By Emma of Final Cut.
The Academy Award for Best Director has long been a controversial one. Often labelled as ‘sexist’, the Academy has never given the award to a woman and in its eighty-one year history has only nominated three. Lina Wertműller was the first to be nominated in 1977 for Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties). The film earned a total of four nominations (director, foreign film, actor in a leading role and original screenplay) but didn’t win any. Jane Campion was nominated for The Piano in 1994 which won three awards (leading actress, supporting actress and original screenplay) and earned a further five nominations (director, cinematography, costume design, editing and best picture). The latest woman to be nominated was Sofia Coppola in 2004 for Lost in Translation. Like Campion, the film was also nominated for Best Picture and she took home the award for Original Screenplay (the film was further nominated for leading actor). The issue with films directed by women receiving nominations in other categories has been a long-running one with all three nominated female directors picking up Best Screenplay and actors winning Oscars for roles written or directed by women (Melissa Leo in Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River, Charlize Theron in Patty Jenkins’ Monster and Hilary Swank in Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don’t Cry).
2009 has been a great year for women directors. Big names include Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), Nancy Meyers (It’s Complicated), Nora Ephron (Julie and Julia), Jane Campion (Bright Star), Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank), Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel), Anne Fletcher (The Proposal), Drew Barrymore (Whip It) and Lone Scherfig (An Education). These names have proved successful with critics, at festivals, early awards ceremonies or with audiences. Andrea Arnold has already picked up awards at Cannes Film Festival and the British Independent Film Awards and Jane Campion and Kathryn Bigelow were both strong early contenders to pick up the Oscar for Best Director this year. They face competition from Golden Globe nominees Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), Lee Daniels (Precious, Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) and Golden Globe winner James Cameron (Avatar).
The Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture often go hand in hand. Of the eighty films that have won Best Picture, fifty-nine of those also won Best Director with just three Best Picture winners not nominated for Best Director. It has also been argued that there are links between Golden Globe winners and Oscar winners but recent years have seen differences between the big winners. Seventeen of the last twenty five Best Director winners at the Golden Globes won the Oscar and eighteen of the last twenty five Best Picture winners at the Golden Globes won the Oscar. Until Avatar was released, I firmly believed that The Hurt Locker would win Best Picture and Best Director but seeing as blockbusters like Titanic and The Lord of the Rings have won big in recent years, I think James Cameron’s latest technical triumph stands a good chance. I just think it would be a shame to see a film that is often reviewed as being all style and no substance win over a more topical, dramatic and intense one. Cameron told Variety, “I remember being outraged when Star Wars lost to Annie Hall. I thought, ‘Well that’s ridiculous. Star Wars changed the face of filmmaking and Annie Hall’s a nice little film.’ I like Annie Hall but I thought that was outrageous.” Personally, unless a film has an engaging plot and jaw-dropping effects, I don’t think it should be nominated for more than the technical awards. I like to see smaller films rewarded.
Hopes are now high for Kathryn Bigelow to become the first woman to win Best Director. Having recently won the Directors Guild of America award, Bigelow is now a shoo-in for the little gold man. In the sixty years since the first DGA award was accepted, only six times has the recipient not won the Oscar and she was the first woman to receive it.
The Big Five
Kathryn Bigelow – The Hurt Locker
Previous features as director: The Loveless (1982), Near Dark (1987), Blue Steel (1989), Point Break (1991), Strange Days (1985), The Weight of Water (2000), K-19: The Widowmaker (2002).
Previous awards: Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films (won Best Director for Strange Days and was nominated for Near Dark), BAFTA (nominated for Best Director for The Hurt Locker), Directors Guild of America (won Best Director for The Hurt Locker), Golden Globes (nominated for Best Director for The Hurt Locker), many critics and festival awards for Best Director for The Hurt Locker.
What the critics said: Rob Daniels at Sky Movies - “Kathryn Bigelow’s explosive, edge-of-the-seat thriller is one the best war movies ever made. After years in the wilderness, the director’s stunning return to form is set, fittingly enough, in the arid landscape of a scorched Iraq.”Dave Calhoun at Time Out – “Bigelow’s film combines an expert management of tension with a sensitive and journalistic attention to detail: she has one eye on the truth and the other on the multiplex.” Jonathan Dean at Total Film – “Director Kathryn Bigelow shifts focus from those that chatter to those that matter – the soldiers – and in doing so has crafted the finest film made about the Bush/Blair Iraq assault and its protracted aftermath yet.”
Chances: A woman has never won Best Director and only three have been nominated in over eighty years. This could be the year things change though as Bigelow became the first woman to win the DGA award. War films have often found success at the Academy Awards with seventeen Best Director winners and 22 nominees recognised for their work on war films.
James Cameron - Avatar
Previous features as director: Piranha Part Two: The Spawning (1981), The Terminator (1984), Aliens (1986), The Abyss (1989), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991), True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997).
Previous awards: Academy Awards (won Best Director, Editing and Picture for Titanic), Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films (seven wins and four nominations for writing and directing Strange Days, The Abyss, True Lies, Terminator 2, Aliens and The Terminator), BAFTAs (nominated for Best Director, Editing and Film for Avatar and Titanic), Directors Guild of America (nominated for Avatar and won for Titanic), Golden Globes (won Best Director for Avatar and Titanic).
