The DGA vs. the Academy
by Andre Soares
The Directors Guild of America (DGA), then known as the Screen Directors Guild (SDG), began handing out yearly achievement awards in 1948. (The Guild had been founded in 1936.) George Sidney, Frank Capra, Delmer Daves, John Ford, H. Bruce Humberstone, Irving Pichel, Norman Taurog, and, ex-officio, SDG president George Marshall took part in the SDG’s initial Awards Committee, which selected SDG Award honorees.
Before 1970, the Guild’s yearly list of finalists consisted of a variable number of directors, usually more than five. From 1970 on, when the Directors Guild began restricting its list of nominees to five directors per year, a DGA nod has usually translated into an Oscar nod. There have been, however, quite a few exceptions to this rule. In fact, only four times have the DGA choices matched the Academy’s shortlist: 1977, 1981, 1998, and 2005. (Also, see DGA vs. Academy Winners.)
Generally speaking, non-American and less commercial films tend to fare better with the Director’s branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) than with the Guild, probably because of the sheer number of voting members in the DGA. The Guild’s membership includes motion picture and television directors, first and second assistant directors, unit production managers, technical coordinators, tape associate directors, stage managers, and production associates.
For comparison’s sake, the DGA boasts about 13,000 voting members while the Academy’s considerably more elitist Director’s branch has less than 400. The larger the voting body, the more mundane — or mainstream, if you wish — are the choices. That also explains why Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, and Krzysztof Kieslowski may receive Oscar nods for Best Director without ever coming out on top. (Every Academy member — currently about 6,000 of them — is entitled to vote for the winner.)
Since 1970, a mere eight directors of non-English-language films have received DGA nods. (Nine if you include Bernardo Bertolucci for Ultimo tango a Parigi / Last Tango in Paris, which has a heavy amount of English dialogue.) During that same period, eighteen directors of non-English-language films received Academy Award nominations. (Nineteen if you include Bertolucci and his tango.)
Additionally, directors of English-language — but non-American — films tend to be better remembered by Academy members. Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Canada), Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty, UK), Ken Russell (Women in Love, UK), Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot and In the Name of the Father, UK/Ireland), John Boorman (Hope and Glory, UK), Chris Noonan (Babe, Australia), Peter Yates (The Dresser, UK), Laurence Olivier (Hamlet, UK), Carol Reed (The Fallen Idol, UK), Hector Babenco (O Beijo da Mulher Aranha / Kiss of the Spider Woman, Brazil), and Kenneth Branagh (Henry V, UK), among others, were left out of the DGA shortlist but received Academy Award nominations.
Cult or semi-cult faves like David Lynch (Blue Velvet in 1986, Mulholland Dr. in 2001), Robert Altman (Short Cuts in 1993, Gosford Park in 2001), and Woody Allen (Interiors in 1978, Broadway Danny Rose in 1984, Bullets Over Broadway in 1994) are better liked by the Academy’s Director’s branch (the aforementioned titles were all nominated) than by the Directors Guild (none of the aforementioned titles were nominated).
The same can be said about controversial, liberal-minded box-office duds like The Last Temptation of Christ (a nod for Martin Scorsese in 1988), The People vs. Larry Flynt (a nod for Milos Forman in 1996), and Vera Drake (a nod for Mike Leigh in 2004), none of which was to be found in the DGA’s list of nominees.
On the other hand, DGA members are big fans of Steven Spielberg, who has garnered 10 nominations (versus six Oscar nods), including three wins (versus two Oscar wins).
That said, there have been a few instances when DGA members went for a less commercial name while the Academy’s Director’s branch opted for the big box-office guy. The most egregious example is probably the Academy’s 1971 Best Director nod for Norman Jewison for his bloated musical Fiddler on the Roof, while the DGA nominated Robert Mulligan for his touching, small-scale Summer of ‘42.
In an even stranger twist, Academy fave Woody Allen was somehow left out of the 1979 Oscar shortlist even though he did receive a DGA nod for Manhattan — one of his best films.
