‘Dune’ and ‘Encanto’ Take Top Honors at Visual Effects Society Awards

After already taking home 6 Oscars, Denis Villeneuve’s epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune continued its below the line domination at Sunday’s Academy Awards as it took home the Best Visual Effects Oscar. The film looked to be the favorite in the category after taking home the top honor at this year’s VES gala.

The union publicists who worked on behalf of the publicity campaigns for Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and Apple’s Ted Lasso took home top honors today at the 59th annual International Cinematographers Guild’s Publicists Awards. See the full winners list below.

The American Society of Cinematographers is framing it 36th annual ASC Awards tonight, and Deadline is updating the winners as they’re announced. See the list below.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, FeaturesAfter another politically and socially turbulent year, the Writers Guild of America is ready to celebrate the best that its members have to offer, while reflecting on the ever-changing social and entertainment landscape.The WGA’s annual awards event, a joint venture between WGAW and WGAWE, will be held on Sunday, March 20th, and similar to last year, will be handled as a virtual event. With COVID still firmly lingering in the space of the populace, the guild’s priorities have naturally shifted in ways that couldn’t have been anticipated, while still staying true to its collective core values.This year’s WGA film award nominees represent a roster of high-caliber talent.

Sasha Urban editorIn one of the most star-studded lineups of this year’s awards season, Serena Williams, Nick Jonas and Oscar nominees Kristen Stewart and Ciaran Hinds have been tapped as presenters at the 33rd annual Producers Guild Awards Saturday evening, Variety has learned exclusively.They will be joined at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel by Josh Brolin, Rachel Brosnahan, Daniel Durant, Alana Haim, Jude Hill, Chris Pine, Daniel Dae Kim, Emilia Jones, Marlee Matlin, Ryan Murphy, Simon Rex and Kerry Washington, as well as previously announced presenters Meryl Streep, Casey Bloys, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Aunjanue Ellis, Jung Ho-yeon, Linda Lavin, David Alvarez, Jessica Chastain, Denis Villeneuve, Troy Kotsur, Andrew Garfield, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Steven Spielberg. The PGA Awards are known to be a strong predictor of which film will take home best picture at the Academy Awards, which will be held on March 27.

Clayton Davis A weekend trio of big wins for Netflix at the DGA, BAFTA and Critics Choice awards has given Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” the gas required to make it over the finish line. That’s if it can keep its closest competitors — “Belfast” from Kenneth Branagh and “CODA” from Siân Heder — at bay.The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures, which is the top prize from the PGA Awards, has been one of the most vital and telling precursors from all major guilds.

Jane Campion has issued an apology for a remark she made toward tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams at the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday that landed her in hot water while accepting her award for best director. "I made a thoughtless comment equating what I do in the film world with all that Serena Williams and Venus Williams have achieved.

Jane Campion is walking back on her Critics’ Choice Awards speech.

Dune, West Side Story and Nightmare Alley were among the big film winners at the Motion Picture Sound Editors’ 69th Golden Reel Awards, which were handed out during a virtual ceremony tonight. See the full list below.

**WINNER.FILM CATEGORIESBest Picture“Belfast”“CODA”“Don’t Look Up”“Dune”“King Richard”“Licorice Pizza”“Nightmare Alley”“The Power of the Dog”“tick, tick…Boom!”“West Side Story”Best ActorNicolas Cage – “Pig”Benedict Cumberbatch – “The Power of the Dog”Peter Dinklage – “Cyrano”Andrew Garfield – “tick, tick…Boom!”Will Smith – “King Richard”Denzel Washington – “The Tragedy of Macbeth”Best ActressJessica Chastain – “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”Olivia Colman – “The Lost Daughter”Lady Gaga – “House of Gucci”Alana Haim – “Licorice Pizza”Nicole Kidman – “Being the Ricardos”Kristen Stewart – “Spencer”Best Supporting Actor in a FilmJamie Dornan – “Belfast”Ciarán Hinds – “Belfast”Troy Kotsur – “CODA” — WINNERJared Leto – “House of Gucci”J.K.

Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons are hitting the red carpet!

DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter opened tonight’s DGA Awards gala with a history lesson and a look ahead at the “exceptional challenges” facing the guild next year when it begins negotiations for a new film and TV contract. The guild’s current contract, reached just days before the Covid pandemic shut down production across the country, is set to expire June 30, 2023.

The Directors Guild of America is presenting its 74th annual DGA Awards tonight at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, and Deadline is posting the winners as they are announced. Check out the list below, and refresh for updates.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe Directors Guild of America’s 74th annual DGA Awards are under way at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, with Judd Apatow on tap as host. The ceremony returns to an in-person event this year, having gone virtual in 2021, and is part of a busy weekend on the kudos gauntlet that also includes the BAFTA, Annie Awards and Critics Choice events.This year in the motion pictures category, the group nominated Kenneth Branagh for “Belfast” (Focus Features), Jane Campion for “The Power of the Dog” (Netflix), Paul Thomas Anderson for “Licorice Pizza” (MGM/United Artists Releasing), Steven Spielberg for “West Side Story” (20th Century Studios) and Denis Villeneuve for “Dune” (Warner Bros).

**WINNER.Theatrical Feature FilmPaul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”Kenneth Branagh, “Belfast”Jane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”Steven Spielberg, “West Side Story”Denis Villeneuve, “Dune”First-Time Feature Film DirectorMaggie Gyllenhaal, “The Lost Daughter”Rebecca Hall, “Passing”Tatiana Huezo, “Prayers for the Stolen”Lin-Manuel Miranda, “tick, tick…BOOM!”Michael Sarnoski, “Pig”Emma Seligman, “Shiva Baby”DocumentaryJessica Kingdon, “Ascension”Stanley Nelson, “Attica”Raoul Peck, “Exterminate All the Brutes”Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)”Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin, “The Rescue”Drama SeriesKevin Bray, “Succession”: “Retired Janitors of Idaho”Mark Mylod, “Succession”: “All the Bells Say”Andrij Parekh, “Succession”: “What It Takes”Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman, “Succession”: “Lion in the Meadow”Lorene Scafaria, “Succession”: “Too Much Birthday”Comedy SeriesLucia Aniello, “Hacks”: “There Is No Line”MJ Delaney, “Ted Lasso”: “No Weddings and a Funeral”Erica Dunton, “Ted Lasso”: “Rainbow”Sam Jones, “Ted Lasso”: “Beard After Hours”Mike White, “The White Lotus”: “Mysterious Monkeys”Movies for Television and Limited SeriesBarry Jenkins, “The Underground Railroad”Barry Levinson, “Dopesick”: “First Bottle”Hiro Murai, “Station Eleven”: “Wheel of Fire”Danny Strong: “Dopesick”: “The People vs. Purdue Pharma”Craig Zobel, “Mare of Easttown”Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Regularly Scheduled ProgrammingPaul G.

Andrew Barker Senior Features WriterWhen the Directors Guild of America’s annual awards gets underway March 12, there will be a number of changes from years previous. Most obviously, the ceremony will finally be held in person at the Beverly Hilton, after two straight years of virtual celebrations.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaFlorence Pugh may soon be touching down in Arrakis.The Oscar-nominated star of “Little Women” and “Black Widow” is in negotiations to join the cast of “Dune: Part 2,” Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros.’ follow-up to the critically acclaimed, commercially successful (for a pandemic) “Dune.” If the deal closes, Pugh will play Princess Irulan Corrino, a royal who becomes romantically entangled with Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. It’s a critical role, one with the potential to grow if “Dune” stretches deeper into novelist Frank Herbert’s literary canon.Production on the sequel is expected to start this summer, and the film is slated to hit theaters on Oct.

Though Part One is in the home stretch of its award season campaign, Warner Bros. and Legendary’s Dune Part Two is ramping up its pre-production efforts as sources tell Deadline Florence Pugh is in negotiations to join the cast. While not confirmed, sources say she will play Princess Irulan Corrino, the eldest daughter to Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV. She will join returning cast members that include Timothee Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya and Josh Brolin with director, producer and co-screenwriter Denis Villeneuve also returning.