I don’t know what to say about the just-announced DGA nominees for Best Direction of a Feature. I know what I can say…congratulations to the nominees! And special golden congrats to Nomadland‘s Chloe Zhao — obviously the designated winner barring a devastating meteor bombardment or a 8.0 earthquake on the day of the DGA ceremony — Saturday, April 10. Congrats also to The Trial of the Chicago 7‘s Aaron Sorkin (deserves the honor, probably won’t prevail), Mank‘s David Fincher (ditto), Minari‘s Lee Isaac Chung (not a chance) and Promising Young Woman‘s Emerald Fennell.
Why wasn’t Fennell nominated for Best First Feature? She would have been a likely winner if she had been, no? As it stands, the BFF nominees are One Night in Miami‘s Regina King, The Father‘s Florian Zeller, The 40-Year Old Version‘s Radha Blank, Sound of Metal‘s Darius Marder and — whut? — I’m No Longer Here‘s Fernando Frías de la Parra.
Hollywood Elsewhere agrees with the DGA’s decision not to nominate Max Barbakow, director of the deeply loathed Palm Springs — not for Best First Feature or Best Best Direction of a Feature. Movies like Palm Springs make he want to jump off tall buildings.
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