On Saturday, Hollywood’s directors picked “Oppenheimer” the greatest film of the year, raising hopes that Christopher Nolan’s long wait for Oscar success will end soon.
The British director, who is known for crafting commercially successful, complicated blockbusters but has not always garnered positive feedback from awards voters, earned the top prize at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards in Los Angeles.
“The idea that my peers would think I deserve this means everything to me,” Nolan said of his film about the development of the nuclear bomb.
Nolan had previously been nominated four times for the DGA’s highest award, but had not won for “Memento,” “The Dark Knight,” “Inception,” or “Dunkirk.”
He will now be attempting to end a similar losing trend next month at the Oscars, where he has lost all five previous nominations.
Nolan praised his filmmaking team for bringing his enormously ambitious concepts — including a jaw-dropping reproduction of the first atomic bomb test — to life during his career.
“People say ‘Christopher Nolan destroyed a real plane’ and ‘Christopher Nolan blew up a building,’ or whatever,” he went on to explain.
“Sorry, gentlemen! It’s all up to you and your team. And you were never more on top of your game than when making ‘Oppenheimer.'”
Eighteen of the last 20 DGA winners went on to win the Oscar for Best Director the same year. This year’s Academy Awards will take place on March 10.
Martin Scorsese (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Greta Gerwig (“Barbie”), Yorgos Lanthimos (“Poor Things”), and Alexander Payne (“The Holdovers”) were the other directors nominated for this year’s DGA Award.
Nolan will compete against Scorsese and Lanthimos again at the Oscars, but not alongside Gerwig, whose apparent snub by the Academy as director of the hit feminist satire “Barbie” sparked fury.
Gerwig did not address the Oscars controversy on Saturday, stating only that being recognized “in the company of my heroes” at the DGA gala meant “more to me than I can ever say.”
Comment on that was left to Jonah Hill, who stepped on stage and seriously began: “Before we begin, it would be irresponsible not to acknowledge the recent tragedies.
“Of course, I’m referring to the fact that ‘Barbie’ only got eight Academy Award nominations.”
Another Oscar best picture nominee, Celine Song’s “Past Lives,” received the DGA award for best film by a first-time director.
‘Power’
The best documentary went to “20 Days in Mariupol,” which depicted in horrifying detail the onset of war in a Ukrainian city that became one of the Russian invasion’s bloodiest battlegrounds, all shot by video journalists under siege.
“Today, my hometown was bombed, killing seven people, three of whom were children. “It’s a sad day,” remarked director Mstyslav Chernov.
“At the same time, I recognize the power of cinema…when those people run from the bombs falling on them, they sit in the basements and watch films to cope with their fear.”
“Cinema not just leaves these stories in history for next generations… it also helps us all to cope with a sometimes unbearable world.”
The DGA Awards also recognize TV. “The Last of Us” received the award for best drama series episode, while “The Bear” won for comedy.