award for children’s television for “Through Our Eyes,” while Adam Vetri won the reality-TV award for “Getaway Driver.”

In its first 73 years, the DGA winner has gone on to win the Oscar for Best Director 65 times. The most recent disagreement between guild and Academy voters came two years ago when Sam Mendes won the DGA Award for “1917” but Bong Joon Ho took the Oscar for “Parasite.” During the same time, the DGA winner’s film has won the Oscar for Best Picture 56 times, although the Academy’s increasingly common picture/director splits mean that the DGA winner has directed the Best Picture champ only twice in the last six years.

Also at the show, special awards went to Spike Lee (Career Achievement Award), Joseph P. Reidy (Frank Capra Achievement Award) and Garry W. Hood (Franklin Schaffner Award).

Judd Apatow hosted the ceremony.

Here is the complete list of nominees. Winners are indicated by **WINNER.

Theatrical Feature Film
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”
Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast”
**WINNER Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”
Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”
Denis Villeneuve, “Dune”

First-Time Feature Film Director
**WINNER Maggie Gyllenhaal, “The Lost Daughter”
Rebecca Hall, “Passing”
Tatiana Huezo, “Prayers for the Stolen”
Lin-Manuel Miranda, “tick, tick…BOOM!”
Michael Sarnoski, “Pig”
Emma Seligman, “Shiva Baby”

Documentary
Jessica Kingdon, “Ascension”
**WINNER Stanley Nelson, “Attica”
Raoul Peck, “Exterminate All the Brutes”
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin, “The Rescue”

Drama Series
Kevin Bray, “Succession”: “Retired Janitors of Idaho”
**WINNER Mark Mylod, “Succession”: “All the Bells Say”
Andrij Parekh, “Succession”: “What It Takes”
Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, “Succession”: “Lion in the Meadow”
Lorene Scafaria, “Succession”: “Too Much Birthday”

Comedy Series
**WINNER Lucia Aniello, “Hacks”: “There Is No Line”
MJ Delaney, “Ted Lasso”: “No Weddings and a Funeral”
Erica Dunton, “Ted Lasso”: “Rainbow”
Sam Jones, “Ted Lasso”: “Beard After Hours”
Mike White, “The White Lotus”: “Mysterious Monkeys”

Movies for Television and Limited Series
**WINNER Barry Jenkins, “The Underground Railroad”
Barry Levinson, “Dopesick”: “First Bottle”
Hiro Murai, “Station Eleven”: “Wheel of Fire”
Danny Strong: “Dopesick”: “The People vs. Purdue Pharma”
Craig Zobel, “Mare of Easttown”

Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled Programming
Paul G. Casey, “Real Time With Bill Maher”: “Episode 1935: Fareed Zakaria, Chris Christie, Eric Adams”
Jim Hoskinson, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”: “Episode 1105”
**WINNER Don Roy King, “Saturday Night Live”: “Keegan-Michael Key; Olivia Rodrigo”
David Paul Meyer, “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah”: “Episode 26112”
Paul Pennolino & Christopher Werner, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”: “Episode 830 – Season Finale”

Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials
Ian Berger, “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah Presents Jordan Klepper Fingers the Pulse – Into the Magaverse”
Bo Burnham, “Bo Burnham: Inside”
**WINNER Paul Dugdale, “Adele: One Night Only”
Stan Lathan, “Dave Chappelle: The Closer”
Glenn P. Weiss, “The 43rd Annual Kennedy Center Honors”

Reality Programs
Joseph Guidry, “Full Bloom”: “Final Floral Face Off”
Patrick McManus, “American Ninja Warrior”: “1304: Qualifiers 4”
Ramy Romany, “Making the Cut”: “Brand Statement”
Ben Simms, “Running Wild with Bear Grylls”: “Gina Carano In The Dolomites”
**WINNER Adam Vetri, “Getaway Driver”: “Electric Shock”

Children’s Programs
James Bobin, “The Mysterious Benedict Society”: “A Bunch of Smart Orphans”
Michael Lembeck, “The J Team”
Phill Lewis, “Head of the Class”: “Three More Years”
**WINNER Smriti Mundhra, “Through Our Eyes”: “Shelter”
Jeff Wadlow, “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”: “The Tale of the Darkhouse”

Commercials
Steve Ayson (MJZ), Anthem, Mattress Firm – Droga5
Kathryn Bigelow (Smuggler), Hollywood In Your Pocket, iPhone 13 – Media Arts Lab
Ian Pons Jewell (Reset), ECG, Apple Watch – Apple; Sleep, Apple Watch – Apple; Time, Squarespace – Squarespace; Your Mom’s Short Ribs, Instacart – Goodby Silverstein
Henry-Alex Rubin (Smuggler), Teenage Dream, Sandy Hook Promise – BBDO – New York
**WINNER Bradford Young (Serial Pictures x Somesuch), Super. Human., Channel 4 Paralympics – 4Creative

Frank Capra Achievement Award: Joseph P. Reidy
Franklin Schaffner Award: Garry W. Hood
Lifetime Achievement Award: Spike Lee

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