Once Upon A Time, 1917 boosted by producer, director nods, Latest Movies News - The New Paper
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Once Upon A Time, 1917 boosted by producer, director nods

Los Angeles – Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and Sam Mendes’ 1917 boosted their awards charges on Jan 7, collecting key nominations from Hollywood’s producing and directing guilds just days after bagging the top Golden Globes prizes.

Tarantino’s homage to 1960s Tinseltown and Mendes’s World War I thriller were among 10 films shortlisted by the Producers Guild of America (PGA).

The PGA gong is a reasonably reliable bellwether for the best picture prize at the Oscars, which are barely a month away.

It has predicted 21 of the last 30 Academy Award winners, including the last two years with Green Book and The Shape Of Water.

There were also PGA nods for dark comic book tale Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, and Martin Scorsese’s much-vaunted crime epic The Irishman.

South Korean black comedy Parasite, from Bong Joon-ho, was the only foreign language film to make the cut, while Greta Gerwig’s Little Women was the sole female-helmed movie.

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) also released its shortlist of five, with its top prize often an indicator for the best director Oscar.

Mendes, who won the best director Globe, will face Scorsese, Tarantino, Bong and Jojo Rabbit director Taika Waititi.

The Nazi satire set during World War II has left critics lukewarm, but won the influential Toronto International Film Festival’s top honours.

The announcements follow the #BAFTAsSoWhite hashtag, which began trending earlier on Jan 7 after Britain’s version of the Academy was criticised for a chronic lack of diversity in its own award nominations.

Bafta film chief Marc Samuelson described the lack of diversity as “infuriating”.

The PGAs will be held in Hollywood on Jan 18, followed by the DGAs on Jan 25.

The all-important Oscars conclude the awards calendar on Feb 9, with nominations due out Jan 13. - AFP

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