DGA Nominees/Winners

Sabin
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Re: DGA Nominees

Post by Sabin »

Big Magilla wrote
I don't know. I think Harvey made the right choice between Lion and The Founder.
Why does he have to choose? The minute the shuffled Dev Patel into support, they weren't competing in the same categories. Lion is adapted. The Founder is original. He can't push two movies in the same year? This is Harvey Weinstein. He's the one guy who can!

Best Actor is an increasingly barren wasteland of a category. For the second year in a row, there are almost not enough contenders to fill the lineup. The lower-tiered contenders like Andrew Garfield and Ryan Gosling would not be considered in a normal year. The front-runner is under incredible media scrutiny for sexual assault AND his performance is uncharacteristically subtle of an Oscar winner in this category. Michael Keaton has never won an Oscar, is in the middle of a comeback, and was in two Best Picture winners. He's also in the news because he's just been hired (in an especially meta piece of Birdman-turned-reality) for a superhero movie. Do you know how I know this is a gimme? Because the Captain Fantastic people are doing it very successfully.

Best Original Screenplay could be in tow for them too. With Loving and Moonlight moving to adapted, the field literally cleared for them. Instead, we're looking at The Lobster and Zootopia? Robert D. Siegel wasn't nominated for The Wrestler. You can campaign on that.

Additionally, while I haven't seen The Founder (because nobody has) I'm sure Laura Dern had a shot of getting in too on the basis of she doubtlessly has more screen-time than she did in Wild and Octavia Spencer has no big scenes or moments in Hidden Figures. Maybe they didn't want to compete with Nicole Kidman, but if that's the case then should've reminded her HEY! DON'T SAY WE SHOULD SUPPORT DONALD TRUMP UNTIL MARCH.
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Re: DGA Nominees

Post by Big Magilla »

I don't know. I think Harvey made the right choice between Lion and The Founder.

The marketing of Lion has been pure genius up to and including having Sunny Pawar join Dev Patel introducing the film at the Globes. He may have been slow in marketing The Founder, but now that I've seen the trailer, I really have no interest in seeing the film. Michael Keaton put a hold on mugging to give great controlled performances in Birdman and Spotlight, but his mugging in The Founder trailer is out of control. That's not surprising considering that the film was directed by John Lee Hancock who directed an equally over-the-top Tom Hanks as Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks four years after directing Sandra Bullock to an Oscar in The Blind Side.

Garth Davis may have gotten his start in commercials, but he hit the big-time as co-director of the Australian mini-series, Top of the Lake with Jane Campion. He is already the more disciplined director of the two.
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Re: DGA Nominees

Post by OscarGuy »

Weinstein put The Founder in cement shoes so he could focus on the more crowd-pleasing Lion, which has been received enthusiastically, even by critics. I know for a fact that Rod Lurie voted for Lion as one of his top two choices here and at the Academy. Lion will be big because Harvey needs to prove himself not dead anymore. However, can he still succeed with the membership change? His was the one type of campaign strategy that focused on those older, retired voter who likely weren't participating in film for very long and might not have been able to obtain waivers. This will be our first glimpse at how any voting membership changes MIGHT actually affect a race.

As to the idea that Oscar will go artier? I'm not so sure. Most of its "surprise" inclusions of the last few years have been artier, independent fair. I wonder if Moonlight hadn't been such the steamroller if it wouldn't have fallen into that classic position of spoilerism (then Benh Zeitlin or Lenny Abrahamson).

Silence is probably DOA. I have seen responses that were extreme, but more so than The Wolf of Wall Street, the first film Paramount utterly butchered the Oscar season roll-out for. That film managed to earn Scorsese a DGA nomination even, so I'm afraid this may not be Scorsese's year. This isn't like "Christ" where he managed to snag a shock nomination. That film was actually seen and very well reviewed at the time (unless I'm mis-remembering as that was before my "time.")

I have a hard time seeing anything else topping these five as nominees. I can't see the Big Three missing (unless we're looking at a Ben Affleck kind of moment). Denis Villeneuve seems like a perfect choice for the directors branch, as it's an artier, big budget effort. Sadly, I think he, not Davis, would be the person dropped if there were other matters swirling.
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Re: DGA Nominees

Post by Mister Tee »

It felt like having my tongue cut off, not having the board available to comment on this latest development.

I have quite similar reactions to BJ. La La/Manchester/Moonlight were sure things, Arrival just a notch below that, and the other spot was going to be filled by something from the fringe best picture hopefuls. From that group, I'm just not all that crazy about Hell or High Water (its absence here is a bit of a blow to those who've begun to expect truly big things for it); and, though I've not yet seen either Hacksaw or Lion, sight unseen I'd massively prefer the latter, because I have no interest in welcoming Mel Gibson back to the Oscars (having loathed his only previous foray). And I second BJ's thought: Gibson failing here -- the more populist gathering of directors -- means he has virtually no shot at a directing nod from the Academy. Given his film's omission from the WGA list as well, it may be it won't achieve the top-tier presence people have begun to expect.

All that said, I'm not exactly thrilled to see another Harvey Weinstein middle-brow special winning over the Academy (does he get the same nursing home inhabitants to vote for his sentimental stuff year after year?), and I think there's a good chance Davis' Lion slot will be taken at the Oscars by something more edgy. I think Larain has a chance there, despite his film's disappointing run elsewhere. And Scorsese could get a reflexive mention, though I don't think Silence is among his most deserving efforts (more about that in the Silence thread, when I feel up to expanding on this).

Last year's new director slate seemed a bit more daring; this year feels blandly middle-of-the-road/populist. Even though I didn't care for the film, The Witch seems like it had far more critical support than 10 Cloverfield Lane.
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Re: DGA Nominees

Post by nightwingnova »

I wonder if the DGA will go with the popular favorite (still extraordinary work) or the critical one. La La vs. Moonlight.
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Re: DGA Nominees/Winners

Post by The Original BJ »

Even though my top choice (Pablo Larraín) unsurprisingly didn't make it...I'm pretty content with how this list shook out. I think four of the nominees are clearly worthy, and the weakest nominee (Davis, by me) is a clear cut above Ford and Gibson in my book.

Hacksaw Ridge, in particular, took a big hit here -- if the rank-and-file directors and ADs didn't respond to the scope of Gibson's work, I find it very difficult to imagine the more discerning directors' branch of the Academy going for it. And by extension, those folks still arguing that the movie is at the core of the Best Picture race might need to recalibrate their expectations.

Larraín and Mackenzie still strike me as possible Oscar replacements, as does Scorsese, whose clout might help him get another Last Temptation-style nomination by directors who admire his ambition, even if voters pass in other major categories.
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DGA Nominees/Winners

Post by Sabin »

DGA Nominees

BEST FEATURE
Damien Chazelle
Garth Davis, Lion
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Kelly Fremon Craig, The Edge of Seventeen
Garth Davis, Lion
Tim Miller, Deadpool
Nate Parker, The Birth of a Nation
Dan Trachtenberg, 10 Cloverfield Lane
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