Directors Guild Awards: Nominations
Ben Affleck, Argo
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Tom Hooper, Les Miserables
BEN AFFLECK
Argo
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Mr. Affleck’s Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Amy Herman
- First Assistant Director: David Webb
- Second Assistant Director: Ian Calip
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Clark Credle, Gavin Kleintop
- First Assistant Director (Turkey Unit): Belkis Turan
This is Mr. Affleck’s first DGA Feature Film Award nomination.
KATHRYN BIGELOW
Zero Dark Thirty
(Columbia Pictures)
Ms. Bigelow’s Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Colin Wilson
- First Assistant Director: David A. Ticotin
- Second Assistant Directors: Ben Lanning, Sarah Hood
- First Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Scott Robertson
- Second Assistant Directors (Jordan Unit): Jonas Spaccarotelli, Yanal Kassay
- Second Second Assistant Director (Jordan Unit): Tarek Afifi
- Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Rajeev Mehra
This is Ms. Bigelow’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. She won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film fo The Hurt Locker n 2009.
TOM HOOPER
Les Misérables
(Universal Pictures)
Mr. Hooper’s Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Patrick Schweitzer
- First Assistant Director: Ben Howarth
- Second Assistant Director: Harriet Worth
- Second Second Assistant Director: Dan Channing Williams
This is Mr. Hooper’s second DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film fo The King’s Speech 2010) and was previously nominated for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Mini-Series fo John Adams n 2008.
ANG LEE
Life of Pi
(Twentieth Century Fox)
Mr. Lee’s Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Michael J. Malone
- Unit Production Manager (Taiwan): Leo Chen
- First Assistant Directors: William M. Connor, Cliff Lanning
- Second Assistant Directors: Robert Burgess, Ben Lanning
- Unit Production Manager (India Unit): Sanjay Kumar
- First Assistant Director (India Unit): Nitya Mehra
- Second Assistant Director (India Unit): Ananya Rane
- Second Second Assistant Directors (India Unit): Namra Parikh, Freya Parekh
- Second Assistant Directors (Montreal Unit): Derek Wimble, Renato De Cotiis
This is Mr. Lee’s fourth DGA Feature Film Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film fo Brokeback Mountain 2005) an Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2000) and was nominated fo Sense and Sensibility n 1995.
STEVEN SPIELBERG
Lincoln
(DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox)
Mr. Spielberg’s Directorial Team:
- Unit Production Manager: Susan McNamara
- First Assistant Director: Adam Somner
- Second Assistant Director: Ian Stone
- Second Second Assistant Directors: Eric Lasko, Trevor Tavares
So proud of Kathryn Bigelow. Even if she doesn't win this is a huge achievement, being the first woman to be nominated twice!!! Also, props to Ang Lee, the first poc to win an oscar for best direction, getting his 4th DGA nomination. Crossing my fingers for him as well.
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The thing is when you watch the film the fact that they use real names, real places, and real events makes you THINK it's real, whether consciously or not. And then it's difficult to separate what actually happened from what's been exaggerated for creative license.
2) I haven't seen the movie yet, but friends I have/critics I respect who have seen the movie have said that the movie is in no way pro torture and instead shows how torture destroys both the torture victim and the interrogator and throws up questions as to whether a society that will go to such lengths can be seen as justified in their actions.
Maybe I'll change my mind when I see it for myself, but for now I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. Like I said though, I do understand why people feel differently than me.
**Just a heads up, I discuss some scenes of the movie, so don't read if you don't want to be spoiled.
For example, a detainee is waterboarded/tortured and doesn't give up any useful information. A scene comes later where he's eating hummus with them and voluntarily gives up intel. Bigelow has said that this scene directly shows that torture DOESN'T produce results and that other methods do work. However, without the previous waterboarding/torture, the detainee wouldn't have said anything. Furthermore, there are other scenes in the film where suspects are questioned and they say, "I don't want to be tortured anymore, here's what I know."
My biggest problem with the movie isn't just torture, but how it dismisses any regulation of the CIA's activities. The movie shows a clip of Obama on tv discussing how torture is a blemish on America's record and the CIA agents watching basically just roll their eyes. When Maya needs to get more information on the courier, her boss says that's not possible anymore since the detainee program was scrapped because of Gitmo and Abu Ghraib. There's a lot of small instances like this where the questioning of CIA tactics by outsiders is viewed as inconvenient and a pesky obstacle for Maya to overcome as she gets bin Ladin.
I think the movie is, like you said, a meditation on revenge and whether what we did in the hunt for bin Laden was worth it. But that viewpoint only comes through with reflection about the film. The average person isn't going to think about all the events in the 2.5 hr movie as a whole. They're going to leave with the last 30 minutes of the SEAL team storming the compound and feel a little exhilaration at getting the job done. And after seeing people's reaction at the news bin Laden was dead (fuck yeah America, partying in front of the White House, etc.), this will probably be the main response.
I liked the film and think it's a great look at the hunt for bin Laden, but I don't think it shows enough of the profound cost we've paid for it and it makes me a little uncomfortable knowing that most people will view it as a YEAH! WE GOT HIM movie.