Dark Knight, Slumdog Score DGA Nods
Christopher Nolan
Start finalizing your Oscar predictions. The Directors Guild of America announced its nominees for achievement in directing Thursday — the last of the Guilds to release nominations — and a certain Caped Crusader is still in the running.
The Dark Knight helmer Christopher Nolan was one of the five directors shortlisted for the feature film honor. His nomination comes on the heels of the film's PGA and WGA nods earlier this week, reinforcing the flick's status as a key Oscar player. The superhero sequel only missed out on a SAG ensemble mention.
Joining Nolan in the race are David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire), Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon) and Gus Van Sant (Milk).
Howard is the only previous winner of the bunch (for 2001's A Beautiful Mind). Nolan and Van Sant are past nominees, for Memento and Good Will Hunting, respectively. Boyle and Fincher are first-time nominees in the category (Fincher won a DGA in 2004 for commercials).
Long considered a good indicator of Academy Award glory, the DGA has only mismatched with Oscar six times in 60 years. The last time was in 2003 when The Pianist's Roman Polanski won the Oscar over DGA's pick of Chicago's Rob Marshall.
The winner will be crowned Jan. 31.