DGA president Taylor Hackford announced the five nominees for the DGA Award for outstanding directorial achievement in feature film for 2012.
“DGA members have chosen an incredibly rich and varied group of filmmakers to nominate for this year’s outstanding directorial achievement in feature film award,” Hackford said. “These directors represent the highest standard of filmmaking, and their films are a testament to artistic achievement, innovative storytelling and the passion that filmmakers share with their audiences. Being nominated by their peers is what makes this award particularly meaningful for directors, and I congratulate all of the nominees for their outstanding work.”
The winner will be named at the 65th Annual DGA Awards dinner, Feb. 2 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. The DGA award for outstanding directorial achievement in feature film has traditionally been an accurate barometer for who will win the best director Academy Award. Only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the feature film winner not gone on to win the corresponding Academy Award.
The nominees are:
Ben Affleck
Argo, (Warner Bros. Pictures)
Unit Production Manager: Amy Herman
First Assistant Director: David Webb
Second Assistant Director: Ian Calip
Second Second Assistant Directors: Clark Credle, Gavin Kleintop
First Assistant Director (Turkey Unit): Belkis Turan
Kathryn Bigelow
Zero Dark Thirty, (Columbia Pictures)
Unit Production Manager: Colin Wilson
First Assistant Director: David A. Ticotin
Second Assistant Directors: Ben Lanning, Sarah Hood
First Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Scott Robertson
Second Assistant Directors (Jordan Unit): Jonas Spaccarotelli, Yanal Kassay
Second Second Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Tarek Afifi
Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Rajeev Mehra
Tom Hooper
Les Misérables, (Universal Pictures)
Unit Production Manager: Patrick Schweitzer
First Assistant Director: Ben Howarth
Second Assistant Director: Harriet Worth
Second Second Assistant Director: Dan Channing Williams
Ang Lee
Life of Pi, (Twentieth Century Fox)
Unit Production Manager: Michael J. Malone
Unit Production Manager (Taiwan Unit): Leo Chen
First Assistant Directors: William M. Connor, Cliff Lanning
Second Assistant Directors: Robert Burgess, Ben Lanning
Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Sanjay Kumar
First Assistant Director (India Unit): Nitya Mehra
Second Assistant Director (India Unit): Ananya Rane
Second Second Assistant Directors (India Unit): Namra Parikh, Freya Parekh
Second Assistant Directors (Montreal Unit): Derek Wimble, Renato De Cotiis
Steven Spielberg
Lincoln, (Dreamworks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox)
Unit Production Manager: Susan McNamara
First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
Second Assistant Director: Ian Stone
Second Second Assistant Directors: Eric Lasko, Trevor Tavares