Early January 7th, the Directors Guild of America announced its nominations:
Quentin Tarantino: Inglourious Basterds
Kathryn Bigelow: The Hurt Locker
Lee Daniels: Precious
James Cameron: Avatar
Jason Reitman: Up in the Air
Daniels’s nomination marks the first time for an African-American director, and Bigelow (once married to James Cameron) crashed through the glass ceiling to get hers.
Seven women have been nominated in the past, but none has ever won.
Cameron won once before for Titanic.
Tarantino was nominated in 1994 for Pulp Fiction.
Bigelow, Daniels and Reitman have never been nominated before.