The awards season norm has seen the nearly annual occurrence of at least one difference between the lineups of Best Director Oscar and the DGA Award nominees. In only five of the 78 years of the DGA Awards have the Guild nominations exactly mirrored their Academy Award counterparts.
This time around Guillermo del Toro and Joachim Trier are in line with the predominant history. Trier earned a Best Director Oscar nomination yesterday (1/22) for Sentimental Value (Neon) after not being recognized by the DGA. And while del Toro didn’t make the directorial Oscar cut, he earlier garnered a DGA Award nomination for Frankenstein (Netflix).
Four of the five directors vying for the DGA Award and the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Oscar are in sync this year: Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.), Ryan Coogler for Sinners (Warner Bros.), Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme (A24) and Chloé Zhao for Hamnet (Focus Features).
On the flip side of tradition, if Trier were to win the directing Oscar, that development wouldn’t be aligned with but rather bucking history. Only eight times has the DGA Award winner not gone on to win the Oscar. That happened last in 2020 when Sam Mendes won the DGA Award for 1917 while Bong Joon-ho scored the Academy Award for Parasite.
Including his nominations this year for Best Picture and Original Screenplay (with Eskil Vogt) on the strength of Sentimental Value, the directing category recognition for Trier is his fourth career Oscar nod. He was previously nominated for Original Screenplay for The Worst Person in the World (2021). Sentimental Value marks the first directing nomination for Trier.
Sentimental Value scored a total of nine Academy Award nominations, the others being for Best International Feature (Norway), actress in a leading role (Renate Reinsve), supporting actor (Stellan Skarsgård), two for supporting actress (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning), and film editing (Olivier Bugge Coutte).
While del Toro wasn’t an Oscar nominee for directing Frankenstein, he did receive a nod for his adapted screenplay. Frankenstein hauled in nine nominations–the others being for Best Picture, supporting actor (Jacob Elordi), cinematography (Dan Laustsen, ASC, DFF), production design (production designer Tamara Deverell, set decorator Shane Vieau), original score (Alexandre Desplat), achievement in sound (Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoern), makeup and hairstyling (Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey), and costume design (Kate Hawley).
In his career del Toro has had one directing Oscar nomination, winning in 2018 for The Shape of Water. He is a three-time Oscar winner, the other two for Best Picture for The Shape of Water, and Best Animated Feature Film for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio in 2023.
Anderson, Coogler, Safdie, Zhao
Meanwhile Coogler attained his first career directing Oscar nod for Sinners. He also earned Best Picture and original screenplay nominations for the film. Coogler now has five nominations overall—the first two being Best Picture for Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) and original song for “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
Sinners set an all-time record high with 16 Academy Award nominations–the others being for leading actor (Michael B. Jordan), supporting actor (Delroy Lindo), supporting actress (Wunmi Mosaku), cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw, ASC), film editing (Michael P. Shawver), production design (production designer Hannah Beachler, set decorator Monique Champagne), costume design (Ruth E. Carter), visual effects (Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, Donnie Dean), original score (Ludwig Göransson), original song (“I Lied to You,” music & lyric by Raphael Saadiq and Göransson), achievement in sound (Chris Weicker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, Steve Boeddeker), makeup and hairstyling (Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine, Shunika Terry), and casting (Francine Maisler).
Anderson now has four best directing Oscar nominations, with One Battle After Another also garnering him nods for Best Picture and adapted screenplay. He has 14 career nominations–Best Picture and Directing for There Will Be Blood (2007), Phantom Thread (2017) and Licorice Pizza (2021); best original screenplay for Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999) and Licorice Pizza; and adapted screenplay for There Will Be Blood and Inherent Vice (2014).
One Battle After Another scored the second most Oscar nominations this year, 13–the others being for leading actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), supporting actress (Teyana Taylor), two for supporting actor (Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro), cinematography (Michael Bauman), film editing (Andy Jurgensen), production design (production designer Florencia Martin, set decorator Anthony Carlino), casting (Cassandra Kulukundis), original score (Jonny Greenwood ) and sound (Jose Antonio Garcia, Christopher Scarabosio, Tony Villaflor).
Zhao earned her second career best directing Oscar nomination, with Hamnet also scoring a nod for her adapted screenplay. She now has six nominations overall, winning for Best Picture and directing on the basis of Nomadland (2020), which also garnered her nods for adapted screenplay and film editing.
Hamnet received a total of eight nominations, the others being for Best Picture, leading actress (Jessie Buckley), casting (Nina Gold), production design (production designer Fiona Crombie, set decorator Alice Felton), costume design (Malgosia Turzanska), and original score (Max Richter).
Safdie earned his first career directing Oscar nomination, with Marty Supreme also gaining him nods for Best Picture, film editing (with Ronald Bronstein) and original screenplay (with Bronstein). These nominations account for Safdie’s career total of four.
Marty Supreme tallied nine nominations, the others being for leading actor (Timothée Chalamet), cinematography (Darius Khondji, ASC, AFC), casting (Jennifer Venditti), costume design (Miyako Bellizzi) and production design (production designer Jack Fisk, set decorator Adam Willis).
This is the 11th installment of SHOOT’s 16-part The Road To Oscar Series of feature stories. Shining a light on such disciplines as directing, cinematography, producing, editing, production design, visual effects and animation, this series will appear weekly all the way through to the Academy Awards gala ceremony. The 98th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Hollywood, Calif., televised live on ABC and streamed on Hulu.