Note: Since pre-1970 DGA finalists often consisted of more than five directors, it’s obvious that the DGA’s and the Academy’s lists couldn’t fully match. In the list below, the years before 1970 include DGA finalists who didn’t receive an Academy Award nod and, if applicable, those Academy Award-nominated directors not found in the (usually lengthier) DGA list.
The number in parentheses next to "DGA" indicates that year’s number of DGA finalists if other than five. Source: IMDb.
DGA vs. Academy nominees:
1948
DGA (04): Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives (the award period extended into early 1949) and Howard Hawks for Red River
AMPAS: John Huston for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Jean Negulesco for Johnny Belinda, and Laurence Olivier for Hamlet
1949
DGA (04): Mark Robson for Champion, Alfred L. Werker for Lost Boundaries, and Carol Reed for The Third Man
AMPAS: William A. Wellman for Battleground, Carol Reed for The Fallen Idol, William Wyler for The Heiress, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives (see 1948 DGA nominees)
1950
DGA (04): Vincente Minnelli for Father’s Little Dividend
AMPAS: Carol Reed for The Third Man (see 1949 DGA nominees) and George Cukor for Born Yesterday
1951
DGA (12): Michael Gordon for Cyrano de Bergerac, Henry King for David and Bathsheba, Laszlo Benedek for Death of a Salesman, Anatole Litvak for Decision Before Dawn, Richard Thorpe for The Great Caruso, Mervyn LeRoy for Quo Vadis?, George Sidney for Show Boat, and Alfred Hitchcock for Strangers on a Train
AMPAS: John Huston for The African Queen
1952
DGA (18): Vincente Minnelli for The Bad and the Beautiful, Howard Hawks for The Big Sky, Charles Vidor for Hans Christian Andersen, Michael Curtiz for I’ll See You in My Dreams, Richard Thorpe for Ivanhoe, Charles Crichton for The Lavender Hill Mob, Hugo Fregonese for My Six Convicts, Albert Lewin for Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, George Cukor for Pat and Mike, Akira Kurosawa for Rashomon, George Sidney for Scaramouche, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly for Singin’ in the Rain, Henry King for The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and Elia Kazan for Viva Zapata!
AMPAS: John Huston for Moulin Rouge
1953
DGA (12): Melvin Frank and Norman Panama for Above and Beyond, Walter Lang for Call Me Madam, Daniel Mann for Come Back, Little Sheba, Joseph L. Mankiewicz for Julius Caesar, Henry Koster for The Robe, Jean Negulesco for Titanic, and George Sidney for Young Bess
1954
DGA (16): Edward Dmytryk for The Caine Mutiny, Alfred Hitchcock for Dial M for Murder, Robert Wise for Executive Suite, Anthony Mann for The Glenn Miller Story, Samuel Fuller for Hell and High Water, Henry King for King of Khyber Rifles, Melvin Frank and Norman Panama for Knock on Wood, Don Siegel for Riot in Cell Block 11, Stanley Donen for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, George Cukor for A Star Is Born, and Jean Negulesco for Three Coins in the Fountain
1955
DGA (12): Richard Brooks for Blackboard Jungle, Mark Robson for The Bridges of Toko-Ri, John Ford for The Long Gray Line, Charles Vidor for Love Me or Leave Me, Henry Koster for A Man Called Peter, John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy for Mister Roberts, Daniel Mann for The Rose Tattoo, and Billy Wilder for The Seven Year Itch
AMPAS: David Lean for Summertime
1956
