Announcing the five nominees for the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2006 DGA President Michael Apted said, "Each of these five nominees has demonstrated a remarkable ability to blend craft and vision in the pursuit of masterful storytelling. What makes it truly meaningful to directors is that this award is decided solely by their peers – the men and women who know first hand the passion, sweat and fear that goes into creating feature films. My congratulations to each of the nominees."
While every DGA nominee of course deserved to be included in the list of the best of 2006, it was Martin Scorsese as the helmer of the 2006 smash hit The Departed who earned the award for the Best Director. The DGA win is just the latest in a string of honors Scorsese's picked up for the Boston-based mob drama but there's something special about this honor, aside from the fact it was awarded to the acclaimed director by his peers. The Directors Guild of America's annual award is always handed out prior to the Academy Awards and 51 out of the last 57 award winners have gone on to win the Best Director Oscar. The last time the two awards differed was in 2002 when Rob Marshall won the DGA award for Chicago and Roman Polanski won the Oscar for The Pianist. Will a DGA win mean this really is Scorsese's year for Oscar glory?
Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Films - Nominees and Winner
Winner: Martin Scorsese for The Departed - This was Scorsese's seventh feature film nomination. Scorsese earned nominations for The Aviator, Gangs of New York, The Age of Innocence, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, and Taxi Driver. Scorsese has already received the DGA's Lifetime Achievement Award (for distinguished achievement in film direction) in 2003.
Bill Condon for Dreamgirls - This was Condon's first nomination.
Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for Little Miss Sunshine - This was the first nomination for both Faris and Dayton.
Stephen Frears for The Queen - This was Frears' first nomination in the feature film category. He was nominated in 2000 for the TV series Fail Safe.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Babel - This was Gonzalez Inarritu's first nomination.
