Oscar-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan has been elected president of the Directors Guild of America, taking over from Lesli Linka Glatter, who completed two terms at the helm. Nolan, a long-time DGA member and current board director, will now lead the union as it prepares for upcoming negotiations with major studios.
“To be elected President of the Directors Guild of America is one of the greatest honours of my career,” Nolan said. “Our industry is experiencing tremendous change, and I thank the Guild’s membership for entrusting me with this responsibility. I also want to thank President Glatter for her leadership over the past four years. I look forward to collaborating with her and the newly elected board to achieve important creative and economic protections for our members.”
Nolan’s election was confirmed Saturday evening at the DGA’s biennial national convention, where 167 delegates representing over 19,500 members cast their votes. His ascent is a rare example of a top-tier filmmaker taking on a leadership role in the union at the peak of their career.
Over the last four years, the DGA has concentrated lobbying efforts on set safety, pushing for a California pilot programme requiring safety supervisors on productions funded by the state’s film and TV tax incentive. The union has also been active in expanding the state’s tax credit to include a wider range of productions.
Looking ahead, the union’s negotiations with the Alliance for Motion Picture and Television Producers are expected to begin early next year, with key priorities including expanding foreign streaming residuals. Notably, during the last contract cycle in 2023, the DGA was the only one of the Big Three unions to reach a new deal without a work stoppage; the current contract runs through June 30, 2026.
Nolan brings to the role a track record of both critical and commercial success, having directed everything from genre-defining films like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight to high-concept dramas such as Inception and Tenet, as well as historical epics like Dunkirk and Oppenheimer. He earned two Oscars for his stewardship of 2023’s Oppenheimer and is currently gearing up for his next cinematic venture, The Odyssey, an epic adventure set to release in July from Universal Pictures.
