The 2016 best debut director award went to Alex Garland for Ex Machina.
All three key Oscar contenders have been named in the five-strong shortlist for this year’s Directors Guild of America awards.
Davis is also named in the debut directors list, alongside Tim Miller for Deadpool, Kelly Fremon Craig for The Edge of Seventeen, Dan Trachtenberg for 10 Cloverfield Lane and Nate Parker for The Birth of a Nation.
The DGAs have diverged from the Academy Awards’ top prize only seven times since 1948, meaning the victor this year will be cemented as the Oscars frontrunner.