(Los Angeles) Oppenheimer won the main prize from the American Directors Union (DGA) on Saturday, a reliable barometer for the Oscars, suggesting that its director Christopher Nolan could be crowned there this year, after a long wait.
The British director, renowned for his complex blockbusters with strong commercial success but not always acclaimed at film awards, won the best film award at the 75e Directors Guild of America (DGA) awards ceremony.
“The idea that my peers think I deserve this award means everything to me,” Nolan said of his feature film about the father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Irish actor Cillian Murphy. Four of his previous films, Memento, The Dark Knight, Inception Or Dunkirkhad been nominated for the DGA’s supreme award, without winning.
PHOTO MELINDA SUE GORDON, UNIVERSAL PICTURES VIA ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer
The filmmaker can now hope to also be celebrated next month during the 96e Oscar ceremony, after five unsuccessful nominations. Oppenheimer received 13 nominations.
Accepting his award, Christopher Nolan praised his team for bringing his ambitious visions to life, including creating a breathtaking replica of the first atomic bomb test.
“Sorry, guys!” It all depends on you and your teams. And you have never been more successful than by realizing Oppenheimer “, he said on stage.
The other directors competing this year for the DGA’s Best Film of the Year award were Martin Scorsese for Killers of the Flower MoonGreta Gerwig with barbieYorgos Lanthimos and his Poor Things and Alexander Payne with The Holdovers.
Eighteen of the last twenty DGA winners also won the Academy Award for Best Director in the same year. This year, the Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 10.
The prize for best documentary went to 20 Days in Mariupol which chronicles the arrival of war in a Ukrainian city that became the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Russian invasion.
“Today my hometown was bombed and seven people were killed, including three children. So it’s a sad day,” said director Mstyslav Chernov.
“At the same time, I recognize the power of cinema… when these people are fleeing the bombs falling on them, they go and sit in basements and to combat their fear, they watch films,” he said. added.
The DGA Awards also reward television works: The Last of Us won the award for best drama series episode, and The Bear that of comedy.