At this point in the race, it’s always mildly difficult to pick which five directors will make the final Best Director line-up. Will they merely match nominees up for Best Picture? Will a filmmaker responsible for a Best Picture contender be snubbed? And will the Academy throw in a wildcard pick for the fifth slot?
By virtue of Belfast currently sitting in pole position for Best Picture, Kenneth Branagh finds himself in an equal spot for Best Director. In the past five years, the two awards have lined up three times, so it’s hard to know if we’re heading for a split year or not. Belfast is such a personal project for Branagh, and it would feel odd to see the film win Best Picture and not award the man whose life inspired it. In saying that, this is precisely what happened to Alfonso Cuarón and Roma.
Last year, Chloé Zhao became the second female filmmaker to win this category. This year, Jane Campion could become the first woman to be nominated for Best Director for a second time. Campion was likely the runner-up for this prize back in 1993 for The Piano, so this could be her year. 2020 was the first time two female directors were nominated in the same year. Could that happen again with Rebecca Hall (Passing) or Julia Ducourneau (Titane) joining Campion?
For the last three years in a row, the Academy has chosen an “international” filmmaker in their fifth Best Director slot. Thomas Vinterberg stunned most pundits with his 2020 nomination for Another Round, which bodes well for filmmakers like Ducourneau, Paolo Sorrentino (The Hand of God), Asghar Farhadi (A Hero), and Jonas Poher Rasmussen (Flee).
BEST DIRECTOR PREDICTIONS:
1. Kenneth Branagh – Belfast (Focus Features)
2. Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog (Netflix)
3. Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza (MGM)
4. Guillermo del Toro – Nightmare Alley (Searchlight Pictures)
5. Asghar Farhadi – A Hero (Amazon Studios)
IN CONTENTION
Joel Coen – The Tragedy of Macbeth (A24/Apple TV+)
Julia Ducourneau – Titane (Neon)
Reinaldo Marcus Green – King Richard (Warner Bros.)
Rebecca Hall – Passing (Netflix)
Pablo Larraín – Spencer (Neon)
Jonas Poher Rasmussen – Flee (Neon)
Ridley Scott – House of Gucci (MGM)
Paolo Sorrentino – The Hand of God (Netflix)
Steven Spielberg – West Side Story (20th Century Studios)
Denis Villeneuve – Dune (Warner Bros.)