Never won a Directing Oscar: Kubrick, Hitchcock, Godard, Welles, Kurosawa, Lynch, PTA, Chaplin, Tarantino, Cronenberg, Malick, Fellini, Bergman, Varda, Leone, Fincher, Altman, Hawks, Lumet, Herzog, Scott, Gilliam, Preminger, Cassavetes, Lang — it’s all meaningless, folks.
That’s fine, though. Because Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan have one. So do Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”) and Michael Hazanavicius (“The Artist”).
Of course, it’s always fun to speculate way ahead of time when it comes to the last bastion of hope we have with the Oscars. Why? Because we want the best filmmakers to win so that they have more freedom to make more movies. It’s as simple as that.
This means that this year’s supposed front-runner, Paul Thomas Anderson, will most likely have a slightly easier time financing his next film — albeit maybe not with that film’s exorbitant $150M budget. Maybe he can finally get his ’40s-set, Denzel Washington–starring epic, revolving around “Little Harlem,” off the ground — especially with Denzel’s $20M-per-film salary demand.
That said, I want to go back in time — 24 years ago, to be precise. It’s the 2002 Academy Awards ceremony. Best Director gets announced, the winner, Ron Howard, gets out of his seat and makes his way to the stage to accept the award for “A Beautiful Mind.” For a few seconds, as he walks up, the camera pans to fellow nominee David Lynch approaching another nominee, the late, great Robert Altman, and consoling him about the defeat. With one arm around Altman, we couldn’t quite make out what Lynch is telling him, but rest assured it wasn’t “the best man won.”
At that point, we kind of had a feeling that this was Altman’s last shot at getting the golden statuette. Just five years later, the director of classics such as “Nashville,” “MASH,” “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” “The Player,” “3 Women,” “Short Cuts,” and “The Long Goodbye” would pass away at the age of 81. Sadly, stories such as Altman’s aren’t uncommon; Lynch passed away last year without an Oscar to his name.
The sad tradition of not honoring the right films and filmmakers has turned into a pastime for the Academy. Further proof can be found with these eleven greats who haven’t won yet, with some not even having a single nomination to their name. Originality and daring can sometimes be so ahead of their time that they scare voters away. It takes time to comprehend and acknowledge classics. One only hopes that a few of the following eleven directors will make it up to the stage in the near future.
NOTE: I’m sticking to the criteria that only filmmakers working within the U.S. studio system will be acknowledged here because otherwise, if we count international filmmakers, we’re just asking to open the floodgates (Almodóvar, Haneke, von Trier, Miyazaki, Leigh, Carax, Verhoeven).
Ridley Scott
Although “The Martian” wasn’t the greatest thing he’s ever done, most people were not only predicting a Ridley Scott nomination, but even a win. The fact that he was snubbed put those hopes to rest and placed the 88-year-old director in a precarious position at the tail end of his illustrious career. Don’t get me wrong, he might still have a few more gems left in him, but “The Martian” was his best shot — a crowd-pleaser that made a ton of money and earned strong reviews. Up next is “The Dog Stars,” set for release during the dog days of late August.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Three.
David Fincher
If a case could ever be made about how awards-worthy David Fincher is, he probably wouldn’t want to hear about it anyway. That’s how much he cares about awards. He’s more interested in making vital art. If his films are at first met with polite approval — check early reviews for “Seven” and “Fight Club” — they instead end up lingering in our heads, aging like fine wine. His static, highly controlled compositions enhance feelings of dread and emotional coldness. Next up is “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” coming later this year.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Two.
Richard Linklater
Of all the great American filmmakers who haven’t won the Best Director Oscar yet, Richard Linklater is among the most deserving. His filmography is as original and diverse as they come. Over the last three decades, he’s remained peculiarly idiosyncratic, constantly reinventing himself. His best films feature naturalistic, almost improv-like dialogue paired with subtly assured camerawork. His Rohmer-inspired style may not be flashy enough for the Academy, but it’s built to last.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: One.
Terrence Malick
Some believe there was no better movie released in the last decade than Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.” The reclusive filmmaker earned a Best Director nomination for it, only to lose to, of all filmmakers, “The Artist” director Michael Hazanavicius. Malick’s staggering filmography has been imitated for decades — the natural surrealism, the poetry of everyday life, the philosophical and spiritual overtones, and the meditative voice-overs. One assumes Malick couldn’t care less about being Oscar-less, which is part of why we love his movies.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Two.
Paul Thomas Anderson
Starting with the Altman/Scorsese-inspired “Hard Eight,” “Boogie Nights,” and “Magnolia,” there was a noticeable shift in Anderson’s style after “Punch-Drunk Love” in 2002. The best living filmmaker today, P.T. Anderson invigorated cinema with “There Will Be Blood” and “The Master.” We may be taking his name off this list soon, as he’s currently predicted to win his first directing Oscar for “One Battle After Another.”
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Four.
Terry Gilliam
He gave us “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” which would’ve been enough, but Gilliam also became one of the most influential filmmakers of the ’80s and ’90s. A true visionary, he made “Brazil” in 1985 — a landmark film that nearly didn’t get released until the L.A. Film Critics Association intervened and named it Best Picture of the year. He’s never been nominated for Best Director, which is a crime.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Zero.
David Cronenberg
Cronenberg never plays it safe. His films are the opposite of Oscar bait, which likely explains why he’s never received a single directing, writing, or producing nomination. That means “Videodrome,” “The Fly,” “Dead Ringers,” “A History of Violence,” and “Eastern Promises” were ignored entirely. Time, however, has been kind to them.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Zero.
Brian De Palma
If Fincher has been channeling Hitchcock for two decades, De Palma has been doing it for five. A master of the long take and split screen, De Palma revolutionized cinematic language while maintaining a singular auteur stamp. As he plans to make “one more film,” an Oscar nomination still hasn’t happened.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Zero.
Spike Lee
Few directors know the Academy’s cold shoulder better than Spike Lee. “Do the Right Thing” wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture in 1989, losing out to “Driving Miss Daisy.” “Malcolm X” fared little better, save for Denzel Washington’s nomination. Lee won an Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman,” but Best Director remains elusive.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: One.
Quentin Tarantino
Love him or hate him, Tarantino’s impact on film culture is undeniable. He’s won two Oscars for Original Screenplay, but never Best Director. His films polarize voters, often splitting the vote. Maybe his tenth film will finally do it.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Three.
Michael Mann
If there were ever a filmmaker the Academy admired from a distance but never fully embraced, it’s Michael Mann. His films are exacting, muscular, and obsessively precise, often operating just outside Oscar tastes. From “Thief” and “Manhunter” to “Heat,” “The Insider,” and “Collateral,” Mann has forged one of the most singular signatures in American cinema. An Oscar win now seems unlikely, but his legacy is long since secure.
Oscar Nominations for Directing: One.
Todd Haynes
Todd Haynes is one of the most daring and inventive American filmmakers working today, and that’s more than enough reason to not get Oscar love. A number of factors likely explain why he’s never won a Best Director Oscar. The explicit queerness of his work may have made some voters uncomfortable, and his humor can be elusive and hard to pin down, as seen in “May December.” His movies rarely fall into neatly defined categories, and his subject matter is often challenging. I’m still puzzled how he didn’t get recognized for “Carol.”
Oscar Nominations for Directing: Zero.