A few years ago, it would have seemed far-fetched for a filmmaker to be up for major awards for directing a comic-book movie. With The Dark Knight, director and co-writer Christopher Nolan has not only helped to legitimize the superhero genre, but has also managed to put himself on track to land an Oscar nomination for his work on a film involving a caped crusader. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has announced that Nolan is one of five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2008.
Nolan faces tough competition from Danny Boyle for Fox Searchlight’s Slumdog Millionaire, David Fincher for the Paramount/Warner Bros. release The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Ron Howard for Universal’s Frost/Nixon and Gus Van Sant for Focus Features’ Milk. The winner will be named at the 61st Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, Jan. 31 at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
The DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally been one of the industry’s most accurate barometers for who will win the Best Director Academy Award. Only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the Feature Film winner not gone on to win the corresponding Academy Award.
