Christopher Nolan wins big at DGA Awards: Complete winners list
The 76th edition of the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards celebrated outstanding filmmaking talent on Saturday night (local time). The ceremony unfolded at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California, with Judd Apatow as the host. Awards were presented to outstanding contributors, including directors Christopher Nolan and Celine Song. Take a look at the full list of winners.
Nolan, Song clinched top prizes at ceremony
Nolan secured his first DGA Award for the 2023 epic biographical drama Oppenheimer, clinching the top prize in the Feature Film category. Notably, the film boasts a remarkable 13 nominations at this year's Oscars. Meanwhile, Song—director of Past Lives—took home the Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director award. On the other hand, Ukrainian filmmaker-photojournalist-novelist Mstyslav Chernov bagged a DGA Award for his Oscar-nominated documentary 20 Days in Mariupol.
Here's Nolan flaunting his big win!
Notable wins for 'The Bear,' 'Lessons in Chemistry'
In the TV category, Peter Hoar of The Last of Us claimed victory for helming the acclaimed third episode of the HBO series Long, Long Time. Christopher Storer, the creator of The Bear, secured an award for directing the popular Hulu comedy, while Sarah Adina Smith won for helming the Apple TV+ limited series Lessons in Chemistry. Notably, The Bear previously excelled at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards last month, garnering six wins that night.
Amy Schatz clinched her 8th DGA Award
The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Variety/Talk/News/Sports was bestowed upon Michael Mancini and Liz Patrick for Saturday Night Live. This was Patrick's second DGA Award win; she previously clinched an award in the same category for SNL last year. In the Outstanding Directing - Children's Programs category, the winner was filmmaker Amy Schatz. This marked her eighth win and 13th DGA Award nomination.
Major wins aside, directors were honored with medallions
During the ceremony, the five directors nominated for the top prize received medallions after presenting their features. Ryan Gosling presented the medallion to his Barbie director, Greta Gerwig. Yorgos Lanthimos received a medallion from Mark Ruffalo during the Poor Things presentation. Alexander Payne (The Holdovers) was honored by Taylor Hackford; Nolan by Cillian Murphy; and Martin Scorsese by Jonah Hill, who described working with the Killers of the Flower Moon director as the "single greatest highlight of my creative life."
Take a look at Gerwig's heartfelt speech
DGA Awards: Crucial precursor to the Oscars
The DGA Award for Feature Film is often seen as a reliable predictor for the Oscars—with 67 out of 75 past DGA winners winning the Academy Awards for Best Director. However, in recent years, the DGA and Academy haven't always agreed on the Best Picture winner. In the past decade, while they concurred on the directing winner nine out of 10 times, only four times has the Best Picture Oscar been given to a film directed by a DGA winner.
