Outrage Over Ridley Scott Not Getting Oscar Nom For Directing

I recently interviewed the Oscar-winning screenwriter of “The Departed,” William Monahan and he shared with me how angry he was that “The Martian” has received Oscar nominations this year for Best Picture and Best Actor categories and yet they completely snubbed director Ridley Scott..

“I will say that I’m very angry that Ridley Scott didn’t get nominated as director for ‘The Martian.’ I’m very happy for the Golden Globe thing, and I’m happy for the nomination for Matt [Damon] and the best picture for the Oscars but I really think that Ridley should’ve gotten a nomination this year. He should’ve won for a lot of things, it also goes back to ‘Black Hawk Down,’ he should’ve won for that as well.”

Monahan wrote 2005’s epic movie, “Kingdom Of Heaven” which was directed by Ridley Scott, and Monahan adapted 2008’s “Body Of Lies” which was also directed by Ridley Scott.
Monahan further told me that he sometimes wonders the thinking that comes into this Oscar nomination process.

“If there is a category called Best Director and you’re looking at best directed film of the year as was definitely the case with ‘Black Hawk Down’ and ‘The Martian’ as well, what kind of mental map removes the line of interest away from something that is the best directed picture of that year? What other formula enters into it? Either a picture is the best directed picture of that year or it isn’t. So what are the other criteria? What can people possibly be thinking when they nominate a film for best actor and best picture but leave out the man made who made both?! So that’s my two-cents on that one.”

I didn’t mention to Monahan that the current outrage over this year’s Oscars nominations is over its lack of diversity in the acting categories which resulted in the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag that had gone trending on twitter.
But I also understand Monahan’s frustration over Scott being overlooked, he’s one of all-time greats, but hey, at the very least Scott is nominated for being one of the producers of the best picture nod, “The Martian” and so maybe if “The Martian” wins, it’d be like a few years back when “Argo” won best picture which gave Ben Affleck an Oscar although it wasn’t for directing.

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Well I dont like Miller getting a Nomination For Mad max Fury Road. Over Ridley or JJ ABrams For Force Awakens.

No way did J.J. Abrams deserve a directing nod. The sheer amount of planning alone for Mad Max earns the spot over Abrams. I really dug The Martian, but haven't seen either Room or The Big Short to say if it deserved it over them. The other three nominations deserve to be there.

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I don't think Ridley Scott deserved a Best Director nom. The Martian is overrated IMO and Matt Damon shouldn't have been nominated for Best Actor over more-worthy candidates. It sounds to me like Monahan is letting his personal/professional relationship with Scott color his thinking.
Also, it's not as simple as "Best Picture nom + Best Actor nom = guaranteed Best Director nom". There are more Best Picture noms than Director noms, and there is more to directing a movie than the performance of your lead actor.

No pundit I read before the noms were announced did not have Ridley Scott being nominated.

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I don't know how outrageous it is, but it was a little surprising. There was a nice little EW piece on it, HERE.

I liked this bit...

Not that there haven't been just as many bonafide auteurs who have been snubbed over the decades, but I think that is an interesting take. If you are bitter about only being hired to do a made-for-TV project the last couple years and you aren't the kind of director who generates their own material, rather than wanting to lift up one of your brethren thus validating your own place in the pecking order you may have a well-F-him-I-know-if-I-were-given-the-reigns-to-a-movie-like-that-I-could-make-it-good-too reaction. OK, I'm no Paul Thomas Anderson, granted....but I could have directed the ***** out of The Martian! Kind of the way the manager of a team like The New York Yankees is viewed? Oh, big deal, he got them to the playoffs. If I had that payroll and lineup and they went out and traded for another superstar every time somebody got injured, anyone could have had them win ninety-five games. Sure Ridley Scott did a good job with The Martian, but who outside of Ewe Boll wouldn't have?

That's a very bitter, shallow way to look at directing and what Ridley Scott brings to this or any project, but it's as likely an explanation as any, I reckon.


For my money The Martian is one of the best directed movies of the year, but that Ridley didn't make the cut for nominees this year isn't anywhere near the top of my list of the dumbest mistakes made in this category. He wasn't going to win, anyway, so it's rather a moot point. Ridley has three previous nominations, for Themla & Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down. He hasn't won one, despite Gladiator being named Best Picture (Steve Soderbergh won that year, for Traffic). Frankly I don't think he should have been nominated for Black Hawk Down. That year I would have put Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie), Christopher Nolan (Memento), Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums), Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores Perros), Wong Kar-Wai (In the Mood for Love) and several others ahead of him, and at the time there was much outcry that Baz Luhrmannn was snubbed for Moulin Rouge!

So in Ridley's personal Oscar history, this year he didn't make the cut when he probably should but if you go back there was a year he did make the cut when he probably shouldn't have.


That's the Academy Awards for you.

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I have always been puzzled as to how films can be nominated for Best Picture and the director not be nominated. I mean, it's not like the film directed itself. Driving Miss Daisy won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1989 but the director, Bruce Beresford, wasn't even nominated? Maybe the awards for Picture and Director shouldn't always go the same movie, but I really think it's odd that a film is nominated for one award and not the other.

8 slots for best picture, 5 for director. A few have to miss the cut,

The directors nominate Best Director while everybody nominates Best Picture.

I would've taken out Abrahamson or McCarthy. Both directed fine movies but those were more script-heavy.

I kind of liked the understated direction of Spotlight from McCarthy. If it were too showy, it would distract from the story itself. He served the script as a director and directed the actors well.

Also the whole thing is flawed. Apparently a lot of people didn't bother voting for Ben Affleck because they all thought him being nominated was a given....then he wasn't. Argo picked up A LOT of wins that year, but not one for Best Director.