'The Power of the Dog' Wins Big At Directors Guild Awards

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Director Jane Campion has become the second woman in a row to win the Directors Guild of America award for best director of a theatrical feature film, "The Power of the Dog" — an honor that often foreshadows success on Oscar night.

Campion beat out Steven Spielberg, Kenneth Branagh, Paul Thomas Anderson and Denis Villeneuve for the top honor during Saturday's 74th annual DGA Awards at The Beverly Hilton hotel.

Last year, "Nomadland" director Chloé Zhao won the award, becoming only the second woman to win DGA's top prize. She went on to win the Oscar for best director. Kathryn Bigelow was the first woman to win both awards for 2008's "The Hurt Locker."

Campion was previously nominated for both awards for 1993's "The Piano."

This year's other nominees were Spielberg for "West Side Story," Branagh for "Belfast," Anderson for "Licorice Pizza" and Villeneuve for "Dune."

The DGA Award is historically a solid predictor of who will take home the Academy Award for best director. Since 1948, there have only been eight times that the winner of the DGA award for feature film directing has not gone on to win the Oscar for best director.

The most recent time was in 2020, when Sam Mendes won the DGA Award for "1917," but the Oscar went to Bong Joon Ho for "Parasite."

Also Saturday, Maggie Gyllenhaal beat out Lin-Manuel Miranda and Rebecca Hall for the DGA's best first-time director award. Gyllenhaal won for "The Lost Daughter," beating out Miranda for "Tick, Tick...BOOM!" and Hall for "Passing."

On the small screen, directors of HBO's "Succession," a comedy- tinged drama about the four grown children of a mogul vying to succeed their father in running a media and entertainment conglomerate, swept all five nominations in the drama series category with Mark Mylod winning for the episode titled "All the Bells Say."

In the comedy series category, directors of Apple TV+'s "Ted Lasso" — the story of a perennially upbeat football coach who takes over an English soccer club — scored three of the five nominations but lost to a "Hacks" episode directed by Lucia Aniello, titled, "There Is No Line."

The awards were presented during a ceremony hosted by comedian/director Judd Apatow. He previously hosted the ceremony in 2018 and 2020. The DGAs were presented virtually last year.

During the event, assistant director Joseph P. Reidy received the DGA's Frank Capra Achievement Award, which is presented to an assistant director or unit production manager for career achievement in the industry and service to the guild. Stage manager Garry W. Hood received the Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award, which is given to an associate director or stage manager for service to the industry and the DGA.

Here is the complete list of winners:

• Jane Campion, "The Power of the Dog"

• Maggie Gyllenhaal, "The Lost Daughter"

• Mark Mylod, Succession, "All the Bells Say"

• Lucia Aniello, Hacks, "There Is No Line"

• Barry Jenkins, The Underground Railroad

• Don Roy King, Saturday Night Live, "Keegan-Michael Key; Olivia Rodrigo"

• Paul Dugdale, Adele: One Night Only

• Adam Vetri, Getaway Driver, "Electric Shock"

• Smriti Mundhra, Through Our Eyes, "Shelter"

• Bradford Young, Super. Human., Channel 4 Paralympics

• Stanley Nelson, "Attica"