In DGA Nominations, It’s Soderbergh vs. Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh will face off against . . . Steven Soderbergh as the Directors Guild of America announced its nominations Monday for best feature film director with Soderbergh capturing two, for “Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic.”

Besides the dual nominations for Soderbergh, other directors nominated included Ridley Scott for “Gladiator,” Ang Lee for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” and Cameron Crowe for “Almost Famous.” The DGA awards will be handed out March 10.

The nominations, which are considered a strong indicator of the Academy Awards nominations Feb. 13, were announced by director and previous DGA winner Steven Spielberg. In winning dual nominations, Soderbergh became only the second director to be nominated twice in the feature film category in a single year since 1970, when the current method of selecting one winner from five nominees was instituted.

Soderbergh was cited for the real-life drama “Erin Brockovich,” which stars Julia Roberts and Albert Finney and for his year-end ensemble docudrama “Traffic,” about America’s futile drug wars. The two nominations are Soderbergh’s first. The only other director to be nominated twice in the same year was Francis Ford Coppola who, in 1974, was nominated for both “The Godfather Part II” and “The Conversation.” Coppola went on to win for “Godfather II.”

The only surprise inclusion was Crowe, who directed and wrote the critically well-received, semiautobiographical ‘70s rock saga “Almost Famous.” Because it was not a hit with audiences, “Almost Famous” had been considered a dark horse in the annual awards derby. The film received another boost by winning the best motion picture comedy or musical Golden Globe on Sunday night. It is Crowe’s second nomination, the first being for 1996’s “Jerry Maguire.”

Reached on the set of his new film “Vanilla Sky,” starring Tom Cruise, Crowe said he was in shock over his DGA nomination and the previous night’s Golden Globe victory. “For the people who didn’t get to see the movie the first time around, it’s great that the movie may still have a life,” he said.

Lee received his second DGA nomination for the Chinese-language martial arts fable “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” His prior nomination was in 1995 for the Jane Austen adaptation “Sense and Sensibility.” Scott rounded out the five nominees with his second citation for the Roman-era spectacular “Gladiator,” which was the winner for best dramatic motion picture at the Globes. Scott’s previous nomination came in 1991 for “Thelma & Louise.”

In a prepared statement Soderbergh said, “It’s extremely gratifying to be recognized by my guild members alongside such great directors as Ang Lee, Cameron Crowe and Ridley Scott. Also, having my name read by Steven Spielberg was pretty exciting.”

After the Globes, Crowe was asked to comment about the critics’ contention that 2000 had not been a good year for movies. The DGA list speaks to the contrary, he said, demonstrating a strong roster of personal films. “Any year when Steven Soderbergh gets two nominations and Ang Lee makes a film like ‘Crouching Tiger’ and even Ridley Scott’s ‘Gladiator’ [which] showed the personal force of his style is a good year for directors.”

On Sunday, Lee became the first person to win a Golden Globe as best director for a foreign film. His DGA nomination “is like a dream. I dreamt it, but I never imagined it would happen,” said Lee. He attributed the near universal acclaim from critics and audiences for the subtitled film to its blend of strong emotional content and martial arts.

“It’s a real movie movie, and people see it as fresh, but the emotions it touches are universal,” he added.

Still ebullient over the Golden Globe win for “Gladiator” the previous evening, Scott was excited to be among the five DGA nominees. “The only time I was nominated before was for ‘Thelma & Louise,’ and I was beginning to think it would never happen again.”

Scott credited his production team for the large-scale undertaking. “Big films have big teams,” said Scott. “It’s accurate to say I’m the representative of a whole team of people who are masters of their craft. It’s a great hats-off to them. I’m not being modest, I’m being factual.”

The DGA’s slate is usually closely followed by the director’s branch of the academy, which selects the five Oscar nominees. Since its inception in 1949, only four directors who have won the DGA award did not receive the Oscar as well, and only two of those, Spielberg for “The Color Purple,” and Ron Howard for “Apollo 13,” failed to be nominated.

The DGA nomination is another signal that the race for the Oscars remains wide open this year. Absent from the DGA list were such directors as Robert Zemeckis (“Cast Away”) and newcomer Stephen Daldry (“Billy Elliot”), though they and their films could still show up when the Oscar nominations are announced.