Hollywood Shake-Up: Christopher Nolan Named DGA President

Fresh off winning the DGA’s top honor for Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan has been named the guild’s new president.

Christopher Nolan just added another job to his already stacked resume: running the Directors Guild of America. Yes, the guy who turned a three-hour, R-rated biopic into a box-office juggernaut is now steering the guild. And the timing is interesting.

The new gig

A year after winning the DGA Award, Nolan has been elected president of the DGA, succeeding Lesli Linka Glatter, who served from 2021 to 2025. He thanked members and praised Glatter on the way in, and made it clear his focus will be on protecting directors both creatively and financially in a business that is mid-earthquake right now.

"To be elected President of the Directors Guild of America is one of the greatest honors of my career. 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."

The timing (and the awkward what-if)

This lands less than a year before Nolan's next film, The Odyssey, hits theaters. He is still riding the post-Oppenheimer wave, which sets up a very inside baseball wrinkle: no sitting DGA president has ever been nominated for the Guild's top directing prize. Plenty of presidents, like Nolan, were recognized before they took the job — but winning (or even being nominated) while in the chair has never happened. If The Odyssey is an awards player, that could get... interesting.

Who he is leading with

• First Vice-President: Todd Holland (The Wizard)
• Second Vice-President: Ron Howard (Apollo 13)
• Third Vice-President: Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King)

How the Guild framed it

In its announcement, the DGA basically wrote a love letter to what Nolan does best: practical filmmaking over digital shortcuts, nonlinear narratives, and big ideas about time, identity, and morality — all while championing the theatrical experience. The other point they made (loudly): he balances art and commerce. His films are both critically acclaimed and massive moneymakers, with grosses totaling in the billions worldwide.

A little history

Nolan joins a line of notable presidents this century that includes Taylor Hackford, Michael Apted, and Martha Coolidge — the first woman to lead the Guild.