Awards season is still chugging along, with April’s Oscars in its sights.
On Tuesday, the Directors Guild of America unveiled its nominees for best director, revealing a noticeably more diverse slate than years past.
Two women were nominated for best feature film: Emerald Fennell for “Promising Young Woman” and Chloé Zhao for “Nomadland.” “Minari'” director Lee Isaac Chung also received DGA love in the category, joined by nominees David Fincher (“Mank) and Aaron Sorkin (“The Trial of the Chicago 7”).
Zhao and Fennell’s nominations mark the first time two women have ever competed for the guild’s top honor.
In more than seven decades of the awards, only nine times before had a female filmmaker been nominated for best director. Most recent was Greta Gerwig in 2018 for “Lady Bird.”
Zhao recently became the second woman to ever win best director at the Golden Globes, and the first woman of Asian descent. She was joined in the DGA Awards by Fennell, who made her directorial debut with the black revenge comedy “Promising Young Woman.”
The first-time director nominees were also atypically diverse, with three people of color among them. Nominated were Regina King (“One Night in Miami'”), Darius Marder (“Sound of Metal”), Florian Zeller (“The Father”), Radha Blank (“The Forty-Year-Old Version”) and Fernando Frías de la Parra (“I’m No Longer Here”).
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Carey Mulligan stars as Cassie in director Emerald Fennell’s revenge thriller "Promising Young Woman." (Photo: FOCUS FEATURES)
The DGA Awards are often a strong bellwether for the Academy Awards. Excepting last year, every DGA winner since 2014 also won the Academy Award: Alfonso Cuaron for “Gravity” (2014), Alejandro G. Iñárritu for “Birdman” (2015) and “The Revenant” (2016), Damien Chazelle for “La La Land” (2017), Guillermo del Toro for “The Shape of Water” (2018) and Cuaron for “Roma” (2019).
But in 2020, Sam Mendes won the top DGA prize for “1917,” while Bong Joon-ho ultimately took home the best director Oscar for “Parasite.”
Oscar nominations will be unveiled Monday morning. DGA winners will be announced April 10.
Contributing: Brian Truitt
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