DGA (18): Robert Rossen for Alexander the Great, Joshua Logan for Bus Stop, Henry King for Carousel, George Sidney for The Eddy Duchin Story, Nunnally Johnson for The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Alfred Hitchcock for The Man Who Knew Too Much, Roy Rowland for Meet Me in Las Vegas, John Huston for Moby Dick, John Ford for The Searchers, Robert Wise for Somebody Up There Likes Me, Daniel Mann for The Teahouse of the August Moon, Carol Reed for Trapeze, and Alfred Hitchcock for The Trouble with Harry
1957
DGA (17): Leo McCarey for An Affair to Remember, Elia Kazan for A Face in the Crowd, Robert Mulligan for Fear Strikes Out, Stanley Donen for Funny Face, Jose Ferrer for The Great Man, John Sturges for Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Fred Zinnemann for A Hatful of Rain, John Huston for Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, George Cukor for Les Girls, Billy Wilder for Love in the Afternoon, Anthony Mann for Men in War, and Stanley Kramer for The Pride and the Passion
1958
DGA (14): William Wyler for The Big Country, Richard Brooks for The Brothers Karamazov, Delmer Daves for Cowboy, George Abbott and Stanley Donen for Damn Yankees!, Martin Ritt for The Long, Hot Summer, George Seaton for Teacher’s Pet, Alfred Hitchcock for Vertigo, Richard Fleischer for The Vikings, and Edward Dmytryk for The Young Lions
1959
DGA (13): Otto Preminger for Anatomy of a Murder, Richard Fleischer for Compulsion, Frank Capra for A Hole in the Head, John Ford for The Horse Soldiers, Douglas Sirk for Imitation of Life, Alfred Hitchcock for North by Northwest, Leo McCarey for Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!, Howard Hawks for Rio Bravo, and Charles Barton for The Shaggy Dog
AMPAS: Jack Clayton for Room at the Top
1960
DGA (14): Vincente Minnelli for Bells Are Ringing, Walter Lang for Can-Can, Delbert Mann for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, Richard Brooks for Elmer Gantry, Alain Resnais for Hiroshima, mon amour, Vincente Minnelli for Home from the Hill, Carol Reed for Our Man in Havana, Charles Walters for Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, and Lewis Gilbert for Sink the Bismarck!, Vincent J. Donehue for Sunrise at Campobello
AMPAS: Jules Dassin for Pote tin Kyriaki / Never on Sunday
1961
DGA (21): Robert Stevenson for The Absent Minded Professor, Blake Edwards for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, William Wyler for The Children’s Hour, Anthony Mann for El Cid, Joshua Logan for Fanny, Henry Koster for Flower Drum Song, Robert Mulligan for The Great Impostor, Philip Leacock for Hand in Hand, Jack Clayton for The Innocents, Mervyn LeRoy for A Majority of One, John Huston for The Misfits, Marlon Brando for One-Eyed Jacks, Frank Capra for Pocketful of Miracles, Daniel Petrie for A Raisin in the Sun, Peter Ustinov for Romanoff and Juliet, Elia Kazan for Splendor in the Grass, and Peter Glenville for Summer and Smoke
AMPAS: Federico Fellini for La Dolce vita
1962
DGA (16): Peter Ustinov for Billy Budd, John Frankenheimer for Birdman of Alcatraz, John Huston for Freud, Stanley Kubrick for Lolita, Sidney Lumet for Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki for The Longest Day, John Frankenheimer for The Manchurian Candidate, Morton DaCosta for The Music Man, Lewis Milestone for Mutiny on the Bounty, Ralph Nelson for Requiem for a Heavyweight, Tony Richardson for A Taste of Honey, and Robert Aldrich for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
AMPAS: Frank Perry for David and Lisa
1963
DGA: Ralph Nelson for Lilies of the Field
AMPAS: Otto Preminger for The Cardinal
