Jon M. Chu, Denis Villeneuve, and Luca Guadagnino shut out of DGA nominations

And the Oscar goes to… honestly, no idea. We’re no closer to predicting the winning director—or even which filmmakers will actually secure one of those coveted nominations—than we were before awards season began in earnest. Emilia Pérez led the Golden Globe film nominations, and this morning, Wicked—and especially Jonathan Bailey—cleaned up at the SAG Award noms. This afternoon, however, Wicked helmer Jon M. Chu was nowhere to be found amongst the list of nominees for the DGA Awards, which honor the best directors of the year. This really is shaping up to be one of the most open Oscar races in recent memory.

Joining Chu in witchy exile are Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two), Luca Guadagnino (Challengers and Queer), and Carolie Fargeat (The Substance), none of whom made the cut.

The lucky nominees for theatrical feature film, via The Hollywood Reporter, are Jacques Audiard for Emilia Pérez, Sean Baker for Anora, Edward Berger for Conclave, Brady Corbet for The Brutalist, and James Mangold for A Complete Unknown. The Directors Guild of America also awards a prize for first-time feature directors. Those nominations went to Payal Kapadia for All We Imagine As Light, Megan Park for My Old Ass, RaMell Ross for Nickel Boys, Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel for Armand, and Sean Wang for Dìdi.

The DGA Awards are set to take place in Beverly Hills on February 8. Let the Oscar speculation continue.