Darren Aronofsky - Black Swan
Tom Hooper The King's Speech
David Fincher The Social Network
Joel & Ethan Cohen True Grit
David O Russell The Fighter
Conspicuously absent from that list, in my view, is Christopher Nolan. We certainly understand that with ten Best Picture slots and only five Best Director nominees than some worthy candidates will be left out, but surely, on the basis of combined mass appeal and clear artistic vision (no, I'm not going into all that 'explaining the dream plot' business), Nolan (below, right) deserved a shot, possibly at the expense of Russell.
Chris Lee, writing on news blog The daily Beast, sums up the barriers to Nolan's "anointing" thusly:
the [Director nomination] snub also highlights a certain image problem Nolan seems to suffer among his peers. According to a cross section of Oscar campaign masterminds—ranking publicity experts and people who have worked with the filmmaker—he's regarded by some as too cool for school. Nolan's chilly English demeanor, combined with his refusal to engage in the usual kind of Academy campaigning that has become de rigueurduring awards season, may have alienated him from the rank and file of the Academy's 367-member Directors Branch.
The King's Speech love-fest continued -somewhat at the BAFTAs, with many talking of a multi-award sweep that would include helmer Tom Hooper (who has already gotten the Directors Guild seal of approval) In the decade since the BAFTAs moved forward to take place while academy members are still voting, they have foreseen four Best Picture Oscar winners:'Gladiator' (2000), 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003), 'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008) and'The Hurt Locker' (2009).
But we're discussing Best director here, and the BAFTAs this year made a surprising choice. They passed over Hooper and went instead for The Social Network's David Fincher. Personally, Hooper is still the front-runner, but if anybody is to pip him at the line, it will be Fincher.
It wouldn't be the first time that the Oscar votes between Best Picture and Best director are split. In 2005, Crash broadsided Ang Lee's Oscar party, snatching the Best Picture Oscar and leaving Lee to settle for Best Director for his controversial Brokeback Mountain. On the flipside, 20 years ago, Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture without the director even scoring as much as a nomination.
I'm calling Fincher to similarly spoil the party (a bit) for The King's Speech
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