Oscar's Best Director 2023

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Who will be named Best Director?
9.52%
2 votes
Todd Field, Tár
28.57%
6 votes
Daniels Kwan & Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
14.29%
3 votes
Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
14.29%
3 votes
Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness
33.33%
7 votes
Steven Spielberg, The Fablemans
21 votes. You may not vote on this poll




The nominees are...



Todd Field, Tár
Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything
Everywhere All at Once

Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness
Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
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Spielberg will likely win,which I'm totally fine with. Field and the Daniels would also be deserving. I wasn't impressed with the direction in Banshees. I haven't seen Triangle of Sadness yet.



Spielberg
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The trick is not minding
With this nomination, Spielberg ties Scorsese with 9. This moves him into a tie for second all time, trailing William Wyler, who leads all directors with 12 nominations.

If Spielberg wins, it will be his third, which would also move him into a tie for second all time along with Wyler and Capra, also with 3 each, trailing only John Ford who won 4 times in 5 nominations.
None of those nominations came for The Searchers, btw.



And Scorsese will almost surely pass Spielberg again next year when he is nominated for Killers of the Flower Moon. Wish they would have completed that for 2022.





This is Ruben Östlund’s first Oscar nomination. He burst onto the international stage with Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017), the latter of which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. He joins Jan Troell (The Emigrants), Ingmar Bergman (Cries & Whispers, Face to Face, Fanny & Alexander), and Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog) as the only Swedish filmmakers to be nominated. He won’t become the first Swede to win this time out, but his surprise nomination for Triangle of Sadness is a victory in itself.




This is also Todd Field’s first nomination, here. He began his career as an actor (Eyes Wide Shut, Twister, Ruby in Paradise, Walking & Talking) but has gained more clout as a writer/director. His debut, In the Bedroom, was a critical favorite and nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture and his Best Adapted Screenplay. His follow up Little Children got another three Oscar noms including another Best Adapted Screenplay. Tár is his third feature and has six nominations including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and here for Best Director. He has “only” made the three films in twenty-one years, but each is worth the wait and the Academy loves him. He won’t be Best Director this time, but it would be foolish to bet against his returning.




Martin McDonagh began as a playwright and his voice has been a welcome addition to cinema. Fifteen years ago his feature debut, In Bruges, charmed critics and audiences but the Oscars liked him even before that when his Six Shooter won Best Live Action Short at the 2006 ceremony. Three years later In Bruges was nominated as Best Original Screenplay (losing to the biopic Milk). Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was nominated for six Oscars including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay – though not Best Director – and won Best Actress for Frances McDormand and Best Supporting Actor for Sam Rockwell. The Banshees of Inisherin has nine nominations in eight categories, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Martin’s first nod as Best Director. The last two Brits to win were Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) and Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) twelve and fourteen years ago, and before them it was Sam Mendes (American Beauty) and Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) in the 1990s. If this isn’t his year it does seem as though he will be nominated again down the line.




Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, also know more simply as “The Daniels”, are enjoying their first nominations, too. They first had a reputation as music video directors and their debut feature, Swiss Army Man, was an instant cult fave. Their follow up, Everything Everywhere All at Once, seemed predestined for further building their cult legend status…but it got such glowing reviews and such good word of mouth that it became an unlikely awards season staple, capped off by a stunning eleven Oscar nominations in ten categories including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and co-Best Director. They are only the fourth credited duo to be nominated. Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise were the first when they won for the original West Side Story, seventeen years later Warren Beatty & Buck Henry shared the nomination for Heaven Can Wait (Cimino’s year for The Deer Hunter), and then Joel & Ethan Coen have been co-nominated twice for No Country for Old Men and True Grit, winning for the former (back when Fargo was nominated Joel was still taking sole directorial credit). Will The Daniels join them in the Academy’s winner’s circle?




And in addition to all of those first-time nominees there’s this other fella you may have heard of. Steven Spielberg is quite possibly the most famous film director in history. It’s either him or Hitchcock with not many arguments for anyone else. This is Spielberg’s NINTH Best Director nomination. Last year he set a record by becoming the first filmmaker to have nominations in SIX different decades. They are The Fabelmans and West Side Story in the 2020s, Lincoln in the 2010s, Munich in the 2000s, Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List (his only two wins, to date) in the 1990s, E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark in the 1980s, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the 1970s (he was somehow not nominated for Jaws). This ninth nomination breaks his tie with Billy Wilder and puts him in another tie with his friend Martin Scorsese for the second most nominations ever. Only William Wyler, with twelve, has more. Scorsese will likely get his tenth next year for Killers of the Flower Moon, but will he or Spielberg make enough movies to tie or pass Wyler? If Spielberg does win his third Best Director that will move him in a tie with Frank Capra and Billy Wilder. Only the mighty John Ford has more, at four. And that is the actual John Ford, and not David Lynch’s amusingly awesome Fabelmans cameo.

The momentum sure seems to be going Spielberg’s way. As always, keep an eye on the DGA Award. Its winner rarely deviates from the Oscar winner. Spielberg, The Daniels, McDonagh, and Field all have the corresponding DGA nominations. The only difference is the Academy voters went with Ruben Östlund while the Directors Guild nominated Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick). If anyone but Kosinski wins the DGA Award they are automatic odds-on favorites here.



