The Directors Guild of America has announced its 2025 award nominees, shaking up an already chaotic award season. Emilia Pérez‘s Jacques Audiard, Anora‘s Sean Baker, Conclave‘s Edward Berger, The Brutalist‘s Brady Corbet, A Complete Unknown‘s James Mangold comprised the nominees for the DGA’s top honor, outstanding directorial achievement in a feature film.
After a triumphant showing at the SAG awards, Wicked came up short at the DGAs, with National Board of Review-winning director Jon M. Chu missing out on a nomination. He’s not the only director of a best picture hopeful left out in the cold: The Substance‘s Coralie Fargeat and Dune: Part Two‘s Denis Villeneuve also did not make the DGA’s top five directors. While Nickel Boys director RaMell Ross and All We Imagine Is Light director Payal Kapadia couldn’t crack the DGA’s top five with their critically lauded films, both did make the DGA’s list for outstanding directorial achievement in a first-time theatrical feature film. They’re joined by Megan Park for My Old Ass, Sean Wang for Didi, and Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for Armand, which is shortlisted in the international feature category at the Oscars.
In the television category, usual award show suspects Shōgun and The Bear led the pack with three nominations each, along with relative newcomer The Penguin, which also picked up three nominations. Comedian, writer, and Emmy-winning actor Ayo Edebiri is proving to be a true multi-hyphenate, picking up a nomination from the DGAs for outstanding direction of a comedy series for her episode of The Bear, “Napkins.” And Golden Globe-winner Ali Wong is keeping her streak alive, scoring an outstanding direction for a variety/talk/news/sports special for Ali Wong: Single Lady. She’ll face off against Netflix’s The Roast of Tom Brady, the 96th Annual Academy Awards, the 77th Annual Tony Awards, and Jon Stewart‘s Daily Show election night special Indecision 2024.
With Oscar voting currently underway, the DGAs serve as an important stop along the campaign trail. Historically, only two films—Driving Miss Daisy (1993) and CODA (2022)—have won best picture without securing a DGA nomination. Last year, Christopher Nolan cruised from a directors guild win to Oscar glory for Oppenheimer, taking home both best director and best picture. This year’s lucky winners will be announced at the 77th annual DGA Awards which will take place at The Beverly Hilton on February 8th.
Here are all the 2025 DGA nominees:
Theatrical Feature Film
Jaques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker, Anora
Edward Berger, Conclave
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
James Mangold, A Complete Unknown
First Time Theatrical Film
Payal Kapadia, All We Imagine Is Light
Megan Park, My Old Ass
RaMell Ross, Nickel Boys
Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, Armand
Sean Wang, Didi
Documentary
Brendan Bollomo & Slava Leontyev, Porcelain War
Julian Brave Noisecat & Emily Kassie, Sugarcane
Johan Grimonprez, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Ibrahim Nash’hat, Hollywoodgate
Natalie Rae & Angela Patton, Daughters
Dramatic Series
Alex Graves, The Diplomat, “Dreadnought”
Hiromi Kamata, Shōgun, “Ladies of the Willow World”
Issa López, True Detective: Night Country, “Part 6”
Frederick E.O. Toye, Shōgun, “Crimson Sky”
Jonathan Van Tulleken, Shōgun, “Anjin”
Comedy Series
Lucia Aniello, Hacks, “Bulletproof”
Ayo Edebiri, The Bear, “Napkins”
Duccio Fabri, The Bear, “Doors”
Jeff Schafer, Curb Your Enthusiasm, “No Lessons Learned”
Christopher Storer, The Bear, “Tomorrow”
Movies for Television and Limited Series
Kevin Bray, The Penguin, “Top Hat”
Alfonso Cuarón, Disclaimer
Jennifer Getzinger, The Penguin, “A Great or Little Thing”
Helen Shaver, The Penguin, “Cent’anni”
Steve Zaillan, Ripley
Variety/Talk/News/Sports—Regularly Scheduled Programming
Paul Casey, Real Time with Bill Maher, “Jiminy Glick, Andrew Cuomo, Adam Kizinger”
Jim Hoskinson, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez & Mavis Staples w/ Jeff Tweedy”
David Paul Meyer, The Daily Show, “Indecision 2024: The Democratic National Convention Plot Twist!”
Liz Patrick, Saturday Night Live, “John Mulaney / Chappell Roan”
Paul Pennolino, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, “India Elections”
Variety/Talk/News/Sports—Special
Hamish Hamilton, The 96th Annual Academy Awards
Beth McCarthy Miller, The Roast of Tom Brady
David Paul Meyer, The Daily Show Presents A Live Election Night Special With Jon Stewart: Indecision 2024: Nothing We Can Do About It Now
Glenn Weiss, The 77th Annual Tony Awards
Ali Wong, Ali Wong: Single Lady
Reality Programs
Neil DeGroot, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, “The Cliffs of Ireland”
Joseph Gundry, Deal Or No Deal Island, “Are You Decisive?”
Ari Katcher, Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, “Road Trip”
Patrick McManus, American Ninja Warrior, “Las Vegas Finals 4”
Mike Sweeney, Conan O’Brien Must Go, “Ireland”
Children’s Programs
Kat Coiro, The Spiderwick Chronicles, “Welcome to Spiderwick”
Michael Goi, Avatar: The Last Airbender, “Aang”
Jim Mickle, Sweet Tooth, “This Is a Story”
Jennifer Phang, Descendants: The Rise of Red
Amber Sealey, Out of My Mind
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