If the Best Picture race is mostly a toss-up of potential players, there is even more room for surprises in the Best Director category. The only two frontrunners, and even that is a shaky qualification, are Sean Baker for his Palme d’Or-winning “Anora” and Jacques Audiard for another Cannes breakout, “Emilia Perez.” The other three slots are still very competitive, although Venice Film Festival Best Director winner Brady Corbet is certainly up there for “The Brutalist.” Then it gets quite interesting.
The most important thing to know when looking at this category is The Academy’s Directing branch has a larger number of international members than many of the other branches. That has been reflected in the nomination classes over the past decade, where there has been at least one non-American or British filmmaker nominated and, more often than not, two. Last year’s class saw filmmakers nominated for two non-English language films and only one Yankee in the mix overall. Moreover, after decades of male-dominated nominee classes, a woman has thankfully been nominated three out of the last four years. That’s either a lot of pressure on “The Substance” filmmaker Coralie Fargeat or a hint she has a better chance than you’d think for a movie that can accurately be described as body horror.
The main crop of contenders also includes Luca Guadaginio, who has both “Challengers” and “Queer” in the running. The films have separate distributors, so it will be intriguing to find out which movie he places his bet on (we’d suggest the former). The Italian filmmaker is also a former nominee in this category, as is Steve McQueen, who won for “12 Years A Slave,” and the legendary Pedro Almodóvar, who is in the running for his first English language feature, “The Room Next Door.” “Dune Part II’s” Denis Villeneuve is the only director in the running this season who was nominated in this category two times previously.
Edward Berger saw his last movie, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” nominated for Best Picture as he took home an Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Could he make the director’s cut for “Conclave”? “Civil War’s” Alex Garland was nominated for Original Screenplay for “Ex Machina” while Mohammad Rasoulof, who escaped Iran before the world premiere of “The Seed of the Sacre Fig,” took a special award at Cannes. “Nickel Boys” auteur RaMell Ross may or may not have an advantage as a former Best Documentary nominee in 2020 for “Hale County This Morning, This Evening.”
And then there are four potential nominees whose films have not screened in any manner yet, including “A Complete Unknown’s” James Mangold, who directed “Ford vs. Ferrari” to a Best Picture nomination and earned an Adapted Screenplay nom for “Logan.” There is also Ridley Scott, a three-time nominee in this category, who returns with “Gladiator II” and “Here’s” Robert Zemeckis, who won in 1995 for “Forest Gump.” Also waiting to be considered are “Nosferatu’s” Robert Eggers and, potentially, “Wicked’s” Jon M. Chu.
As the weeks and months of the season progress, however, just keep in mind the influence the more auteur and international members have in this category. [Posted September 30]
Frontrunners
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Perez”
In the mix
Luca Guadaginio, “Challengers”
Pedro Almodóvar, “The Room Next Door”
Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”
Steve McQueen, “Blitz”
Denis Villeneuve, “Dune Part II”
Edward Berger, “Conclave”
RaMell Ross, “Nickel Boys”
Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”
Mohammad Rasoulof, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
Alex Garland, “Civil War”
Possible
James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”*
Robert Eggers, “Nosferatu”*
Jon M. Chu, “Wicked”*
Ridley Scott, “Gladiator II”*
Robert Zemeckis, “Here”*
Longshots
Mike Leigh, “Hard Truths”
Luca Guadaginio, “Queer”
Jesse Eisenberg, “A Real Pain”
Tim Fehlbaum, “September 5”
Michael Gracey, “Better Man”
Pablo Larrain, “Maria”
Barry Jenkins, “Mufasa: The Lion King”
Greg Kwedar, “Sing Sing”
Marielle Heller, “Nightbitch”
*not screened publicly for media at publication