2014 Directors Guild Awards

Prior to the 66th Annual Directors Guild ceremony tonight, the race for Best Picture was very close between Gravity, 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle. The DGA were not televised but were hosted by Jane Lynch at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles. Ben Affleck, Sandra Bullock, Tom Hanks, Don Cheadle, Kerry Washington, Anna Kendrick, Steve Coogan and Bill Hader were all scheduled presenters. The guild honors directing achievement in film and television. Alfonso Cuarón won Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for Gravity. Interestingly enough, at the DGA, each nominated director for feature film gives a Feature Film Nomination Presentation. Basically they each give an acceptance speech just for being nominated. Winners and nominees for all categories are listed below.

It should also be noted that at the 25th Annual Producers Guild Awards last Sunday, Gravity and 12 Years A Slave tied for Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures. Basically, the Best Picture equivalent of that ceremony. The guilds are very interesting because while not as well know as the Golden Globes, the membership in the guilds overlaps with the voting branches of the Academy. In the nomination process, actors vote in the four acting categories, directors for Best Director, make-up artists for Best Hair and Make-up, etc and everyone votes for Best Picture. The guilds can be a much more accurate predictor of the winners that the Academy will select. In the previous 24 years of PGA Awards, the guild has correctly matched the eventual Best Picture winner 17 times (including Argo last year). The PGA Awards use a preferential ballot system to crown a winner much like the Academy. The Directors Guild gave Best Director to Ben Affleck for Argo last year and it was part of the whole brouhaha about him not being nominated for a Best Director Oscar. In the 65 year history of the DGA awards, the winner has failed to also take home the Best Director Oscar only seven times. Argo ultimately won Best Picture last year and as a producer of the film, Affleck still got his Oscar and an acceptance speech on the Oscar stage. Only time will tell if Cuarón will win Best Director and if the guild wins will accurately predict a win for Gravity for Best Picture. I think at this point American Hustle and the other nominees are out. It will continue to be a close race between 12 Years A Slave and Gravity.

Nominee and Winners List:
FEATURE FILM
WINNER Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years A Slave
David O Russell, American Hustle
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Zachary Heinzerling, Cutie and the Boxer
WINNER Jehane Noujaim, The Square
Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing
Sarah Polley, Stories We Tell
Lucy Walker, The Crash Reel

COMEDY SERIES
Mark Cendrowski, The Big Bang Theory (for the episode "The Hofstadter Insufficiency")
Bryan Cranston, Modern Family (for the episode "The Old Man and the Tree)
Gail Mancuso, Modern Family (for the episode "My Hero")
WINNER Beth McCarthy-Miller, 30 Rock (for the episode "Hogcock/Last Lunch")
Anthony Rich, The Big Bang Theory (for the episode "The Love Spell Potential")

REALITY PROGRAMS
Matthew Bartley, The Biggest Loser
WINNER Neil P DeGroot, 72 Hours
Paul Starkman, Top Chef
J Rupert Thompson, The Hero
Bertram van Munster, The Amazing Race

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS SPECIALS
Louis CK, Louis CK: Oh My God
Joel Gallen, 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Louis J. Horvitz, The 55th Annual Grammy Awards
Don Mischer, The 85th Annual Academy Awards
WINNER Glenn Weiss, The 67th Annual Tony Awards

CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS
Stephen Herek, Jinxed
Jeffrey Hornaday, Teen Beach Movie
Jonathan Judge, Swindle
WINNER Amy Schatz, An Apology to Elephants
Adam Weissman, A.N.T. Farm

VARIETY/TALK/NEWS/SPORTS
Dave Diomedi, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Andy Fisher, Jimmy Kimmel Live
Jim Hoskinson, The Colbert Report
WINNER Don Roy King, SNL
Chuck O'Neil, The Daily Show

MOVIE FOR TV MINISERIES
Stephen Frears, Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight
David Mamet, Phil Spector
Beth McCarthy-Miller and Rob Ashford, The Sound of Music Live!
Nelson McCormick, Killing Kennedy
WINNER Steven Soderbergh, Behind the Candelabra

DRAMATIC SERIES
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad (for the episode "Blood Money")
David Fincher, House of Cards (for the episode "Chapter 1")
WINNER Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad (for the episode "Felina")
Lesli Linka Glatter, Homeland (for the episode "The Star")
David Nutter, Game of Thrones (for the episode "The Rain of Castamere")

COMMERCIALS
Fredrik Bond, "Voyage" for Heineken and "From the Future" for Johnny Walker
John X Carey, "Real Beauty Sketches" for Dove
WINNER Martin de Thurah, "The Man Who Couldn't Slow Down" for Hennessy and "Human Race" for Acura
Matthijs van Heijningen, "Perfect Day" for Playstation and "48" for Verizon"
Noam Murro, "Basketball" for Guinness and "Kids" for DIRECTV and "Mask" for VW

Franklin J Schaffner Achievement Award: Vincent DeDario (presented by Keith Jackson)
Robert B Aldrich Award for Service: Steven Soderbergh
Frank Capra Achievement Award: Lee Blaine
Diversity Award: Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers