Precursor: 74th Directors Guild Nominations (2021)

While the Best Director slate isn’t as diverse as it has been in the past, we have four nominees we expected to see there with Paul Thomas Anderson rounding out the list. This is exactly my current five predictions for that category, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it copied by the Academy. The person who would have most needed recognition here is Ryusuke Hamaguchi, though he could still get the suddenly-common-again lone director slot at the Academy. Others who could have used this citation to boost flagging interest in their films: Sian Heder, Joe Wright, Adam McKay, Wes Anderson, David Lowery, Guillermo del Toro, and Joel Coen. The first feature slate is significantly more diverse with only one white guy on the list. They are also all celebrated achievements this year. If anyone were to make the transition to the Oscar list, it’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, but I doubt it against the current list of heavy-hitters competing.

The Nominations

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
Denis Villeneuve – Dune

Best First Feature

Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Rebecca Hall – Passing
Tatiana Huezo – Prayers for the Stolen
Lin-Manuel Miranda – tick, tick…BOOM!
Michael Sarnoski – Pig
Emma Seligman – Shiva Baby

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED:

Best Documentary Director

Jessica Kingdon – Ascension
Stanley Nelson – Attica
Raoul Peck – Exterminate All the Brutes
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson – Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin – The Rescue