15 Best Director contenders for the 2024 Oscars
From frontrunners like Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan to the newcomers behind Past Lives and American Fiction, here are the directors you need to know
Film Features Oscars
Our preview of this year’s awards season has already touched on the contenders for Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress. Now it’s time to turn to the directors behind the acclaimed films gaining momentum at this stage of the race. There’s a wide mix of talent in the directing pool this year, including big names like Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, and Ridley Scott, plus sophomore filmmakers like Bradley Cooper and Emerald Fennell looking for gold with their second films.
We’re also keeping an eye on newcomers like Celine Song, the writer and director of Past Lives, and Cord Jefferson, the director of American Fiction. Here, in alphabetical order, is our list of 15 directors who have the best chance of hearing their names called when the Oscar nominations are announced on January 23.
19 Comments
I’m rootin’ for Cord.
That you would reference Birth instead of Sexy Beast for Glazer is an interesting choice. I’ll never understand the hype behind Fennell; I found PYW to be very boring. Saltburn looks very predictable. Napoleon looks big and bloated but will probably get a lot of nominations. Celine Song’s film is beautiful but small and lesser-seen and will likely be overlooked. (Though, hell, Coda did rather well so maybe I’m just jaded?)But honestly, in a year with Oppenheimer, I don’t know how you don’t give Nolan a prize. But I’m usually wrong about award season outcomes.
Bradley Cooper was famously not nominated for Best Director for A Star Is Born, though he was nominated for Best Actor, and the movie was nominated for Best Picture. Also, Roberto Benigni did not win Best Director for Life Is Beautiful; he won Best Actor and Best Foreign Language Film
Roberto Benigni won Best Actor and Best Foreign Language Film for Life is Beautiful. He did not win Best Director.
Curiously, the Academy does not award Best Foreign Language film to specific individuals although it is customary for the director to accept the award and speak at the award ceremony. Benigni was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay. And while the movie was nominated for Best Picture, Benigni was not a producer.
Had a legit double take when I saw that. I don’t think I’ve seen it since it was in theaters, so I don’t know—maybe it actually holds up and isn’t as cloying as I imagine it being—but Best Director seems…
Nolan. Or Gerwig for diversity reasons. The End.
This is correct.
Cooper was not nominated for Best Director for A Star Is Born. He was nominated for Best Actor.
Did you actually SEE “Napoleon?” It was horrible.
Ridley Scott is not getting nominated for Napoleon. Forget it. Not happening.
Pffftttt!! Barbie was such a weirdly cool movie, Gerwig has a lock on the Best Director Oscar. You watch: she’ll receive it.
In a year with massive movies by huge directors, my guess is that Marty/Ridley/Nolan have the best shot at winning. But it’d be great to see 80 year old Michael Mann, Yorgos Lanthimos or Greta Gerwig run away with the category this year.
Just a heads up to the writer of this piece: when referring to someone who is Indigenous, it’s inappropriate (and inexact) to use the term “Native,” which is considered derogatory. Either use the specific name of the tribe the individual is from, or say “Native American.”
Fuck off, tone policeman. Offense is never given; it is only taken.
Every scene Gerwig directed is worthy of the nomination. The additional Chevy commercial footage should remove her from win contention.
Sorry, but the winner should clearly be Takashi Yamazaki for Godzilla Minus One. To be able to bring a reboot of the original masterpiece that not only has important things to say filled with pathos and character, but amazing special effects for the mere budget of $15 million, there is no director more deserving of the Oscar this year than him.
The first four will be:ScorseseGerwigScottNolanThe fifth will be either Cooper or Lanthimos.Ultimately it will be between Scorsese and Nolan.
Other than a big budget or cool, hip street cred what goes into a nom for this and then ultimate selection?