The Directors Guild of America is the latest body to pick its nominees for the 2009-2010 awards season.
The DGA Awards are particularly keenly observed by Oscar watchers, because since it was set up, in 1949, there’ve been only six occasions when the winner hasn’t gone on to pick up the Academy Award.
Four of the five nominees have already picked up nods in the directing category at the Golden Globes.
James Cameron has received recognition from his peers for helming the pioneering Avatar. Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds has seen him nominated again. Jason Reitman has earned another nomination for George Clooney’s latest, Up In The Air, which is released in the UK next week. Perhaps the most interesting nominee to keep an eye on will be Kathryn Bigelow, who brought us the nail-biting Iraq War Bomb Disposal Team thriller The Hurt Locker. No women have ever won this award – or the Oscar.
The DGA’s fifth nominee is Lee Daniels, whose upcoming Precious didn’t get him noticed at the Golden Globes, but did earn him an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
The DGA President, Taylor Hackford, said the five had each expressed an indelible vision that transported audiences to vivid vistas of cinematic art.
The Guild will announce the winner at the end of this month.