66th Directors Guild of America nominees announced!

With all the guilds announcing their nominations in the weeks leading up to the Oscar nominations, things are definitely getting interesting and hopefully a clearer picture is starting to emerging this awards season.  The Directors Guild of America announced their feature film nominees for 2014 and their prestigious list features three first time honorees, one with his second nomination and one living legend with his eleventh (yes, eleventh!).  Alfonso Cuarón, Paul Greengrass, Steve McQueen, David O. Russell and Martin Scorsese are all nominated for the 66th annual awards which will be given out on January 25th, 2014.  The ceremony will be hosted by actress Jane Lynch. 

Here are the nominees and their details:

ALFONSO CUARÓN - Gravity (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Mr. Cuarón’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: David Siegel (Arizona Unit)
• First Assistant Directors: Josh Robertson, Stephen Hagen (Arizona Unit)
• Second Assistant Director: Ben Howard

This is Mr. Cuarón’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.


PAUL GREENGRASS - Captain Phillips (Columbia Pictures)
Mr. Greengrass’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Todd Lewis, Gregory Goodman
• First Assistant Director: Chris Carreras
• Second Assistant Directors: Nick Shuttleworth, Mark S. Constance

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


STEVE McQUEEN - 12 Years A Slave (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Mr. McQueen’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager:  Anthony Katagas
• First Assistant Director: Doug Torres
• Second Assistant Director:  James Roque Jr.
• Second Second Assistant Director: Sherman Shelton Jr.
• Additional Second Assistant Director: Nathan Parker

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


DAVID O. RUSSELL - American Hustle (Columbia Pictures)
Mr. Russell’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Managers: Shea Kammer, Mark Kamine
• First Assistant Director: Michele ‘Shelley’ Ziegler
• Second Assistant Director: Xanthus Valan
• Second Second Assistant Director: Jason Fesel
• Location Managers: David Velasco, Guy Efrat (New York Unit)

This is Mr. Russell’s second DGA Award nomination.  He was previously nominated in this category for The Fighter in 2010.


MARTIN SCORSESE - The Wolf of Wall Street (Paramount Pictures)

Mr. Scorsese’s Directorial Team:

• Unit Production Manager: Richard Baratta
• First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
• Second Assistant Director: Francisco Ortiz
• Second Second Assistant Director: Jeremy Marks
• Additional Second Assistant Director: Scott Koche
• Location Manager: Nils Widboom

This is Mr. Scorsese’s eleventh DGA Award nomination.  He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film in 2006 for The Departed, and has also been nominated in that category for Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), The Age of Innocence (1993), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004) and Hugo (2011). Mr. Scorsese also won the DGA Award in 2010 for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Television for Boardwalk Empire and he was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary for George Harrison: Living in the Material World in 2011.  In 1999, Mr. Scorsese was presented with the Filmmaker Award at the inaugural DGA Honors Gala, and he was honored with the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.