1964
DGA: John Huston for The Night of the Iguana
AMPAS: Michael Cacoyannis for Zorba the Greek
1965
DGA: Elliot Silverstein for Cat Ballou, Sidney J. Furie for The Ipcress File, and Sidney Lumet for The Pawnbroker
AMPAS: William Wyler for The Collector, David Lean for Doctor Zhivago, and Hiroshi Teshigahara for Suna no onna / Woman in the Dunes
1966
DGA (10): Lewis Gilbert for Alfie, James Hill for Born Free, Silvio Narizzano for Georgy Girl, John Frankenheimer for Grand Prix, Norman Jewison for The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, and Robert Wise for The Sand Pebbles
AMPAS: Michelangelo Antonioni for Blowup
1967
DGA (10): Stuart Rosenberg for Cool Hand Luke, Robert Aldrich for The Dirty Dozen, James Clavell for To Sir, with Love, Stanley Donen for Two for the Road, and Joseph Strick for Ulysses
1968
DGA (10): William Wyler for Funny Girl, Paul Almond for Isabel, Gene Saks for The Odd Couple, Jirí Menzel for Ostre sledované vlaky / Closely Watched Trains, Paul Newman for Rachel, Rachel, and Roman Polanski for Rosemary’s Baby
AMPAS: Gillo Pontecorvo for La Battaglia di Algeri / The Battle of Algiers
1969
DGA (10): Dennis Hopper for Easy Rider, Larry Peerce for Goodbye, Columbus, Gene Kelly for Hello, Dolly!, Haskell Wexler for Medium Cool, Richard Attenborough for Oh! What a Lovely War, and Sam Peckinpah for The Wild Bunch
AMPAS: Arthur Penn for Alice’s Restaurant
1970
DGA: David Lean for Ryan’s Daughter and Bob Rafelson for Five Easy Pieces
AMPAS: Federico Fellini for Satyricon and Ken Russell for Women in Love
1971
DGA: Robert Mulligan for Summer of ‘42
AMPAS: Norman Jewison for Fiddler on the Roof
1972
DGA: George Roy Hill for Slaughterhouse-Five and Martin Ritt for Sounder
AMPAS: Joseph L. Mankiewicz for Sleuth and Jan Troell for Utvandrarna / The Emigrants
1973
DGA: Sidney Lumet for Serpico
AMPAS: Ingmar Bergman for Viskningar och rop / Cries and Whispers
1974
DGA: Sidney Lumet for Murder on the Orient Express and Francis Ford Coppola for The Conversation
AMPAS: John Cassavetes for A Woman Under the Influence and François Truffaut for La Nuit américaine / Day for Night
1975
DGA: Steven Spielberg for Jaws
AMPAS: Federico Fellini for Amarcord
1976
DGA: Martin Scorsese for Taxi Driver
AMPAS: Ingmar Bergman for Ansikte mot ansikte / Face to Face
1978
DGA: Paul Mazursky for An Unmarried Woman
AMPAS: Woody Allen for Interiors
1979
DGA: Woody Allen for Manhattan and James Bridges for The China Syndrome
AMPAS: Bob Fosse for All That Jazz and Edouard Molinaro for La Cage aux folles
1980
DGA: Michael Apted for Coal Miner’s Daughter
AMPAS: Roman Polanski for Tess
1982
DGA: Taylor Hackford for An Officer and a Gentleman
AMPAS: Sidney Lumet for The Verdict
1983
DGA: Lawrence Kasdan for The Big Chill and Philip Kaufman for The Right Stuff
AMPAS: Mike Nichols for Silkwood and Peter Yates for The Dresser
1984
DGA: Norman Jewison for A Soldier’s Story
AMPAS: Woody Allen for Broadway Danny Rose
1985
DGA: Steven Spielberg for The Color Purple and Ron Howard for Cocoon
AMPAS: Akira Kurosawa for Ran and Hector Babenco for O Beijo da Mulher Aranha / Kiss of the Spider Woman
1986
DGA: Randa Haines for Children of a Lesser God and Rob Reiner for Stand By Me
AMPAS: Roland Joffe for The Mission and David Lynch for Blue Velvet
1987
DGA: James L. Brooks for Broadcast News and Steven Spielberg for Empire of the Sun
AMPAS: Norman Jewison for Moonstruck and John Boorman for Hope and Glory
1988
DGA: Robert Zemeckis for Who Framed Roger Rabbit
AMPAS: Martin Scorsese for The Last Temptation of Christ
