.
Best Director
has been a tough category for me. I am 1
for 3, however, I should point out that for both of my losing years, my 2nd
place pick is was the winning director.
So, I haven’t been too far off.
For a complete
look at eligibility and voting procedures, please take a look at last year’s
post: 84th Academy Awards – Best Director.
**********
Nominations:
·
Michael Haneke – Amour
o
1st nomination for Director. Also nominated for Best Original Screenplay
Haneke
is an award winning Austrian filmmaker having won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes
Film Festival in 2009 for The White Ribbon. And he is also known for his film The
Piano Teacher.
For
directing, Haneke has won the Bavarian Film Award, European Film Award, and the
National Society of Film Critics Award.
·
Ang Lee – Life of Pi
o
3rd nomination for direction, 1 win for Brokeback
Mountain and was previously nominated for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. He has also received two nominations for Best
Picture as producer.
Lee
is Taiwanese and is known for his eclectic filmography, having made films from
almost every setting and genre: Sense
and Sensibility (British period drama), The Ice Storm (American
ensemble drama), Ride with the Devil (American western), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(Chinese action/Martial Arts), Hulk (American superhero), Brokeback
Mountain (western melodrama), Lust, Caution (espionage thriller), Taking
Woodstock (comedy).
Lee
is considered by many to be a front runner in this category, and sure, he’s
been nominated for tons of awards this year and Life of Pi is amazing…
but he has garnered very few notable wins:
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award and Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Award.
·
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
o
2nd nomination for directing. Previously nominated for The Fighter. Also nominated this year for Adapted
Screenplay.
Russell
broke out on the scene in 1994 with his oddly titled film Spanking the Monkey which
earned him two Independent Spirit Awards and the Audience Award at the Sundance
Film Festival. He followed it up with Flirting
with Disaster, Three Kings, I Heart Huckabees, and The
Fighter.
Russell
has won the Satellite Award and was named ‘Director of the Year’ at the
Hollywood Film Festival.
·
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
o
7th nomination for directing, 2 wins for Schindler’s
List and Saving Private Ryan.
Previously nominated for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders
of the Lost Ark, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Munich.
o
He has also produced 8 Best Picture nominated films and is the recipient
of the Academy’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for his body of work.
Spielberg
needs no introduction, so I won’t waste my time.
This
year Spielberg has been nominated for just about everything, however, he has
not won for his efforts.
·
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
o
1st nomination for directing, also nominated for
Adapted Screenplay.
Zeitlin
made this film two years ago when he was only 28 years old… which kind of makes
me want to kick him in the knee. That
said, Beasts is a fantastic first film, however, I can’t help but
feel like he took the space of a legitimate nominee, who could have and should
have won. But I will get to that later.
Zeitlin
has won the Durban International Film Festival Directing Award, ‘Breakthrough
Director’ at the Gotham Awards, ‘Best Directorial Debut’ by the National Board
of Review, ‘Director to Watch’ at the Palm Springs International Film Festival,
named Best Director at the Seattle International Film Festival, and ‘Best
Directorial Debut’ at the Stockholm Film Festival. He will probably win the Independent Spirit
Award tonight as well.
**********
My Two Cents:
Okay, this category really annoys me this year. I just can’t understand why Ben Affleck is
not nominated. Not only has he won the
BAFTA Award and Golden Globe, but he also won the Directors Guild of America
Award!!!!! And only two of this year’s
Oscar nominees were also nominated by the Guild! In addition, he has won the Broadcast Film
Critics Association Award, Florida Film Critics Circle Award, San Diego Film
Critics Society Award, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association Award.
And get this… most of his loses have been to Kathryn Bigelow (Zero
Dark Thirty) who isn’t nominated either!
Erg! Not having Affleck in
the mix makes this a tough category, however, I think it gives Ang Lee the
edge.
**********
Prediction:
1. Ang Lee – Life of Pi
2. David O. Russell – Silver
Linings Playbook
3. Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
4. Michael Haneke -
Amour
5. Benh Zeitlin – Beasts
of the Southern Wild
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