I have now seen all five of the nominees and I still say Spielberg is going to win, though Everything Everywhere all at Once could be a dark horse here and pull it out.



I forgot the opening line.
I've seen all 5 films and I want Ruben Östlund to win this one to make up for the fact that Triangle of Sadness won't win Best Picture but I figure it isn't in the cards either. Give it to the Daniels - they gave us so much joy with Everything Everywhere All at Once - and it really took something special to actually make that film.

This is Ruben Östlund’s first Oscar nomination. He burst onto the international stage with Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017), the latter of which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. He joins Jan Troell (The Emigrants), Ingmar Bergman (Cries & Whispers, Face to Face, Fanny & Alexander), and Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog) as the only Swedish filmmakers to be nominated. He won’t become the first Swede to win this time out, but his surprise nomination for Triangle of Sadness is a victory in itself.
He's won two Palme d’Or prizes now, he also won one for Triangle of Sadness.
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Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
And in addition to all of those first-time nominees there’s this other fella you may have heard of. Steven Spielberg
Never heard of him. Must be some greenhorn.
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The Daniels - Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert - won The Directors Guild of America's Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures award last night for Everything Everywhere All at Once. This makes them the overwhelming favorites to win the Best Director Oscar. Of all the guilds and other awards shows nothing is as reliable a predictor as to who will win the corresponding Academy Award as the Directors Guild of America. Since 1950 these two awards have not matched only eight times. Eight out of seventy-one is 89%. Some of these "predictors" from other awards shows and ceremonies hover much closer to 50% and 60% accuracy. It is not usually smart to bet against the DGA.

Of those eight discrepancies in seven decades three of them were even stranger anomalies in that the DGA winner wasn't even nominated for the Oscar. Those were Steven Spielberg for The Color Purple (Sydney Pollack won the Oscar for Out of Africa), Ron Howard for Apollo 13 (Mel Gibson won the Oscar for Braveheart), and Ben Affleck for Argo (Ang Lee won the Oscar for Life of Pi). Which means when the DGA winner is nominated for the Best Director Oscar they have won all but five times in seventy-one years! Now you're up to 93% accuracy.

Since The Daniels are nominated for both that means you are going against some serious history if you bet against them winning Oscar gold. It is worth pointing out that the DGA did have one of its ultra-rare misses just three ceremonies ago when they picked Sam Mendes (1917) for their top prize while the Oscar went to Bong Joon-Ho for Parasite. That was the first time the two prizes were different with the same eligible winner since 2002 when Rob Marshall earned the DGA for Chicago but Roman Polanski got the Oscar in absentia for The Pianist. The only other three misses in Oscar history were 1968 when Anthony Harvey won the DGA for The Lion in Winter and Carol Reed the Oscar for Oliver!, 1972 when Francis Ford Coppola won the DGA for The Godfather but Bob Fosse the Oscar for Cabaret, and 2000 when Ang Lee won the DGA for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Steven Soderbergh the Oscar for Traffic. When it happened two out of three years to open the 21st Century that was the closest the misses ever came grouped together.

Bong Joon-Ho is the rare exception to the rule, and if you had him in your Oscar pool you looked like a bonafide genius or witch. But exceptions are just that. It would still be unwise to bet against anyone but The Daniels come Oscar night.



The trick is not minding
I still think it’s Spielberg’s to lose. I know he has 2 already, but the academy has been less reluctant to award the statue to someone who has already won it previously, even if the recipient had already won it twice.

I’m thinking of Gonzalez-Inarritu winning two years in a row as director, something only done twice before and more then several decades prior (Ford and Mankiewicz).
Day Lewis winning best actor for a third time in 2012.
Frances McDormand winning best actress for a third time.
Blanchett favored to win her third overall award (she already has 1 BA and 1 BSA).
I feel like it may still happen. But yes, you would be betting against history. Which of course I will.



The Daniels winning Best Director would be lame. That movie does not deserve all the hype it received. Nobody...and I mean nobody... will be talking about that movie a few years from now.

If anything, Speilberg deserves to win, even though I didn't think Fablemans was that great either.

Movies today and the whole Hollywood scene is just boring nowadays. 2019 was the last really good year for film in my opinion. Since then, it's been pretty dull.



The trick is not minding
The Daniels winning Best Director would be lame. That movie does not deserve all the hype it received. Nobody...and I mean nobody... will be talking about that movie a few years from now.

If anything, Speilberg deserves to win, even though I didn't think Fablemans was that great either.

Movies today and the whole Hollywood scene is just boring nowadays. 2019 was the last really good year for film in my opinion. Since then, it's been pretty dull.
This is really just an opinion and not necessarily the correct one. We have no crystal ball to determine wether or not anyone will be talking about it a few years from now, which really isn’t a great baseline for determining a movies worth anyways.
I saw it in the cinemas, with a friend, and we both enjoyed it, but if pressed, I doubt it’ll appear on my decades end top 100 (coming to you not so soon!). That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, I quite did honestly, but I also recognize there are those who love the film.
So it winning best director, wouldn’t be a disappointment, per se.



Daniels Kwan i think. To bring that bonkers plot of a movie to life takes some skill. But i would like to see McDonagh win it. Maybe the Oscars will pull a fast one and give to Spielberg as he might be ending his career soon.
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