1989
DGA: Phil Alden Robinson for Field of Dreams and Rob Reiner for When Harry Met Sally…
AMPAS: Kenneth Branagh for Henry V and Jim Sheridan for My Left Foot
1990
DGA: Barry Levinson for Avalon and Giuseppe Tornatore for Nuovo cinema Paradiso / Cinema Paradiso [the 1988 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar winner; ineligible for the 1990 Academy Awards]
AMPAS: Stephen Frears for The Grifters and Barbet Schroeder for Reversal of Fortune
1991
DGA: Barbra Streisand for The Prince of Tides
AMPAS: John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood
1992
DGA: Rob Reiner for A Few Good Men
AMPAS: Martin Brest for Scent of a Woman
1993
DGA: Martin Scorsese for The Age of Innocence and Andrew Davis for The Fugitive
AMPAS: Jim Sheridan for In the Name of the Father and Robert Altman for Short Cuts
1994
DGA: Mike Newell for Four Weddings and a Funeral and Frank Darabont for The Shawshank Redemption
AMPAS: Woody Allen for Bullets Over Broadway and Krzysztof Kieslowski for Trois couleurs: Rouge / Three Colors: Red
1995
DGA: Ron Howard for Apollo 13 and Ang Lee for Sense and Sensibility
AMPAS: Chris Noonan for Babe and Tim Robbins for Dead Man Walking
1996
DGA: Cameron Crowe for Jerry Maguire
AMPAS: Milos Forman for The People vs. Larry Flynt
1997
DGA: James L. Brooks for As Good As It Gets and Steven Spielberg for Amistad
AMPAS: Peter Cattaneo for The Full Monty and Atom Egoyan for The Sweet Hereafter
1999
DGA: Frank Darabont for The Green Mile
AMPAS: Lasse Hallström for Cider House Rules
2000
DGA: Cameron Crowe for Almost Famous
AMPAS: Stephen Daldry for Billy Elliot
2001
DGA: Baz Luhrmann for Moulin Rouge and Christopher Nolan for Memento
AMPAS: Robert Altman for Gosford Park and David Lynch for Mulholland Dr.
2002
DGA: Peter Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
AMPAS: Pedro Almodóvar for Hable con ella / Talk to Her
2003
DGA: Gary Ross for Seabiscuit
AMPAS: Fernando Meirelles for Cidade de Deus / City of God
2004
DGA: Marc Forster for Finding Neverland
AMPAS: Mike Leigh for Vera Drake
Since its inception in 1948, forty-eight out of fifty-six winners of the Directors Guild Award have gone on to win a Best Director Academy Award. The eight exceptions are:
1948
DGA - Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives (Mankiewicz won the 1948 DGA for A Letter to Three Wives, as the award period extended into early 1949. He went on to win a 1949 Oscar for that film.)
AA - John Huston for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1949
DGA - Robert Rossen for All the King’s Men
AA - Joseph L. Mankiewicz for A Letter to Three Wives (see above)
1968
DGA - Anthony Harvey for The Lion in Winter
AA - Carol Reed for Oliver!
1972
DGA - Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather
AA - Bob Fosse for Cabaret
1985
DGA - Steven Spielberg for The Color Purple
AA - Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa [Spielberg wasn't even nominated]
1995
DGA - Ron Howard for Apollo 13
AA - Mel Gibson for Braveheart [Howard wasn't even nominated]
2000
DGA - Ang Lee for Wo hu cang long / Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
AA - Steven Soderbergh for Traffic
2002
DGA - Rob Marshall for Chicago
AA - Roman Polanski for The Pianist
The Directors Guild of America’s 2007 Special Awards
307 Feature Films in Competition for 2006 Oscar
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards - 2006 Winners
Oscar Documentaries MARJOE and THOTH in New York City
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