Oppenheimer Awards Season Dominance Continues with Christopher Nolan’s DGA Win

It surprised few people in the room at the Directors Guild of America Awards on Saturday night when Christopher Nolan took home the top prize, winning on his fifth nomination for his awards season juggernaut Oppenheimer. But first-timers might have been surprised by just how much the love was spread across the more than three-hour ceremony. With nominees all giving speeches even before the award is handed out, plus an emotional tribute to a TV director, the DGA Awards really were the kind of event where everyone is a winner.

Nolan, true to form, shouldered the burden of being the evening’s biggest winner lightly. Accepting the top prize from last year’s triumphant duo, Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Nolan quipped that he would keep his remarks succinct “because some of us have a national board meeting at 8:30 tomorrow morning.” He added that the award is a true honor, and “the idea that my peers would think I deserve this means everything, thank you very much.”

Nolan, along with fellow DGA nominees Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon) are also nominated at the Oscars. But Saturday’s awards were a fascinating moment for Barbie’s Greta Gerwig and The Holdovers’ Alexander Payne, who did not receive best director nominations from the Academy. (You might have heard about it.) Not that you could detect sour grapes from either of them. Barbie’s very own Ken Ryan Gosling presented Gerwig’s award, crediting her “deep understanding of the language of cinema” for Barbie’s massive success. “It made countless young people fall in love with cinema for the very first time. So much so that the DGA might want to batten down their hatches and prepare itself for the new wave of Barbie boomer directors headed this way.”

When Gerwig took the stage, she turned the spotlight on her fellow nominees, describing them plainly as “my heroes.”

Unsurprisingly, Scorsese received the most shoutouts from winners and presenters alike, not to mention five-time host Judd Apatow, who poked gentle fun at the iconic auteur, much to Scorsese’s visible delight. Apatow kicked things off with a great DGA fact: the guild presented The Killers of the Flower Moon director with a lifetime achievement award 21 years ago and Scorsese has made 16 films since. Apatow also joked that because the director was receiving his 13th DGA nomination “I don’t think it’s that special to him anymore.”

Lanthimos and Payne also received their moments in the DGA spotlight. Lanthimos’ Poor Things stars Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo joked through their tribute about their love for their director, while director Taylor Hackford saluted Payne’s body of work and also revealed to the audience it was The Holdovers director’s birthday.

More highlights from the evening included a jubilant win and acceptance speech from Past Lives director Celine Song, who took home the Michael Apted First-Time Theatrical Feature Film award. The most emotional moment of the night occurred about two-thirds of the way through when the audience gave two enthusiastic standing ovations to director David Nutter (Game of Thrones, X-Files, Band of Brothers) who received the lifetime achievement award in television. Nutter, who has Parkinson’s Disease, delivered a moving, heartfelt speech in which he joked about his occasionally mumbled delivery but also expressed deep appreciation for the industry and the work he’s done and will continue to do, despite some physical impairments from Parkinson’s slowing him down. 

Next up on the awards season calendar are the BAFTAs next weekend, followed by the SAG and PGA awards on February 24 and 25. There’s still a chance for a surprise winner or two on the horizon, but given the fact that in the last 22 years, 21 DGA winners for best film have gone on to win the Oscar for best picture and/or director, Oppenheimer will likely have a lot to celebrate on March 10.

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