DGA Awards Film Nominations Announced

Ben Affleck scored the first DGA Award nomination of his career as the Directors Guild of America announced its motion picture nominees Tuesday. Affleck, who was welcomed into the club for his work on Argo, was nominated along with four past winners of the DGA Award: Kathryn Bigelow, nominated for Zero Dark Thirty; Tom Hooper, Les Miserables; Ang Lee, Life of Pi; and Steven Spielberg, Lincoln.

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Among the directors who failed to make the cut are Django Unchained's Quentin Tarantino, Silver Linings Playbook's David O. Russell, The Master's Paul Thomas Anderson -- all previous DGA Award nominees -- and Moonrise Kingdom's Wes Anderson.

Bigelow, receiving her second nomination, won the award for 2009's The Hurt Locker. Hooper is also a two-time feature nominee, having won the award for 2010's The King's Speech. 

Lee had been nominated three times previously and won for 2005's Brokeback Mountain and 2000's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Spielberg's nomination was the 11th of his career; he won for 1998's Saving Private Ryan, 1993's Schindler's List and 1985's The Color Purple.

The 65th annual DGA Awards will be held Feb. 2 in the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. Kelsey Grammer will host the event for a second consecutive year. 

The DGA Award usually points the way toward the winner of the Academy Award for best director; only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the winner has not gone on to score the Oscar. The most recent was Rob Marshall for 2002's Chicago, after which Roman Polanski won the Academy Award for The Pianist.

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The guild will announce its television and commercial nominees Wednesday.

Here are the feature nominees and their respective directorial teams:

BEN AFFLECK
Argo
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
 
Mr. Affleck’s Directorial Team:
· Unit production manager:  Amy Herman
· First assistant director:  David Webb
· Second assistant director:  Ian Calip
· Second Second assistant directors: Clark Credle, Gavin Kleintop
· First assistant director (Turkey Unit): Belkis Turan

KATHRYN BIGELOW
Zero Dark Thirty
(Columbia Pictures)
 
Ms. Bigelow’s Directorial Team:
· Unit production manager:  Colin Wilson
· First assistant director:  David A. Ticotin
· Second assistant directors:  Ben Lanning, Sarah Hood
· First assistant director (Jordan Unit): Scott Robertson
· Second assistant directors (Jordan Unit): Jonas Spaccarotelli, Yanal Kassay
· Second second assistant director (Jordan Unit): Tarek Afifi
· Unit production manager (India Unit): Rajeev Mehra
  
TOM HOOPER
Les Miserables
(Universal Pictures)
 
Mr. Hooper’s Directorial Team:
· Unit production manager:  Patrick Schweitzer
· First assistant director:  Ben Howarth
· Second assistant director:  Harriet Worth
· Second second assistant director: Dan Channing Williams
  
ANG LEE
Life of Pi
(20th Century Fox)
 
Mr. Lee’s Directorial Team:
· Unit production manager:  Michael J. Malone
· Unit production manager (Taiwan): Leo Chen
· First assistant directors:  William M. Connor, Cliff Lanning
· Second assistant directors:  Robert Burgess, Ben Lanning
· Unit production manager (India Unit): Sanjay Kumar
· First assistant director (India Unit): Nitya Mehra
· Unit production manager:  Susan McNamara
· First assistant director:  Adam Somner
· Second assistant director:  Ian Stone
· Second second assistant directors: Eric Lasko, Trevor Tavares
 
STEVEN SPIELBERG
Lincoln
(DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox)
 
Mr. Spielberg’s Directorial Team:
· Unit production manager:  Susan McNamara
· First assistant director:  Adam Somner
· Second assistant director:  Ian Stone
· Second second assistant directors: Eric Lasko, Trevor Tavares