Film awards: Dune Part Two and Wicked helmsmen snubbed by DGA
The Directors Guild of America has unveiled its feature film nominations with two glaring snubs.
Denis Villeneuve and Jon M. Chu went unrecognised for their work on Dune: Part Two and Wicked respectively.
Film News Blitz’s David Bason recounts who made the cut amid the glaring omissions.
DGA Nominees
The DGA Awards‘ marquee Theatrical Film prize is a key indicator for the Best Director award at the Oscars.
Since 2021, the winner of the DGA marquee Theatrical Film Award went on to win the Academy Award for Best Director.
In short, it’s an important rung on the Hollywood awards ladder.
This year, Jacques Audiard (Emilia Perez), Sean Baker (Anora), Edward Berger (Conclave), James Mangold (A Complete Unknown) and recently crowned Golden Globe winner Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) have been nominated.
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“2024 has been a truly extraordinary year for storytelling – and today’s nominees have created audacious and unique films that expand the possibilities of cinematic excellence,” said DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter.
“I am thrilled to congratulate all our nominated directors for their brilliant work, which is visionary, inspirational and speaks to the depth of the human experience.
“To be chosen by one’s peers is the true marker of outstanding directorial achievement and what makes these nominations so very special.”
All five DGA nominees are worthy but omitting Villeneuve and Chu is a mistake that the Oscars shouldn’t repeat.
Unlike many awards candidates, Dune: Part Two and Wicked achieved the blend of critical acclaim and global box office success.
Both films were celebrated by critics and earned over half a billion dollars at the box office worldwide.
While these aren’t the only metrics the DGA would have considered, Dune: Part Two and Wicked will serve the Oscars bid for relevancy with a wider audience should they receive nods.
Why the DGA should have recognised Villeneuve and Chu
Box office, critical acclaim and Oscars aside, the DGA has wronged the incredible cinematic achievements of Villeneuve and Chu.
Dune: Part Two and Wicked exemplified everything of grand direction on the big screen.
The former is a large-scale, exquisitely presented conclusion to a mythical science-fiction saga wrought from Frank Herbert's genre-defining novel.
The latter is a beautiful, triumphant adaptation of Stephen Schwartz’s Broadway phenom.
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Dune: Part Two and Wicked are such exacting, complex and refined instruments of their directors’ respective visions that the DGA overlooking Villeneuve and Chu is quite frankly alarming.
Moreover, each film is comprised of multiple moving parts and the results on screen prove the directors successfully collaborated with their creative peers to pull everything together seamlessly.
The DGA doesn’t want to celebrate Villeneuve and Chu’s efforts, but Film News Blitz does.
Elsewhere, the DGA revealed its nominees for First-Time Theatrical Feature Film prize: Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine as Light), Megan Park (My Old Ass), RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys), Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (Armand) and Sean Wang (Dìdi).
In addition, Ang Lee will receive the DGA Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 77th annual DGA Awards take place on February 8.
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