Not a shocker, Christopher Nolan has won the Directors Guild of America for “Oppenheimer,” which now perfectly sets him up now to win the Oscar for Best Director. If he does win the Oscar, it’ll be his first ever win.
Since its inception, the DGA award has predicted the winner of the Academy Award for Best Director on all but eight occasions. Yeah, Nolan is winning and he’ll have last year’s Oscar Directing winners, The Daniels (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”), presenting him the award.
Nolan beat out Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Alexander Payne, who were also nominated for the night’s top prize, “Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film”. You be the judge, was Nolan the most deserving of the five nominees? It’s either him or Scorsese.
This is also a another boost for Oppenheimer’s Best Picture odds. Is there even a #2 at this point? Some, like IndieWire’s Anne Thompson, are starting to believe that Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” is late surging and has a shot, I’m not sure about that.
This year’s Oscars have turned into a very predictable affair. “Oppenheimer” is practically a cinch in the Directing and Picture category. We also figure that Robert Downey Jr will win Supporting Actor. Other potential wins for the film could include Cinematography, Adapted Screenplay, Score, and Sound Design.
Supporting Actress is Da’vine Joy Randolph’s to lose for her turn in “The Holdovers.” At least we have semi-tight races in the Best Actor (Giamatti vs Murphy) and Best Actress (Stone vs Gladstone) categories. It’s kind of ridiculous how we have to wait a whole another month before the Oscar ceremony finally happens.