James Mangold’s awards prospects got a boost Wednesday while The Substance director Coralie Fargeat and Dune: Part Two helmer Denis Villeneuve experienced a ding when the DGA announced the feature-film nominees for its 2025 awards.
Considered a bubble candidate coming into the nominations, Mangold was nominated for A Complete Unknown, his take on Bob Dylan going electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. The nomination, his first nod for the DGA’s top prize, increases Mangold’s chances to land his first Oscar directing nomination when those are announced on Friday, Jan. 17.
Mangold joins Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), Sean Baker (Anora), Edward Berger (Conclave) and Brady Corbet (The Brutalist) as DGA feature-film nominees. All four were considered favorites coming in; Corbet on Sunday won the Golden Globe for directing.
Fargeat, whose movie has drawn accolades for its baroque style and sharp social commentary on feminism and aging, had hoped a DGA slot could help position her for an Oscar nomination. Ditto Villeneuve, who had been nominated by the DGA for the first Dune in 2022 and has never won a directing Oscar.
RaMell Ross, director of the coming-of-age race drama Nickel Boys, also was left off the feature shortlist, though he was nominated for the Michael Apted first-time theatrical feature film award, whose nominees were also announced Wednesday. (See below for a full list of nominees.)
The guild yesterday announced its nominations in its TV, documentary and commercial categories. The DGA previously announced that Ang Lee would receive a lifetime achievement honor at the 77th annual DGA Awards.
The omission of Fargeat means the DGA feature-film nominee list does not include a woman for only the second time in the past five years; Chloe Zhao and Jane Campion won the award in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
Still, those omitted Wednesday might find consolation in the fact that the DGA and Oscars partly but rarely fully overlap. The two groups have diverged on at least one of their five nominees in each of the past nine years; last year they diverged on two.
The 2025 DGA Awards is set to take place on Saturday, Feb. 8 at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.
Theatrical Feature Film
JACQUES AUDIARD Emilia Pérez (Netflix)
SEAN BAKER Anora (Neon) Directorial Team:• Unit Production Manager: Olivia Kavanaugh• First Assistant Director: Liza Mann• Second Assistant Director: Sofía Blanco• Second Second Assistant Director: Steve Coleman• Location Manager: Ross Brodar
EDWARD BERGER Conclave (Focus Features)
BRADY CORBET The Brutalist (A24)
JAMES MANGOLD A Complete Unknown (Searchlight Pictures) Directorial Team:• Unit Production Manager: Michael Bederman• First Assistant Director: Douglas Torres• Second Assistant Director: Brad Robinson• Second Second Assistant Directors: Billy Brennan, Veronica Grant• Location Manager: Anthony Pisani
Michael Apted FIrst-Time Theatrical Feature Film
PAYAL KAPADIA All We Imagine as Light (Sideshow & Janus Films)
MEGAN PARK My Old Ass (Amazon MGM Studios)
RAMELL ROSS Nickel Boys (Amazon MGM Studios) Directorial Team:• Unit Production Manager: Kenneth Yu• First Assistant Director: James Roque• Second Assistant Director: Jonathan M. Warren• Second Second Assistant Director: Thalia Skaleris• Additional Second Assistant Director: Zachery Scherer• Location Manager: Batou Chandler
HALFDAN ULLMANN TØNDEL Armand (IFC Films)
SEAN WANG Dìdi (Focus Features)
More to come.
