Contenders for peer-judged awards on the table

All three key US organisations representing directors, scriptwriters and producers, the most important triumvirate on any film, have revealed those in the running for their annual awards and the four common films are The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Hugo.

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) announced last week that the nominees for outstanding directorial achievement in feature films are: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris; David Fincher (pictured), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist; Alexander Payne, The Descendants; and Martin Scorsese, Hugo.

It is the ninth DGA feature nomination for Scorsese, the fifth for Allen, the third for Fincher, the second for Payne and the first for Hazanavicius. Scorsese won previously for the 2006 film The Departed and Allen for the 1977 film Annie Hall.

Because guild awards are peer-judged, they are often very significant to filmmakers. They can also point to likely Oscar results: there have only been six occasions since the establishment of the DGA Awards in 1948, for example, when the feature film winner has not gone on to win an Academy Award.

Differing eligibility rules can knock out some Oscar contenders, however: only films made under Writers Guild of America (WGA) or affiliate agreements are eligible for WGA Awards and last week, when nominees were announced, there was considerable US media attention around The Artist not qualifying.

The nominees for the WGA Awards are:

Original Screenplay
•    50/50, Will Reiser
•    Bridesmaids, Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
•    Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen
•    Win Win, screenplay by Tom McCarthy, story by McCarthy, Joe Tiboni
•    Young Adult, Diablo Cody

Adapted Screenplay
•    The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemming
•    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steven Zaillian, based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, originally published by Norstedts
•    The Help, Tate Taylor, based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett
•    Hugo, John Logan, based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
•    Moneyball, Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, story by Stan Chervin, based on the book by Michael Lewis

The nominees for the Producers Guild of America’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for outstanding producer of theatrical motion pictures, announced on January 3, are:

•    The Artist, Thomas Langmann
•    Bridesmaids, Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend
•    The Descendants, Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
•    The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin
•    The Help, Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green
•    Hugo, Graham King, Martin Scorsese
•    The Ides of March, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver
•    Midnight In Paris, Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum
•    Moneyball, Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt
•    War Horse, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

The winners of the 23rd PGA Awards will be announced on January 21, the 64th DGA Awards on January 28 and the WGA Awards on February 19.

The PGA also has a category for animated features and the WGA for documentaries. For more information visit the websites of the DGA, WGA, and PGA.