Directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan Receive Top Honor At The DGA Awards

Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan - Axelle/Bauer-Griffin

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) revealed its winners for the 2023 DGA Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on February 18, 2023. Directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan took home the top prize for their film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The highest honor of the evening went to Scheinert and Kwan (a.k.a. the Daniels) for their work as directors of a theatrical feature film. They appeared on stage with their AD crew. Kwan gushed about how exciting the year 2022 was for him and everyone else working on the movie. He acknowledged that without Michelle Yeoh, they would not be where they are today and thanked A24 for saying "yes" when many others did not. He continued, "You're just the craziest studio and always do somehow take risks on movies like ours." Scheinert thanked Kwan for going along with some of his more outrageous ideas for Everything Everywhere All at Once and appreciated the time Kwan spent making the film “so much braver and more vulnerable.”

Every year, each feature film director nominee receives a special presentation of their film and is allowed to make a speech. This year, Stephanie Hsu introduced her Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Kwan and Scheinert. Special attention was drawn to the Daniels’ Directorial Team: Unit Production Manager Allison Rose Carter; First Assistant Director Rodney Smith; Second Assistant Director John Nasraway; and Second Second Assistant Director Ken C. Wu.