The Directors Guild has nominated Richard Linklater, Alejandro G. Inarritu, Morten Tyldum, Wes Anderson and Clint Eastwood as the best feature-film directors of 2014, the DGA announced on Tuesday.
Linklater was nominated for “Boyhood,” Inarritu for “Birdman,” Tyldum for “The Imitation Game,” Anderson for “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and Eastwood for “American Sniper.”
The Eastwood nomination was the most surprising of the group, with the veteran director and four-time DGA nominee beating out David Fincher for “Gone Girl,” James Marsh for “The Theory of Everything,” Christopher Nolan for “Interstellar” and, most notably, Ava DuVernay for “Selma,” a late-breaking film that has had a tough run as guild awards have been announced.
Eastwood and Inarritu are the only previous DGA nominees in the group, and Eastwood is the only past winner. Anderson, Linklater and Tyldum are all receiving their first nominations.
The DGA is the last of the four major Hollywood guilds — the Directors Guild, Producers Guild, Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild — to announce its feature-film nominations. “Boyhood,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “The Imitation Game” have now been nominated for all four, with “Birdman” nominated for three, but ineligible for the Writers Guild Awards.
“American Sniper” was nominated by the DGA, PGA and WGA, but not by SAG.
Four of the five DGA nominees typically go on to receive Oscar nominations, with five-for-five matches occurring only twice since 2000, and a strange two-for-five year coming in 2012.
When it comes to predicting Oscar winners, the DGA is one of the most reliable guilds. In the 66 years of the DGA Awards, its winner has also won the Oscar for Best Director 59 times. The winning director’s film has won the Best Picture Oscar 52 times.
The 67th annual DGA Awards will take place on Feb. 7 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
More to come.
The nominees, from the DGA press release:
WES ANDERSON
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Mr. Anderson’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Miki Emmrich
First Assistant Director: Josh Robertson
Second Assistant Director: Ben Howard
This is Mr. Anderson’s first DGA Award nomination.
CLINT EASTWOOD
“American Sniper”
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Eastwood’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Tim Moore
First Assistant Director: David M. Bernstein
Second Assistant Director: Paula Case
Second Second Assistant Director: Clark Credle
First Assistant Director (Morocco Unit): Ahmed Hatimi
Second Assistant Director (Morocco Unit): Yann Mari Faget
Second Second Assistant Directors (Morocco Unit): Andrew Madden, Khalil Zghayou
This is Mr. Eastwood’s fourth DGA Award nomination, all in this category. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Million Dollar Baby in 2004 and for Unforgiven in 1992. He was also nominated in this same category for Mystic River in 2003. Mr. Eastwood was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2006.
ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU
“Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)”
(Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Mr. Iñárritu’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Managers: James W. Skotchdopole, Robert Graf
First Assistant Director: Peter Kohn
Second Assistant Director: Amy Lauritsen
Second Second Assistant Director: Catherine Feeny
Location Manager: Joaquin Prange
This is Mr. Iñárritu’s third DGA Award nomination. He was previously nominated in this category for Babel in 2006. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Commercials for “Best Job” (Proctor and Gamble) in 2012.
RICHARD LINKLATER
“Boyhood”
(IFC Films)
Mr. Linklater’s Directorial Team:
Unit Production Manager: Cathleen Sutherland
First Assistant Director: Vince Palmo Jr.
Second Assistant Directors: Susana Jasso, Kathleen Tull
Second Second Assistant Directors: Mary Beth Chambers, Brian Franklin
This is Mr. Linklater’s first DGA Award nomination.
MORTEN TYLDUM
“The Imitation Game”
(The Weinstein Company)
Mr. Tyldum’s Directorial Team:
Production Manager: Suzie Shearer
First Assistant Director: Phil Booth
Second Assistant Director: James Manning
This is Mr. Tyldum’s first DGA Award nomination.