What the critics said: David Edwards at the Daily Mirror – “Avatar truly is something else, a wondrously-detailed visual extravaganza quite unlike anything you’ve seen before.” Rich Cline at Shadows on the Wall – “A mind-bending epic that’s both visually spectacular and emotionally involving.” David Hunter at Heat Magazine – “Ground-breaking cinema of the most eye-popping variety. Avatar is right up there with Star Wars and Lord of the Rings as a milestone in fantasy film-making.”
Chances: Blockbusters tend not to win Oscars but Titanic pretty much swept the board. Cameron could see a repeat performance with Avatar although a sci-fi film has never won the biggie.
Jason Reitman – Up in the Air
Previous features as director: Thank You For Smoking (2005), Juno (2007).
Previous awards: Academy Awards (nominated for Best Director for Juno), BAFTAs (nominated for Best Film and Screenplay for Up in the Air), several festival wins and nominations for Up in the Air, Directors Guild of America (nominated for Up in the Air), Golden Globes (won Best Screenplay and nominated for Best Director for Up in the Air), Independent Spirit Awards (nominated for Best Director for Juno and won Best Screenplay for Thank You For Smoking), Writers Guild of America (nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Up in the Air and Thank You For Smoking).
What the critics said: Neil Smith at Total Film – “Witty, pertinent and moving, this is a sophisticated treat from a director who gets exponentially better with every picture with every picture.” Ian Nathan at Empire Magazine – “In Reitman’s care, channelling the breezy, matter-of-fact perkiness if Juno, it is an emphatic statement that Hollywood can still make great movies; a celebration that stardom can be as thrilling a concept as 3-D or CG or mooncalf vampires.” Tim Grierson at Screen International – “It’s one of those rare mainstream Hollywood pictures that addresses contemporary issues gracefully.”
Chances: Reitman wouldn’t be the first director to win for an indie film or the youngest director. Few have won for a simple, pleasant story with voters favouring biopics, true stories, war films or controversy. The last contemporary drama to win the Oscar for Best Director was Barry Levinson for Rain Man in 1988.
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Previous features as director: Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Grindhouse (2007), Death Proof (2007).
Previous awards: Academy Awards (won Best Screenplay and nominated for Best Director for Pulp Fiction), Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films (nominated for Best Director and Screenplay for Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 and Screenplay for True Romance), BAFTAs (nominated for Best Director for Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction, Best Film for Pulp Fiction, Original Screenplay for Inglourious Basterds and won Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction), festival and critics wins and nominations for Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds and Death Proof), Directors Guild of America (nominated for Best Director for Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction), Golden Globes (nominated for Best Director for Inglourious Basterds and Pulp Fiction, nominated for Original Screenplay for Inglourious Basterds and won Best Screenplay for Pulp Fiction), Independent Spirit Awards (nominated for Best Director and First Feature for Reservoir Dogs and won Best Director and Screenplay for Pulp Fiction).
What the critics said: Matthew Turner at ViewLondon – “A tense, thrilling, brilliantly acted and superbly directed war flick that just might be Tarantino’s masterpiece.”Christ Hewitt at Empire – “Every bit as idiosyncratic as the spelling of its title, it's a wonderfully-acted movie that subverts expectation at every turn. And it may represent the most confident, audacious writing and directing of QT's career.” Todd McCarthy at Variety – “By turns surprising, nutty, windy, audacious and a bit caught up in its own cleverness, the picture is a completely distinctive piece of American pop art with a strong Euro flavor that's new for the director.”
Chances: Another war film. Tarantino has always been more likely to win for his original screenplays than his direction but Scorsese finally won for The Departed a couple of years ago so maybe he could get the award; just not this year. I think it’s a close race between Bigelow and Cameron.
Lee Daniels – Precious, Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Previous features as director: Shadowboxer (2005)
Previous awards: AFI Awards (nominated for Film of the Year for Monster’s Ball), BAFTAs (nominated for Best Film for Precious), Black Reel Awards (nominated for Best Director for Precious), several critics and festival wins and nominations for Precious, Directors Guild of America (nominated for Best Director for Precious), Independent Spirit Awards (nominated for Best Director and Film for Precious and nominated for Best First Feature for The Woodsman).
What the critics said: Peter Bradshaw at The Guardian – “The film is never shy of pressing the viewer’s buttons, but it’s put across with heartfelt power.” Mike Goodridge at Screen International – “Second-time director Lee Daniels creates a must-see portrait of life’s underprivileged which is utterly compelling.” Mike McGranaghan at Aisle Seat – “Beautifully and effectively crafted in every single way, the film looks unflinchingly into desperate lives and finds hope amidst the despair. This is truly a masterpiece of slice-of-life storytelling.”
Chances: John Singleton was the first and so far only African-American director to be nominated for an Academy Award for Boyz N the Hood in 1991. Child abuse also seems to be deemed too controversial for the Academy too.
