Who are the Daniels: Spielberg’s competition at the Oscars for best director?

‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ leads the way when it comes to the 2023 Oscars, as the film received 11 nominations, including Best Picture.

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as the Daniels, the duo have established themselves in the entertainment world thanks to the hit film, along with other projects.

Who are the Daniels?

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert are collectively known as the Daniels.

Kwan was born in Massachusetts on February 10, 1988 and Scheinert was born on June 7, 1987 Alabama in, but the duo met while they were both studying at Emerson College in Boston.

Initially, the duo began their careers directing and making music videos after Scheinert convinced Kwan to join him in Los Angeles to make a music video for ‘Underwear’ by FM Belfast.

After the video was well received, they were offered $12,000 to make another one.

“We never thought we’d become these music-video directors,” Scheinert told Vulture. “We were like, Oh, I guess we’ll do another one. Oh, I guess we’re a duo. Oh, I guess we’re a duo that does music videos.”

The Daniels and ‘Turn Down for What’

The duo went on to make videos for artists like Foster the People, The Shins and Tenacious D, though they are perhaps best known for the 2013 hit ‘Turn Down for What’ by DJ Snake and Lil Jon.

The video features Kwan twerking his way through the floors of an apartment building as dancing breaks out around him. The video has over 1.1 billion views on YouTube since its release.

It’s around that time that the Daniels began to work on the script for their first feature film, ‘Swiss Army Man’, and the success of the music video helped them get the project off the ground.

The film stars Paul Dano as Hank Thompson and Daniel Radcliffe as Manny in what is a surrealist comedy-drama. After Dano’s character is on the verge of hanging himself after being marooned on an island, the flatulent corpse of Radcliffe’s Manny joins him.

From there the film becomes a story about friendship and loyalty, and it was well received by critics after premiering at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

The Daniels and ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’

After accumulating several television directing credits, the Daniels announced they would be writing, directing and producing the sci-fi film ‘Everything Everywhere all At Once’.

The movie, which stars Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong and Jamie Lee Curtis, was released in March 2022, became a box office hit and a critically acclaimed film.

Having grossed over $100 million worldwide on a close to $15 million budget, the film has exceeded most expectations, especially after landing 11 Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.

That nomination has them up against nine other films, including ‘The Fabelmans’, which is directed by Steven Spielberg.

We’ll see whether the Daniels can take down the 76-year-old Sunday night when the hardware is handed out at the 95th annual Academy Awards.