Okay, I have to assume none of us are surprised with four of the Directors Guild of America’s nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2009, but it’s that fifth slot that will make predicting the five Oscar nominees a challenge and the DGA has cast the first ballot for Lee Daniels and his film Precious.
Along with Daniels we have the anticipated nominees in Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), James Cameron (Avatar), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds).
Personally I don’t mind seeing Daniels nominated one bit. I loved his film and thought he did some great work, and this may be just what the director and his film needed as plenty of backlash against Precious has been brewing around the online community.
Along with Daniels, this is also Bigelow and Reitman’s first time being nominated by the DGA. Cameron was nominated one other time for Titanic in 1997, a year in which he also won, and Tarantino was nominated in 1994 for Pulp Fiction.
The DGA loves to boast its record in predicting the Best Director Oscar winner as it has only missed the mark six times since it began handing out its award in 1948, which makes their nominees and the upcoming announcement of the winner on January 30 all the more intriguing.
